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Chapter 6
The Constitutional
Tradition—Bureaucratic
Accountability to the
Constitutional Order
Portrait of a Bureaucrat
In the lm e Girl in the Café (Yates 2005), Bill Nighy portrays Lawrence, a senior
research analyst in the employ of the British chancellor of the exchequer. e plot
centers on preparations for and participation in the 2005 G8 summit (chaired by
the United Kingdom), for which Lawrence and his colleagues are focused on inter-
national economic policy—issues of debt, aid, and trade. Lawrence is every bit the
quiet, self- eacing civil servant who does the chancellor’s bidding eectively and
eciently, following orders precisely ...