Full text can be accessed at the following link http://www.jstor.org/stable/484218?seq=1#fndtn-page_scan_tab_contentsThe state bureaucracy is important in every state, but particularly so in underdeveloped countries. In the absence of a strong indigenous bourgeois class, it has been the only cohesive group with the necessary knowhow to spearhead the development effort. Tanzania has been no exception to this general trend, and consequently, the bureaucracy has occupied a central place in the discussion of socialist policies and their implementation since they were announced in 1967. Three broad issues have been at the core of the literature on the bureaucracy in Tanzania. First has been the discussion of its developmental capacity - whether it has the will and the means to put the developmental program into effect. Second, discussion has centred on the impact of socialist policies on the bureaucracy's efficiency and effectiveness; and third, there has been the major debate on whether it has transformed itself (or been transformed) into an effective class: a bureaucratic bourgeoisie.