Aspects of modernity such as liberal democracy, legal rational bureaucracy and socio-economic and political development usually go hand in hand. The development of liberal democracy is contingent upon the existence of a legal rational, merit-based bureaucracy. Although Max Weber was wary about the possible aberration that could result in bureaucracy taking over democratic institutions, he did concede that the two phenomena of mass democracy and modern bureaucracy develop in parallel. The concepts of individual liberty, delegated sovereignty, political legitimacy and equality are results of modern man's ability to rationalize. To act upon the will of the majority in a modern mass-democracy, legal rational bureaucracy emerged as its necessary administrative tool.
This important facet of political modernity, however, has largely ignored by democracy and development experts. The profound “reassessment” of the role of bureaucracy in the hope of curtailing fiscal crisis has resulted in extensive cutback programs that have destroyed the core segments of bureaucracy. Despite billions of dollars pouring into regions of Africa and Asia, new democratic states have not been able to deliver "good governance". Technically liberal democracy should facilitate modern bureaucracy but that has not been the case as shown by so many studies in public administration. Instead, there has been a conscious effort to stifle bureaucratic development in the belief that bureaucracy acts as a hindrance to democratic development and economic growth. This “tampering” may have resulted in regimes that have either strong democratic regime traits with weak, formalistic administrative institutions; or relatively modern administrative institutions with weak democratic regime traits.
The study assumes that both modern bureaucracy and liberal democracy start from the nascent or under-developed state and proceed towards fully developed or consolidated state. Both these phenomena are offshoots of political modernity and are co-existent. The study explores the relationship between modern bureaucratic structures of government and liberal democracy. It focuses on contradicting the institutional imbalance thesis which says that if bureaucracy develops, democracy erodes, i.e., that developed, rational bureaucracy pose danger to budding, new democracy.