This contradiction between bureaucracies making policy and basic democratic values raises one of the most important challenges for public administration theory: How does one square a permanent [and, we would add, powerful] civil service which neither the people by their vote nor their representatives by their appointments can readily replace with the principle of government “by the people.”? (Mosher ).
Any, democratic theory of administration, Waldo suggested, must be capable of answering this question.
The theory of representative bureaucracy focuses on finding a way to legitimate the bureaucracy’s political power in the context of democratic values.
The central tenet of the theory is that a bureaucracy reflecting the diversity of the community it serves is more likely to respond to the interests of all groups in making policy decisions