HYBRIDITY INTRODUCTION
Prior to discussing both the concept of hybridity, and the manifestations, it is necessary to develop the logic which
preceeds the concept. The progressinn of thought which leads
to this idea has its roots in the writing on comparative adminis tration and development administration (to the extent that these
can be seen as separate disciplines). These grew in their1turn
1 2
out of discussions of political development by Pye , Huntington ,
3 4
Almond and Coleman , Apter and many more.
The first point in the argument is that it is very difficult to impose administrative structures without taking account of pre
existing conditions. The social, economic, demographic and
cultural characteristics of "developing", "transitional11 or "prismatic" societies are adopted and incorporated within new
5 ,
structures. Riggs (who uses the term "prismatic") writes; "It is easier to adopt by fiat or law a formal
organisational structure with manifest adminis- trative function than it is to ^Institute
corresponding social behaviour"
1. Lucien Pye. "Aspects of Political Development" Little, Brown Series in Comparative Politics 1966
2. Samuel Huntington. "Political Order in Changing Societies" Yale University Press 1968.
3. Gabriel Almond and James Coleman (eds) "The Politics of Developing Areas" Princeton University Press 1970.
4. David Apter "The Politics of Modernization" Phoenic Books Chicago University Press, 1967.
5. Fred Riggs "Administration in Developing Countries: The Theory
of the Prismatic Society1*. Houghton Mifflin Co. Boston 1964. 6. Ibid. P.34.
Though the terms "under-developed", "non-Western" and "third world" cannot correspond to the economic or even the political situation in the Isle of Man, certain features of what have been termed
"transitional" societies are not inappropriate in the Manx context. A major feature of transitional societies is the mixture of old and new practices, of modern ideas superimposed upon traditional ones and the evidence of preceeding chapters substantially proves
this to be the case in Mann. These show traditional traits of
particularism, parochialism and resistance to change, overlaid by modern ideas of progression by merit, democratic accountability,
universality in the treatment of clients etc. Hence the following
comments pertaining to transitional societies can be seen as relevant in Mann and must not be ignored simply because they were intended to relate to societies of a far less complex economic order.
"there can be no reason for supposing ...that a principle of public administration has equal validity
in every nation-state, or that successful public
administration practices in one country will necessarily prove successful in a different social, economic and political environment. A particular nation-state embodies the results of many historical episodes, traumas, failures and successes which have in turn created peculiar habits, mores, institutionalised patterns of behaviour, Weltanchaungen and even
1national'psychologies1. One cannot assume that
public administration can escape the effects of this conditioning; or that it is somehow independent of and isolated fjom the culture or social setting in which it develops".
Thus it is pointless to assume that principles which have come to be accepted in British public administration, either at local or
central level, are either 'right1 or universally appropriate and
hence appropriate to the Isle of Man.
1. Robert A. Dahl. "The Science of Public Administration" Public Administration Review, Winter, 1947 PP. 7-8.
Since this premise is so relevant, the subsequent discussion by the comparative administration authors formerly cited is also relevant; that is that as a result of the significance of the environment of an administrative system, the study of public
administration must be interdisciplinary. It must either learn
from the works of economists, historians, anthropologists and sociologists or seek to have a less institution oriented and more ecological approach^" to the understanding of public adminis
tration. Thus chapters 2,3 and 4 of this work have aimed to
provide a broad profile of the bureaucracy covering as they do the
administrative institutions themselves, effective patterns of
personnel management, value systems of administrators, decision
making processes, and communications. This, combined with other
2
work on the Manx political culture in general serves to give a more complete understanding of this particular administrative structure in its environmental context.
Thus our understanding of the totality of the Manx system enables us to explain why it is not a mirror image of the British one.
It is, in practice, a hybrid form of administration, the term being borrowed from the biological discipline of genetics and meaning "the offspring of parents of two different species". Thus a hybrid form of administration could be said to be a new form having characteristics of both of two other forms and therefore displaying a combination of features unique to that system.
1. Since ecology is the study of life in its environment, an
ecological approach to public administration examines the environmental influences upon the bureaucracy.
2. Dr. J. Richards "Politics in Small Independent Communities; Isle of Man, Malta and Faroe". Unpublished PhD thesis. 1979.
The characteristics of hybridity then could be said to be the existence of features seen in two other systems; conscious or unconscious imitation of the two other systems; and a constantly altering combination of features from the two systems and from
internal responses to problems. It may be a descriptive or
prescriptive concept though in the Manx sense since selective ~ . imitation is usually considered to be of central .government, then
it is more likely to be descriptive. The model is certainly not
propounded as a way to tackle new problems. In other words both
central and local government in Britain are not rationally c.pn-_ sidered to see which is the most relevant to a particular problem. The Manx system displays a unique combination of features from central and local government in Britain and its own response to
need. So it is not simply that features of both systems are
present that is important but that the way they are combined within a different sccdo-cultural environment has produced a
divergent and unique expression of the principles existing in the two parent systems.
HOW IS HYBRIDITY DISPLAYED IN MANN?
Hybridity is displayed in numerous ways throughout the Manx system and always it is affected by the conflict between traditional and modern values in the society. ‘ Many examples of this can be seen in the preceeding chapters and there are more that have not been
covered there. It is, however, possible to identify three major
headings-under which illustrations can be placed. These are
firstly, the allocation of functions in the system; secondly, the attitudes of the actors in the processes of making and implementing policy; and thirdly the procedure adopted for the making and
implementing of policy. Allocation of Functions
The present allocation of functions has developed on a piecemeal
basis and has features of both central and local systems in Britain1 . Looking at the local authority similarities first, we can see that there is much more similarity between the Manx Board system and a local authority committee system than to the central ministerial
2
pattern . The traditional vertical, pattern of an elected body
heading an appointed department is seen in both systems though there is the difference that a Tynwald Board has considerably more autonomy.
1. For detailed descriptions of these features in the IOM please
see references to Chapters 3 and 4.
2. See Chapter 3 P.90.