Bureaucrats, policy analysts, statesmen

the long version

Do bureaucrats and policy analysts have a political role auxiliary and subordinate to elected officials, or do they really run things? Do bureaucrats and policy analysts bring oder to a complex world and thereby facilitate effective political leadership, or do they dominate the process with projects and analyses that make political leadership impossible? Do bureaucrats have so much control because they have usurped political power, or is the explanation to be found in our fundamental political principles, which tilt us toward the bureaucratic state?