Populists versus bureaucrats

Observer

23-04-2025

Populists love to hate bureaucracy. Alice Weidel, the leader of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland – now the country's second-strongest party – says that clueless European Union bureaucrats are destroying the bloc's free-market foundations. Santiago Abascal, who leads Spain's far-right Vox party, accuses the same bureaucrats of attempting to 'liquidate freedom", while Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni calls the EU an 'invasive bureaucratic giant.' Across the Atlantic, US President Donald Trump is dismantling a federal bureaucracy that he claims is rife with 'waste, fraud, and abuse,' and 'stifles personal freedom.' Bureaucracy, as they portray it, is the enemy of progress.
The populists are wrong. As I pointed out at the recent Delphi Economic Forum, far from a sclerotic force destined to strangle innovation and liberty, bureaucracy forms the scaffolding for both. From drafting legislation and issuing permits to composing communications and coordinating crisis responses, bureaucrats carry out the mundane tasks that keep society functioning. Without them, economies would stall, the rule of law would collapse, and political visions would never be realised.
Bureaucracy is, at its core, an exercise in rationality. As US president Woodrow Wilson pointed out, administration demands expertise – which is fundamentally neutral, not ideological – and thus exists outside the turbulent sphere of politics. For Max Weber, an intellectual titan in administrative theory, obedience to the impersonal, rules-based order that bureaucracy represents – rather than to charismatic individuals or entrenched traditions – is a mark of a society's maturity.
But maturity implies patience, which populists notoriously lack. It took EU institutions more than 260 days to get the Recovery and Resilience Facility – a lifeline for struggling EU countries during the Covid-19 pandemic – from proposal to passage. The Artificial Intelligence Act took 1,199 days, and the Asylum Procedure Regulation nearly eight years. While these timelines could undoubtedly be shortened, crafting policies that balance the interests of 27 countries is an inescapably complicated affair requiring careful deliberation. In any case, the main source of delays is not EU bureaucrats, but the European Council's member governments and the European Parliament's elected politicians.
None of this matters to populists. They paint pictures of lumbering giants, like those depicted at the Siphnian Treasury in Delphi. Just as the gods of Mount Olympus – with the help of the mortal Heracles – had to vanquish those power-hungry giants, so, too, must today's populist 'gods' defeat a monstrous bureaucracy that seeks dominion over all aspects of life.
This is the vision that animates the Department of Government Efficiency, established by Trump and led by the world's richest person, Elon Musk. But far from crushing a dangerous foe, DOGE is destroying America's ability to confront the giants that actually threaten it, from climate change to technological disruption. These giants can be defeated only through the kind of disciplined, long-term coordination at which bureaucracy excels.
Ironically, there could be no more compelling argument for the value of measured governance carried out by seasoned bureaucrats than DOGE's reckless gutting of America's state capacity. This has included the decimation of crucial agencies, such as the US Agency for International Development, and programmes ranging from lifesaving medical research to projects supporting teenagers with disabilities.
While DOGE's approach has satisfied the populist hunger for daring over deliberation, it has also required a number of hasty reversals, including halting the firing of hundreds of federal employees working on America's nuclear-weapons programmes. And this is to say nothing of escalating privacy and security concerns, as DOGE staff access sensitive databases with virtually no oversight.
Musk might have made much of his fortune in a sector known for 'moving fast and breaking things,' but the government is not a tech company. As many observers, including veteran Republican budget experts, have warned, DOGE's cuts – driven by ideology and self-interest, not pragmatism and the common good – are jeopardising public welfare. The same goes for Trump's reinstatement of Schedule F, which makes it easier to fire civil servants. This move threatens to politicise the federal workforce, making it less capable, as loyalty is rewarded over merit, and less equipped to fulfil its role as a critical source of continuity across administrations.
The allure of political audacity is undeniable. When Trump issues ultimatums – to universities, trading partners, Nato allies, and others – he projects strength. When Meloni performs a foreign-policy balancing act – courting Trump while championing Western unity – she exudes pragmatism. When French far-right leader Marine Le Pen defies EU financial probes – much to Trump's delight – she appears dauntless. Such acts electrify supporters, replacing feelings of helplessness and stagnation with the thrill of brashness, the exhilaration of disruption and the promise of power.
But good governance demands discipline, not spectacle. The EU's Competitiveness Compass, a strategic framework aimed at strengthening growth and innovation without sacrificing environmental goals, is a case in point. There is only one way to chart a credible path forward that accounts for multiple complex and competing goals – and it involves bureaucratic expertise, not a chain saw.
None of this is to say that bureaucracies are above reproach. The EU's sluggish lawmaking and America's labyrinthine administrative system warrant scrutiny. But the solution is reform, not demolition. Streamlining regulations, as the EU's Omnibus packages seek to do, can enhance the bloc's agility. And measures that guarantee merit-based hiring and protect civil servants from political purges would support US efforts to improve governance.
To defend bureaucracy is not to fetishise red tape, but to recognise the vital role it plays in making our societies work. In the fight against the 'giant' challenges we face, bureaucracy is Heracles, the flawed but knowledgeable ally that makes victory possible. To vilify it is to mistake the servant for the master, risking the very future we seek to reclaim. @Project Syndicate, 2025