Ajay Kumar: Created a new article

2023-08-07T18:01:42Z

Created a new article

New page

{{short description|Idiom for excessively bureaucratic procedures or regulations}}
{{About|the idiom referring to excessive bureaucratic regulation}}

'''Red tape''' is an [[idiom]] referring to [[regulation]]s or conformity to formal [[wikt:rule|rule]]s or [[wikt:standard|standard]]s which are claimed to be excessive, rigid or redundant, or to [[bureaucracy]] claimed to hinder or prevent action or decision-making. It is usually applied to [[government]]s, [[corporation]]s, and other large organizations. Things often described as "red tape" include filling out paperwork, obtaining licenses, having multiple people or committees approve a decision and various low-level rules that make conducting one's affairs slower, more difficult, or both.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.answers.com/topic/red-tape#ixzz1CwZvWSJz |title=red tape: Definition from |publisher=Answers.com |access-date=2012-10-09}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/red-tape.html |title=What is red tape? definition and meaning |publisher=Businessdictionary.com |access-date=2012-10-09 |archive-date=2012-11-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109084259/http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/red-tape.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gov.nl.ca/redtape/ |title=Red Tape Reduction Initiative | Business |publisher=Gov.nl.ca |access-date=2012-10-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109084320/http://www.gov.nl.ca/redtape/ |archive-date=2012-11-09 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Red tape has been found to hamper organizational performance and employee wellbeing across countries and contexts by a meta-analysis and meta-regression in 2021, and especially internal red tape imposed by the organization itself on its employees was identified as particularly harmful.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=George|first1=Bert|last2=Pandey|first2=Sanjay K.|last3=Steijn|first3=Bram|last4=Decramer|first4=Adelien|last5=Audenaert|first5=Mieke|title=Red tape, organizational performance and employee outcomes: meta-analysis, meta-regression and research agenda|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/puar.13327|journal=Public Administration Review|year=2020|volume=81|issue=4|pages=638–651|language=en|doi=10.1111/puar.13327|issn=1540-6210|hdl=1854/LU-8683417|s2cid=228922524|hdl-access=free}}</ref> A related concept, '''administrative burden''', refers to the costs citizens may experience in their interaction with government even if bureaucratic regulations or procedures serve legitimate purposes.

==Origins==
[[File:NARA Backstage Pass (2011-08) - 14.jpg|thumb|Bundle of US [[pension]] documents from 1906 bound in red tape]]
It is generally believed that the term originated with the Spanish administration of [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]], [[King of Spain]] and [[Holy Roman Emperor]], in the early 16th century, who started to use red tape in an effort to modernize the administration that was running his vast empire. The red tape was used to bind the most important administrative dossiers that required immediate discussion by the [[Spanish Council of State|Council of State]], and separate them from issues that were treated in an ordinary administrative way, which were bound with ordinary string.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Dickson|first1=Del|title=The People's Government: An Introduction to Democracy|date=2015|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=New York|isbn=9781107043879|page=176|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HnvsAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA176|access-date=13 December 2015}}</ref>

Although they were not governing such a vast territory as [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]], this practice of using red tape to separate the important dossiers that had to be discussed was quickly copied by the other modern European monarchs to speed up their administrative machines.{{cn|date=September 2022}}

== Later history ==
The tradition continued through to the 17th and 18th century. In ''[[David Copperfield]]'', [[Charles Dickens]] wrote, "Britannia, that unfortunate female, is always before me, like a trussed fowl: skewered through and through with office-pens, and bound hand and foot with red tape." The English practice of binding documents and official papers with red tape was popularized in [[Thomas Carlyle]]'s<ref>p.1152, ''Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable'', 17th Edition; Revised by J Ayto, 2005</ref> writings, protesting against official inertia with expressions like "Little other than a red tape Talking-machine, and unhappy Bag of Parliamentary Eloquence". To this day, most defense [[barristers]]' [[Brief (law)|briefs]], and those from private clients, are tied in a pink-coloured ribbon known as "pink tape" or "legal tape".{{cn|date=September 2022}}

== 20th–21st century ==
In the late 20th century and continuing into the 21st century, with civil servants using computers and information technology, a legacy from the administration of the [[Spanish Empire]] can still be observed where some parts of the higher levels of the Spanish administration continue the tradition of using red tape to bind important dossiers that need to be discussed and to keep them bound in red tape when the dossier is closed. This is, for example, the case for the [[Spanish Council of State]], the supreme consultative council of the [[Spanish Government]]. In contrast, the lower Spanish courts use ordinary twine to bundle documents as their cases are not supposed to be heard at higher levels.{{Citation needed|date=November 2020}} The Spanish Government plans{{when|date=February 2016}} to phase out the use of paper and abandon the practice of using twine.{{Citation needed|date=November 2020}}

As of the early 21st century, Spanish bureaucracy continues to be notorious for unusually extreme levels of red tape (in the figurative sense).<ref name="Graff">{{cite book|last1=Graff|first1=Marie Louise|title=CultureShock! Spain|date=2009|publisher=Marshall Cavendish|location=Tarrytown, NY|isbn=9789814435949|page=57|edition=6th|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GRiJAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA57}}</ref> As of 2013, the [[World Bank]] ranked Spain 136 out of 185 countries for ease of starting a business, which took on average 10 procedures and 28 days.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Buck|first1=Tobias|title=Spain hopes new law to cut red tape will attract entrepreneurs|url=http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/fe6c8276-ca0b-11e2-8f55-00144feab7de.html#axzz3uEEMVxsd |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/XsNM7 |archive-date=2022-12-10 |url-access=subscription|access-date=13 December 2015|work=Financial Times|publisher=The Financial Times Ltd|date=2 June 2013}}</ref>

Similar issues persist throughout [[Latin America]].<ref name="Graff" /><ref>{{cite book|author1=Jose Luis Guasch|author2=Benjamin Herzberg|chapter=Increasing Competitiveness Through Regulatory and Investment Climate Improvements in Latin America; the Case of Mexico|editor1-last=Haar|editor1-first=Jerry|editor2-last=Price|editor2-first=John|title=Can Latin America Compete? Confronting the Challenges of Globalization|date=2008|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|location=New York|isbn=9781403975430|page=255|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qYzFAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA255}}</ref> For example, Mexico was the original home of [[Syntex]], one of the greatest pharmaceutical firms of the 20th century—but in 1959, the company left for the American city of [[Palo Alto, California]] (in what is now [[Silicon Valley]]) because its scientists were fed up with the Mexican government's bureaucratic delays which repeatedly impeded their research.<ref name="Gereffi_Page_110">{{cite book |last1=Gereffi |first1=Gary |title=The Pharmaceutical Industry and Dependency in the Third World |date=1983 |publisher=Princeton |location=Princeton University Press |isbn=9781400886227 |page=110 |edition=2017 reprint |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q4grDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA110 |access-date=11 January 2021}}</ref> As of 2009 in Mexico, it took six months and a dozen visits to government agencies to obtain a permit to paint a house,<ref>{{cite news|last1=Ellingwood|first1=Ken|title=No stamp of approval for Mexico bureaucrats|url=http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jan/02/world/fg-mexico-redtape2|access-date=13 December 2015|work=Los Angeles Times|date=2 January 2009}}</ref> and to obtain a monthly prescription for [[gamma globulin]] for [[X-linked agammaglobulinemia]] a patient had to obtain signatures from two government doctors and stamps from four separate bureaucrats before presenting the prescription to a dispensary.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Malkin|first1=Elizabeth|title=For Redress of Grievances, Mexicans Turn to Bureaucracy Contest|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/09/world/americas/09mexico.html|access-date=13 December 2015|work=New York Times|date=8 January 2009}}</ref>

In the United States, cutting red tape was a central principle of a 1993 [[National Performance Review]] study requested by the [[Presidency of Bill Clinton|Clinton Administration]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gore |first=Al |url=https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED384294 |title=From Red Tape to Results: Creating a Government That Works Better & Costs Less. Report of the National Performance Review |date=1993-09-10 |publisher=U |language=en}}</ref>

==Red tape reduction==
The expression "cutting of red tape" generally refers to a reduction of bureaucratic obstacles to action. Public administration scholars have studied the impact of red tape on public servants through research on administrative performance, behavioral impact, and rule quality.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Campbell |first1=Jesse W. |last2=Pandey |first2=Sanjay K. |last3=Arnesen |first3=Lars |date=2022 |title=The ontology, origin, and impact of divisive public sector rules: A meta-narrative review of the red tape and administrative burden literatures |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/puar.13527 |journal=Public Administration Review|volume=83 |issue=2 |pages=296–315 |doi=10.1111/puar.13527 |s2cid=249187464 }}</ref>

Business representatives often claim red tape is a barrier to business, particularly small business. In Canada, the [[Canadian Federation of Independent Business]]<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.cfib.ca |title=cfib.ca |publisher=cfib.ca |access-date= 2014-01-23}}</ref> has done extensive research<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cfib-fcei.ca/english/article/4791-canada-s-red-tape-report-with-u-s-comparisons.html |title=Canada's Red Tape Report |publisher=Cfib-fcei.ca |access-date=2014-01-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201191230/http://www.cfib-fcei.ca/english/article/4791-canada-s-red-tape-report-with-u-s-comparisons.html |archive-date=2014-02-01 }}</ref> into the impact of red tape on small businesses. ’As of 2018, small businesses were subject to 15,875 regulatory requirements from Health Canada, 1,808 from the Canada Revenue Agency and 4,519 from Finance Canada. According to data compiled by the federal government, a total of 136,121 federal requirements were imposed on businesses, in addition to provincial requirements. The Canadian government’s One-for-One rule recommends that regulators offset new costs in the two years following the implementation of new regulation. From 2012 to 2018, 131 individual regulations were eliminated by Ottawa, reducing the administrative burden by $30.6 million. However, during that same time period, 76 new regulations were exempted from the One-for-One rule.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Times|first=The Hill|date=2019-02-07|title=How to reduce the regulatory burden|url=https://www.hilltimes.com/2019/02/07/reduce-regulatory-burden/187526|access-date=2021-10-25|website=The Hill Times|language=en-CA}}</ref>

The [[European Commission]] has a competition that offers an award for the "Best Idea for Red Tape Reduction". The competition is "aimed at identifying innovative suggestions for reducing unnecessary bureaucracy stemming from European law".<ref>[http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/better-regulation/administrative-burdens/award/ European Commission]{{dead link|date=October 2012}}</ref> In 2008, the European Commission held a conference entitled 'Cutting Red Tape for Europe'. The goal of the conference was "reducing red tape and overbearing bureaucracy," in order to help "business people and entrepreneurs improve competitiveness".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cuttingredtape.eu/ |title=Cutting redTape for Europe |last=Verheugen |first=Günter |website=Action Programme for Reducing Administrative Burdens in the European Union |publisher=European Commission Directorate-General Enterprise and Industry |date=June 20, 2008 |access-date=October 14, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720154745/http://www.cuttingredtape.eu/ |archive-date=July 20, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Beyond actual reductions to red tape, some evidence suggests that applying rules consistently and fairly can positively affect the extent to which citizens ''perceive'' that red tape exists in a government agency.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kaufmann |first1=Wesley |last2=Ingrams |first2=Alex |last3=Jacobs |first3=Daan |date=2021 |title=Being Consistent Matters: Experimental Evidence on the Effect of Rule Consistency on Citizen Red Tape |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0275074020954250 |journal=The American Review of Public Administration |language=en |volume=51 |issue=1 |pages=28–39 |doi=10.1177/0275074020954250 |s2cid=225330022 |issn=0275-0740}}</ref>

==Administrative burden==
"Administrative burden" is a related concept to "red tape."<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last1=Herd|first1=Pamela|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HER0DwAAQBAJ|title=Administrative Burden: Policymaking by Other Means|last2=Moynihan|first2=Donald P.|date=2019|publisher=Russell Sage Foundation|isbn=978-1-61044-878-9|pages=18|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Peeters|first=Rik|date=2019-06-06|title=The Political Economy of Administrative Burdens: A Theoretical Framework for Analyzing the Organizational Origins of Administrative Burdens|url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0095399719854367|journal=Administration & Society|volume=52|issue=4|pages=566–592|doi=10.1177/0095399719854367|s2cid=195561302|issn=0095-3997}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Burden|first1=Barry C.|last2=Canon|first2=David T.|last3=Mayer|first3=Kenneth R.|last4=Moynihan|first4=Donald P.|date=2012|title=The Effect of Administrative Burden on Bureaucratic Perception of Policies: Evidence from Election Administration|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41687989|journal=Public Administration Review|volume=72|issue=5|pages=741–751|doi=10.1111/j.1540-6210.2012.02600.x|jstor=41687989|issn=0033-3352}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Heinrich|first=Carolyn J.|date=2015-12-08|title=The Bite of Administrative Burden: A Theoretical and Empirical Investigation|url=https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muv034|journal=Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory|volume=26|issue=3|pages=403–420|doi=10.1093/jopart/muv034|issn=1053-1858}}</ref> Whereas red tape suggests that regulations do not serve legitimate purposes, the concept of administrative burden recognizes that regulations that are intended for good purposes may nonetheless entail a burden.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last1=Herd|first1=Pamela|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HER0DwAAQBAJ|title=Administrative Burden: Policymaking by Other Means|last2=Moynihan|first2=Donald P.|date=2019|publisher=Russell Sage Foundation|isbn=978-1-61044-878-9|pages=18|language=en}}</ref> Administrative burden can be defined as "the learning, psychological, and compliance costs that citizens experience in their interactions with government."<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Herd|first1=Pamela|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HER0DwAAQBAJ|title=Administrative Burden: Policymaking by Other Means|last2=Moynihan|first2=Donald P.|date=2019|publisher=Russell Sage Foundation|isbn=978-1-61044-878-9|pages=22|language=en}}</ref> Sometimes these costs are seen as legitimate or necessary if they achieve important [[Public value|public values]] without creating too onerous a burden for citizens.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Nisar |first1=Muhammad Azfar |last2=Masood |first2=Ayesha |date=2022-06-28 |title=Are all Burdens Bad? Disentangling Illegitimate Administrative Burdens through Public Value Accounting |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/23276665.2022.2088581 |journal=Asia Pacific Journal of Public Administration |pages=1–19 |doi=10.1080/23276665.2022.2088581 |s2cid=250127477 |issn=2327-6665}}</ref>

However, administrative burden can exacerbate inequality when it is not evenly distributed or when it affects people differently.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Chudnovsky |first1=Mariana |last2=Peeters |first2=Rik |date=2021 |title=The unequal distribution of administrative burden: A framework and an illustrative case study for understanding variation in people's experience of burdens |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/spol.12639 |journal=Social Policy & Administration |language=en |volume=55 |issue=4 |pages=527–542 |doi=10.1111/spol.12639 |s2cid=225426377 |issn=0144-5596}}</ref> For example, the [[Hijra (South Asia)|Khawaja Sira]] in Pakistan -- individuals who are "culturally identified as neither men nor women" -- face psychological costs of [[discrimination]] and unusually high compliance costs when they attempt to obtain legal IDs.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nisar |first=Muhammad A. |date=2018 |title=Children of a Lesser God: Administrative Burden and Social Equity in Citizen-State Interactions |url=https://academic.oup.com/jpart/article/28/1/104/4061313 |journal=Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=104–119|doi=10.1093/jopart/mux025 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Historically exploited or marginalized individuals might choose not to seek out benefits for which they are eligible, drop out of government programs, or have negative interactions with bureaucrats as a result of unequal administrative burdens.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bhargava |first1=Saurabh |last2=Manoli |first2=Dayanand |date=2015 |title=Psychological Frictions and the Incomplete Take-Up of Social Benefits: Evidence from an IRS Field Experiment |journal=American Economic Review |language=en |volume=105 |issue=11 |pages=3489–3529 |doi=10.1257/aer.20121493 |issn=0002-8282|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Brodkin |first1=Evelyn Z. |last2=Majmundar |first2=Malay |date=2010 |title=Administrative Exclusion: Organization and the Hidden Costs of Welfare Claiming |url=https://academic.oup.com/jpart/article/20/4/827/1000431?login=true |journal=Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=827–848|doi=10.1093/jopart/mup046 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Barnes |first1=Carolyn Y. |last2=Henly |first2=Julia |date=2018 |title="They Are Underpaid and Understaffed:" How Clients Interpret Encounters with Street-Level Bureaucrats |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muy008 |journal=Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory |volume=28 |issue=2 |pages=165–181|doi=10.1093/jopart/muy008 |hdl=10161/16179 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Depending on the benefit area and the level of burden experienced, these consequences could have negative effects on individuals' health, employment, and wellbeing.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Heinrich |first1=Carolyn J. |last2=Brill |first2=Robert |date=2015-08-01 |title=Stopped in the Name of the Law: Administrative Burden and its Implications for Cash Transfer Program Effectiveness |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X15000741 |journal=World Development |language=en |volume=72 |pages=277–295 |doi=10.1016/j.worlddev.2015.03.015 |issn=0305-750X}}</ref> Existing societal inequalities also increase the likelihood that vulnerable individuals experience administrative burdens in the first place based on their identity and the benefits they are seeking (e.g., [[Parental leave|maternity leave]] or [[Child care|childcare]] benefits).<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Masood |first1=Ayesha |last2=Nisar |first2=Muhammad Azfar |date=2020 |title=Crushed between two stones: Competing institutional logics in the implementation of maternity leave policies in Pakistan |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gwao.12448 |journal=Gender, Work & Organization |language=en |volume=27 |issue=6 |pages=1103–1126 |doi=10.1111/gwao.12448 |s2cid=216483634 |issn=0968-6673}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Heinrich |first=Carolyn J. |date=2015-12-08 |title=The Bite of Administrative Burden: A Theoretical and Empirical Investigation |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muv034 |journal=Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory |volume=26 |issue=3 |pages=403–420 |doi=10.1093/jopart/muv034 |issn=1053-1858}}</ref> There is some evidence that perceptions of deservingness might influence politicians' willingness to either passively allow administrative burdens or actively create them through policy design; this theory has equity implications if members of marginalized groups are seen as less deserving.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Baekgaard |first1=Martin |last2=Moynihan |first2=Donald P |last3=Thomsen |first3=Mette Kjærgaard |date=2021-02-04 |title=Why Do Policymakers Support Administrative Burdens? The Roles of Deservingness, Political Ideology, and Personal Experience |url=https://academic.oup.com/jpart/article/31/1/184/5908124 |journal=Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory |language=en |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=184–200 |doi=10.1093/jopart/muaa033 |issn=1053-1858|doi-access=free }}</ref>

==See also==

{{div col}}
* [[Busy work]]
* [[Crony capitalism]]
* [[Cronyism]]
* [[Instruction creep]]
* [[Micromanagement]]
* [[Paperwork Reduction Act]]
* [[Paternalism]]
* [[Prig]]
* [[Purple crocodile]]
* [[Humphrey Appleby|Sir Humphrey Appleby]]
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
*George et al. (2020) Red Tape, Organizational Performance and Employee Outcomes: Meta-Analysis, Meta-Regression and Research Agenda. ''Public Administration Review''.
*Barry Bozeman (2000) ''Bureaucracy and Red Tape'' Prentice-Hall Publishing.
*{{cite book |author=Pamela Herd |title=Administrative Burden: Policymaking by Other Means |last2=Moynihan |first2=Don |year=2019 |isbn=978-0871544445 |publisher=Russell Sage Foundation}}
*OECD (2006) 'Cutting red tape; national strategies for administrative simplification' OECD Editions, Paris.

[[Category:Slang]]
[[Category:Organizational theory]]
[[Category:Public choice theory]]
[[Category:Metaphors referring to objects]]
[[Category:Bureaucratic organization]]
[[Category:Waste of resources]]

Red tape - Revision history

209.237.127.33: expanded content

YourPritam7: Article updated with improved flow

Ajay Kumar: Created a new article