Here, Kenneth J. Meier and Laurence J. O'Toole Jr. present a timely analysis of working democracy, arguing that bureaucracy--often considered antithetical to fundamental democratic principles--can actually promote democracy.

Drawing from both the empirical work of political scientists and the qualitative work of public administration scholars, the authors employ a -governance approach- that considers broad, institutionally complex systems of governance as well as the nitty-gritty details of bureaucracy management. They examine the results of bureaucratic and political interactions...