Abstract
AN APPLICATION-BASED STUDY ON STREET-LEVEL BUREAUCRACY THEORY: GLOBAL IMPLICATIONS AND POTENTIAL RISKS
This study aims to examine and evaluate Michael Lipsky’s “Street-Level Bureaucracy” theory through the implementation behaviors of public officials in different countries. The form of public service in the field is shaped not only by normative policy documents but also by behavioral parameters such as the discretion of the implementer, resource constraints, implementation autonomy, and service delivery dilemmas. In this context, the research is based on a qualitative case analysis covering five countries with different administrative and cultural structures. The thematic content analysis reveals that street-level bureaucrats exhibit similar behavioral patterns and effectively transform the appearance of public policies in the field. The findings indicate that implementer behavior influences fundamental public policy outcomes at the macro level, such as administrative justice, democratic legitimacy, and public trust. Especially in situations where public officials have a wide range of autonomy, the form of public service is filtered through the implementer's values, and this situation sometimes feeds into risk areas such as arbitrariness, inequality, and normative deviation. The research emphasizes that implementers are not passive actors who merely carry out orders, but rather subjects who produce policy through their daily practices. In this context, it is argued that street-level decision-making processes need to be reframed with an administrative design that is both controllable and sensitive to contextual realities. The study provides a conceptual framework for reinterpreting street-level bureaucracy theory in the age of digitalization, automation, and data-driven management, and suggests a theoretical orientation for future field research.
Keywords
Street-Level Bureaucracy, Public Administration, Public Policy, Public Service Delivery
