A change of power relations among the inside and outside actors of the administrative system from the viewpoint of the administrative staff

With the establishment of modern bureaucracy in Iran, it was expected that the administrative system would find a logical order based on legal rationality. This not only proved to be far from the case, but the administrative system showed an unfortunate return to its previous status as well. The efforts made to improve the system have only aggravated the situation. The first question addressed by this study concerns why this is the case. To find a theoretically sound answer to this question, the writer first conducted a study of documents. The result of the study was the recognition of patrimonial structure as the structure dominating the cultural and social systems of Iran. As a social institution affected by this system, the Iranian administrative system is responsible for behaviors which explain its present inefficiency. The main purpose of the present paper is to explore the question to what extent the need is felt to change the patrimonial structure as the structure dominating the inner and outer actions of the administrative system as an attempt to achieve power balance.