The article reviews the literature on the themes of the relationship between politics and bureaucracy and democratic control over the bureaucracy by analyzing three sets of works: Weber's production on the relationship between government and bureaucracy, the North American literature and national production. Weber's work allows us to establish with precision the central features of modern bureaucracy, its role in contemporary democratic government and the need for political control over bureaucracy. The debate in the U.S., in turn, explains the absence, in Brazil, the discussion on the relationship between politics and bureaucracy in a democratic perspective. Despite this absence, we analyze the contemporary literature in order to describe the present situation of the controls on the bureaucracy in Brazil and understand, even in incipient way, the mechanics of control, in particular the appointment, the budget, legislation and monitoring.
bureaucracy; democratic controls; political control over bureaucracy