History Main / VastBureaucracy

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* 'ComicBook/Shazam2023'':

* ''SHAZAM!'' (2023)

* In ''SHAZAM!'' (2023) issue #7, the Galactic Auditors (who are sapient dinosaurs) come to Earth to force Billy Batson to fill the proper paperwork for unauthorized repairs on one of their ships back in the first issue.

* In ''Literature/TheLaundryFiles'', while the organization known only as "The Laundry" is much smaller than most of the other examples here, its bureaucracy is still bloated and overstaffed beyond belief, mostly thanks to the fact that people who get offered a job there [[AnOfferYouCantRefuse aren't allowed to refuse]] and [[HeKnowsTooMuch aren't allowed to leave]]. Justified: since the Laundry ''must'' pick up everybody who finds out too much about the squamous horrors dwelling at the bottom of the Mandelbrot set, keeping them chasing paperwork is an excellent way to maintain TheMasquerade with a minimum of effort [[note]]bureaucracies being designed so that everybody, whether they're a genius or an idiot, can perform their assigned job adequately and consistently[[/note]]. Later books begin deconstructing the premise, as the Laundry has grown so unwieldy it's been forced to finally start letting people go, albeit under magically-enforced NDA and subject to being called back in if an emergency happens.

* In ''Literature/TheLaundryFiles'', while the organization known only as "The Laundry" is much smaller than most of the other examples here, its bureaucracy is still bloated and overstaffed beyond belief, mostly thanks to the fact that people who get offered a job there [[AnOfferYouCantRefuse aren't allowed to refuse]] and [[HeKnowsTooMuch aren't allowed to leave]]. Justified: since the Laundry ''must'' pick up everybody who finds out too much about the squamous horrors dwelling at the bottom of the Mandelbrot set, keeping them chasing paperwork is an excellent way to maintain TheMasquerade with a minimum of effort [[note]]bureaucracies being designed so that everybody, whether they're a genius or an idiot, can perform their assigned job adequately and consistently[[/note]].

* In ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'' the country of Azir is famous for its obsession with paperwork. When a thief breaks into the palace and pretends to be someone's servant sent to get cake, she's treated to a rant about how dietary requests are supposed to be submitted in advance with the appropriate forms. When a man intends to execute a 13-year old for trespass and theft, they stand aside, unable to argue because he did, after all, fill out the correct paperwork to do it. On the other hand, while an assassin murders rulers across the world and much of it descends into chaos and civil war as factions vie for the throne, the most powerful people in Azir are sitting peacefully around a table, worriedly and earnestly discussing the best options for the country. The idea of rioting in Azir is dismissed as "too much paperwork." And when the slave race present throughout most of the world suddenly (re-)gains full free will and thought they seemingly act in accordance with the nature of the nation they're in -- which in Azir means paperwork (specifically, suing for backpay) rather than, say, revolting to enslave the humans.

** The Blue Kingdom as a whole is even ''worse''. Everything, every last thing, requires paperwork and a good bunch of it. Just having the place ''acknowledge you exist'' has its own processes that will take a while, and changing your status from there has its own twists and turns, depending on who and what you actually are. Each possible divide of life and death is acknowledged and requires its own papers. Even different species have their own courts. And, naturally, since the place processes everyone that's dead and many that are still alive, the queues are so huge the streets and roofs are full of people. And you better have your papers in order, because the laws here are written into reality itself, and will come to life and set your arse on fire themselves if you're breaching any of them.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In "Wish Bank", Janice Hamill is transported to the Department of Magical Venues after finding a magic lamp. Her broker Mr. Brent hands her a stack of papers and tells her that she needs to bring them to the validation window before her ThreeWishes can be granted. He also says that she has to pay tax on the $10,000,000 that she wished for. After queuing at the window for hours, the clerk tells her that she is missing a 604 form and that she needs to get one from her broker. Janice seeks help from Mr. Willoughby, the head of the office, but it is quitting time so he says that she will have to come back tomorrow. She is so frustrated that [[MundaneWish wishes that she never found the lamp]].

* In ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'', the cripplingly bureaucratic Pfhor follow officially marked orders to the letter, no matter how counter-productive or suicidal. This is strongly demonstrated in ''Infinity'', when the crew of a Pfhor ship obeys a fraudulent order that instructs them to summarily execute the higher ranking officers on board. The same order also forbids said officers from surrendering peacefully to be executed.

So government executives tend to become risk averse; when in doubt, don't do it, or shuffle the personto another agency. The BeleagueredBureaucrat often works here. Rarely, if you are lucky, you can find the BadassBureaucrat who can cut through all the red tape and solve your problem. May be a contributing factor to JurisdictionFriction. Compare ForInconveniencePressOne and PenPushingPresident, and ''pray'' the CelestialBureaucracy doesn't qualify.

* Unsurprisingly, Hell in ''Literature/TheScrewtapeLetters'' is a maze of demon middle managers trying to coordinate the actual field agents while backstabbing each other as opportunity arises. They also lose countless hours in dead-end assignments like trying to understand "love," while insisting they're going to make a major breakthrough ''any minute now''.

-->'''Jamie:''' He transferred me to his duty officer upstairs who apparently was not on duty right now, so they call us back.\\
'''Adam:''' You know it's that kind of thing where you can call until you are blue in the face, and no'one would know who you should talk to, and if something did happen and people where pissed off. It would still take them like three weeks to figure out; who should punish you?

May have {{obstructive bureaucrat}}s, but not necessarily; there are just a large number of clerks, officials and middle managers that are mostly just normal people doing their jobs and following the rules. Government executives don't have a clear way of proving that they're doing a good job, the qay a private sector executive has, who can show a profit or sales growth.
So government executives tend to become risk averse. The BeleagueredBureaucrat often works here. Rarely, if you are lucky, you can find the BadassBureaucrat who can cut through all the red tape and solve your problem. May be a contributing factor to JurisdictionFriction. Compare ForInconveniencePressOne and PenPushingPresident, and ''pray'' the CelestialBureaucracy doesn't qualify.

Various bureaucracies are involved at least a little bit in nearly every facet of our lives. Most of the time it's a background entity, such as the government department keeping the food system safe and the roads repaired and so on. But sometimes, a person needs to interact with it more directly, and that's where this trope comes in. In the 20th century, as the bureaucracy grew and took on new responsibilities, it created entities within itself--agencies, commissions, and committees--to do the work. Sometimes their responsibilities overlap. Sometimes they get nested within each other, like a Matryoshka doll. And sometimes the individuals within them just don't want to deal with your problem, or the paperwork to fix it, and pass you off to the next unmotivated, overworked soul to get your form approved, or even within the same agency, you need three levels of approval. Sometimes different agencies have their own internal power struggles. At these times you may realize that you are dealing with a vast, formless entity, with no one you can talk to who is directly in charge.

May have {{obstructive bureaucrat}}s, but not necessarily; there are just a large number of officials and middle managers that are mostly just normal people doing their jobs and following the rules. The BeleagueredBureaucrat often works here. Rarely, if you are lucky, you can find the BadassBureaucrat who can cut throughall the red tape and solve your problem. May be a contributing factor to JurisdictionFriction. Compare ForInconveniencePressOne and PenPushingPresident, and ''pray'' the CelestialBureaucracy doesn't qualify.

Various bureaucracies are involved at least a little bit in nearly every facet of our lives. Most of the time it's a background entity, such as the government keeping the food safe and the roads repaired and so on. But sometimes, a person needs to interact with it a little more directly, and that's where this trope comes in. As the bureaucracy grew and took on new responsibilities, it created entities within itself to do the work. Sometimes they overlap. Sometimes they get nested within each other, like a Matryoshka doll. And sometimes the individuals within them just don't want to deal with your problem, or the paperwork to fix it, and pass you off to the next poor, overworked soul. At these times you may realize that you are dealing with a vast, formless entity, with no one you can talk to directly in charge.

Notorious for the InherentInTheSystem way that while no one you deal with is personally evil, nonetheless the net effect is horrific.

May have {{obstructive bureaucrat}}s, but not necessary; there are just a large number of bureaucrats that are mostly just normal people doing their jobs. The BeleagueredBureaucrat often works here. Rarely, if you are lucky, you can find the BadassBureaucrat. May be a contributing factor to JurisdictionFriction. Compare ForInconveniencePressOne and PenPushingPresident, and ''pray'' the CelestialBureaucracy doesn't qualify.

This trope can be considered as parent trope to FascistButInefficient. Totalitarian forms of statehood and economy ''always'' require and form a vast bureaucracy, which escalates the horrid inefficiency of such societies.

* Wiki/{{Wikipedia}}'s growth slowed at one point for multiple reasons, but the related one is an immense behind the scenes bureaucracy with reams of Wikispeak that few new members can penetrate and casual editors can get driven off by, since they may spend half an hour writing an entry only to have it deleted by someone spouting legalese they don't know the terms to counter.

-->'''The Guide:''' ''They are one of the most unpleasant races in the galaxy - not actually evil, but bad tempered, bureaucratic, officious and callous. They wouldn't even lift a finger to save their own grandmothers from the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal without an order, signed in triplicate, sent in, sent back, queried, lost, found, subjected to public enquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat for three months and recycled as firelighters.''

* The Vogons in ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' have a society that's practically made of this.

* Played for laughs in ''[[Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuidetotheGalaxy]]'': The Vogons are a mindless bureaucracy...
** ...as exemplified in the novel, radio broadcast, and 1980 BBC television miniseries: