The effects of bureaucratic power on the policy process : the case of Sri Lanka's poverty reduction policy

Abstract

Management theories and practices of the late 20th and early 21st centuries encourage elected and public officials to work together constructively during the policymaking and policy implementation process. However, within this process, the 'on-the-ground' relationships that develop between elected and public officials tend to span the spectrum from independent through to interdependent interactions. This thesis reveals that the nature of their relationship has profound effects on policy outcomes, in this case on poverty reduction policies in Sri Lanka. The findings show that the parties involved have a dynamic relationship that develops, over time, in response to tit-for-tat behaviours on the part of each-group behaviours that can be either trust-building or trust-destroying. A central part of this process is the exercise of discretion in the policymaking and policy implementation stages of poverty reduction policy in Sri Lanka. The thesis investigates how bureaucratic power is exercised in the two policy stages of Sri Lanka's poverty reduction policy, questioning how bureaucratic power affects the policy process. In order to reveal the potential influence of bureaucratic power and bureaucratic capacity to enact discretionary power during policymaking and policy implementation, the thesis examines the relationship between elected and public officials, the bureaucratic capacity to exercise discretion in the face of political control and the political capacity to control bureaucratic discretion. It also explores whether such interactions facilitate or interrupt the end purposes of poverty reduction depending on the degree of trust developed between the parties. An investigation of the outcomes of poverty reduction policies in Sri Lanka reveals that there is considerable variability in outcomes, with some geographic regions in the country considered to be high-performing and others low-performing. Implementation of poverty-related policies such as health policy and education policy has shown high performance within metropolitan areas; however, specific poverty reduction policies have not shown similar levels of performance in metropolitan areas. Therefore, a primary aim of this study is to investigate to what extent the level of performance in terms of outcomes is dependent on managerial capacity and functional capability of senior public officials, as well as the nature of the relationship that develops between these parties in the policy process. The key finding of this thesis is that the diverse relationships between elected and public officials are central to the dynamics of the policy process. While the exercise of discretion has been used as a strategy both to overcome the difficulties that elected and public officials face and to build trust, it can also destroy the trust between elected and public officials. The study shows that Sri Lankan policymakers need to address the constructive rather than disruptive aspects of the exercise of discretionary power, because discretion can be used for building trust between elected and public officials during the policy process in order to accomplish policy goals.