Mending Bureaucracy’s Splintered Soul: Cultural Subsidiarity for Indigenous Organisations

This chapter deals with the oppressive embrace of neo-liberal bureaucracy, principally for Indigenous people and organisations, but also for wider society. It identifies how neo-liberal bureaucracy arose, its organic inter-relation with crony capitalism, and its debilitating effects on the personal autonomy of the modern state’s citizens, and the efficacy of their civil society associations. The chapter draws on the work of Paul du Gay to argue for re-instatement of classical, neutral, public benefit bureaucracy. It does, however, interrogate the concepts of neutrality and public benefit as they relate to the subordinate, minority and non-conformist elements of society, particularly Indigenous organisations. For example, the chapter argues that policies must be formulated in a neutral manner for the wide public good at the higher levels of bureaucracy, while partiality, and privileging Indigenous benefit over public good, may be more appropriate at local and small-scale levels. The chapter elaborates the concept of cultural subsidiarity to give this approach a rational, public policy-oriented, framework. The concept of cultural subsidiarity authorises local autonomy, as long as overriding principles of human rights are observed.