Bureaucratic Reputation Analysis

Bureaucratic reputation analysis is an analytical framework for explaining the behaviour, power and autonomy of public agencies through the lens of their reputation — the set of symbolic beliefs about an agency's capacities, intentions and history held by its many audiences. Developed by Daniel Carpenter, notably in his 2001 study of how U.S. executive agencies forged autonomy, and elaborated with George Krause, the framework treats reputation as a strategic asset that agencies cultivate and protect. It distinguishes performative, moral, technical and procedural dimensions of reputation and traces how reputational concerns drive what agencies do.