bureaucracy

noun4

1. •
   Government by bureaus or their administrators or officers.

   • However, when Britain left the European Union, ferries started to ply a direct sea link from Ireland, to save hauliers from custom's bureaucracy of driving via Britain. — 2021
2. •
   A system of administration based upon organisation into bureaus, division of labour, a hierarchy of authority, etc., designed to dispose of a large body of work in a routine manner.

   • At that time the administration replaced the system of patronage in the civil service with a bureaucracy.
3. •
   Excessive red tape and routine in any administration, body or behaviour.

   • The head of the civil service promised to clamp down on bureaucracy.
4. •
   The body of officers and administrators, especially of a government.

   • The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy. (apocryphal quip)