Bureaucratic Absurdity: How System Errors Wreck Lives

In a feature published by Jauns.lv, Guntars Meluškāns uses examples from France, Australia and the United Kingdom to show how the impersonal order of public administration can lead to absurd and sometimes tragic situations. The text recalls that the German sociologist Max Weber, in the early 20th century, defined bureaucracy as the most rational and fairest form of organising society, built on hierarchy, written rules and equality before the law.

Tendencies identified

The author argues that practice reveals several dangerous tendencies. Officials seek to avoid personal responsibility: flexible solutions earn no recognition, while even a small departure from instructions can bring punishment or an audit. As a result, ever more certificates and approvals are demanded. A second tendency is expansion of the apparatus: every new task creates a new post, and failing to spend a budget means a smaller one the next year.

France: a court treated a living woman as dead

Jeanne Pouchain, who lives in the village of Saint-Joseph near Lyon, was declared dead in 2017 during a long-running labour dispute. The Lyon Court of Appeal accepted the opposing lawyer's claim without a death certificate. Her identity card, driving licence, bank accounts and health insurance were cancelled. Authorities later formally acknowledged she was alive, but fully restoring her status failed because the law does not provide for such a situation.

Australia: protecting a home from fire became a violation

Liam Sheehan, a farmer in the state of Victoria, cleared trees around his house to create a 100-metre fire buffer zone. The local council deemed it a nature-protection violation, and he was fined and ordered to pay legal costs totalling more than 100,000 Australian dollars. Later, wildfires killed 173 people, and his house was the only building in the area left standing. After a Royal Commission report, the state amended its environmental laws.

United Kingdom: benefits system and the Post Office scandal

Philippa Day, a 27-year-old from Nottingham with serious health problems, lost much of her benefit after the Department for Work and Pensions lost her documents; her weekly income fell from £228 to £60. After the private contractor Capita refused a home medical assessment, she overdosed and died. The coroner identified 28 failures, the company paid compensation, and the ministry trained more than 7,000 staff.

Another example is the UK Post Office Horizon scandal: software developed by Fujitsu produced non-existent shortfalls, and between 2000 and 2015 more than 700 people were convicted of theft and fraud. The Supreme Court later found the program was to blame.