This book deals with the bureaucracy in Sri Lanka during three distinct periods, namely the Kandyan kingdom and the period up to independence, the post independent period up to the adoption of the presidential system of rule, and the period under the presidential system. He identifies six different regimes during this period and the behaviour of rulers during these regimes. He also identifies the bureaucrats that served during the regimes, how their dispositions were formed, the capital that they possessed and the capital they acquired, and provides a theory based explanation as to why bureaucrats behave in different ways at different times. He concludes by providing an explanation as to why some present-day bureaucrats are subservient to today’s rulers.