What Kind of Civil Service? Trends in Public Administration Reform in Eastern Europe

2003 ◽  
pp. 55-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vita King
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Civil Service ◽  
Public Administration Reform

scholarly journals Public Administration Reform in Bulgaria: Top-down and Externally-driven Approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-124
Author(s):  
Emilia Zankina
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Civil Service ◽  
Human Resources Management ◽  
External Pressure ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Public Administration Reform ◽  
Main Factors ◽  
The Eu

The article examines public administration reform (PAR) in Bulgaria and the main factors that shaped the reform agenda and dynamics. PAR is examined along five key dimensions – transparency and accountability, civil service and human resources management (HRM), public service delivery and digitalisation, organisation and management of government, and policy-making coordination and implementation. The article argues that there are four main factors influencing reform dynamics and determining policy outcomes in the Bulgarian case: the specific political choices made by government elites, external influence of the EU and of past national legacies, and the importance of institutions and reform mechanisms. To illustrate these factors at work, the article examines three policy initiatives, i.e. e-government, the reduction of administrative burden, and civil service reform. The article presents a longitudinal analysis and a qualitative case-study approach, utilising Annual Reports on the Status of the Public Administration 2001–2018, mapping European Semester Documents 2011–2017, an inventory of PAR initiatives 2005–2018, and interviews of public officials. The pushes for reform have been top-down, externally-driven, and stop-and-go in nature. The results confirm previous findings that Bulgaria is among the EU countries with the poorest record in PAR, struggling to overcome communist legacies and high levels of corruption and politicisation. The Bulgarian case highlights several important lessons: the importance of political will and political dynamics for the outcome of reform efforts; the importance of external pressure and financing; the difficulty of uprooting long-standing legacies in administrative traditions; and the limitations of the top-down approach as an obstacle to the sustainability of reform efforts.

scholarly journals Understanding Japan’s Civil Service System: Norms, Meritocracy, and Institutional Change

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Zuliansyah P. Zulkarnain ◽  
Eko Prasojo
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Social Acceptance ◽  
Civil Service ◽  
Service System ◽  
Political Legitimacy ◽  
Meiji Restoration ◽  
Public Administration Reform ◽  
The Government ◽  
Term Performance ◽  
The Impact

This article aims to elucidate the tradition of Japan’s public administration emphasizing the civil service system. A number of studies explain the impact of the tradition (norms, values, and institutions), in shaping the process and result of public administration reform. By applying the historical institutionalism perspective, this study reveals how the legacy of the past, the tradition promoted by the Meiji Restoration, creates the new tradition of public administration. This study selects Japan as a typical case representing Asian developmentalists. The remarkable Meiji restoration marked the process of adoption and adjustment of the Germanic traditions in the bureaucracy modernization. Norm institutionalization has established the new norms and civil service system. The basic norms consist of legality, consensus, and seniority. It develops the "kyaria" denoting recruitment, selection, and promotion influenced by seniority, long term performance, and prestigious university recommendation and produces competent and dominant mandarins in the policy process. However, the parliament continuously initiates the reform to reduce the mandarin's domination and heighten political control over the bureaucracy. The reform has not yet changed the power balance of two institutions since the ”kyaria's” embeddedness in Japan's polity produces two consequences. First, it contributes to public administration modernization. The mandarin’s outstanding performance increases political legitimacy and social acceptance to the "kyaria"system. Second, the parliament cannot drastically reduce the mandarin’s role since the lifetime employment model enriches them with knowledge and experience of the government affairs. Conducting cautious reform and, at the same time, working closely with the mandarin are the primary reform strategy of the parliament.

scholarly journals Public Administration Reforms in Slovakia: Limited Outcomes (Why ?)

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juraj Nemec
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Civil Service ◽  
Slovak Republic ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Standard Group ◽  
Civil Service Reform ◽  
Public Administration Reform ◽  
The Right ◽  
High Level ◽  
The Eu

AbstractThe goal of this paper is to document and to analyse public administration reform dynamics and outcomes in three selected areas – transparency and accountability, civil service and local self-governments.The high level of potential access to government information in Slovakia does not “produce” increased accountability, predictability and also does not effectively serve as a tool to control corruption. We argue that citizens are not only victims, but also accomplishers: their tolerance for corruption, excessive bureaucracy and rentseeking is confirmed by many existing studies.Concerning civil service reform, Slovakia shows a substantial reform reversal towards politicisation and centralisation after 2001, which clearly threatens the fundamental features of democratic governance. Soon after the EU accession in 2004 major regressive changes took place, and the Civil Service Office was abolished in 2006. The new legislation in force from 2017 (forced by the EU conditionality) should return the Slovak civil service back on the right track – let us to see.With regard to self-government the reforms aimed towards the establishment of more independent local and regional self-government. However, the major issue here is the extreme fragmentation on the municipal level – almost 3,000 municipalities in the country, most of them bellow 1,000 inhabitants. Many studies confirm that amalgamation (or at least functional amalgamation) is necessary – but there is no political will to start it.What are the main lessons from the Slovak case ? The information provided indicates that the Slovak Republic belongs to the “standard” group of CEE countries – after the first wave of democratisation reforms immediately after 1989, most of the later changes were realised “thanks to” external motivations and pressures – and not always really welcomed. The specific issue, however, is the decentralisation reform in 2000 – 2005. This change, providing really fragmented local self-government by extra rights and responsibilities, was internally driven, with positive results from the point of view of self-government principles, but with many hurdles caused by too large a number of too small municipalities.

scholarly journals Theoretical and conceptual approaches to the research of leadership aspects in public authorities

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Lipentsev ◽  
O. Romanyuk
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Human Resource ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Civil Service ◽  
Specific Situation ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Administration Reform ◽  
Ukrainian Society ◽  
Management And Leadership

Problem setting. Aspects of leadership have been studied throughout the entire history of humanity, and since the 80s of the 20th century it has become a subject of systematic research of various sciences, scientific investigations of ways and means of development of leadership qualities of a person have been carried out [25, p. 73]. The phenomenon of leadership is extremely rich in its manifestations and functions and depends on historical epochs, types of political systems, specific situation, peculiarities of leaders and their constituents and other factors [25, p. 76].Accordingly, during the critical period in the development of the Ukrainian society, the old principles of governance lose their efficiency and stop to work. It becomes difficult to exercise leadership in a world where creativity is valued more than diligence, indicating a change in the nature of the leadership phenomenon. Taking into account that Ukraine is currently in a zone of turbulence, there is an urgent need to improve approaches to human resource management in the system of public authorities. Therefore, aspects of enhancing the effectiveness of management and leadership in the public service are still gaining relevance in further research.In our publication we will focus on our own thoughts on the development of leadership in general and leadership in public service on the basis of analysis of the source base of scientific research on leadership.Recent research and publications analysis shows that the problem of leadership in public administration is constantly in the sight of the scientists who are trying to grasp all edges of the leadership phenomenon. However, this topic is still more thoroughly designed and developed by foreign scientists, among them: A. Adler, K. Lewin, R. Bales, R. Tannenbaum, I. Weschler and F. Masaryk, P. Drucker, F. Fiedler, V. Vroom, F. Yeatton, M. Mescon, P. Hersi and C. Blanchard, W. Bass, Conger and R. Kanungo, A. Fllley, R. House, S. Kerr, B. Chester, C. Shrishame, F. Fiedler and others. The scientific paths of formation and development of leadership were also studied by native scientists. These include T. Vasylevska, N. Honcharuk, I. Hrishchenko, S. Derzhanovska, A. Kliuchnikov, A. Lipentsev, L. Pashko, A. Pakhariev, T. Pidlisna, L. Prykhodchenko, A. Rachynskii, I. Surai, S. Seriohin, V. Tolkovanov, P. Khaitov and others. At the same time, the leadership of the civil service was repeatedly emphasized by NAPA (National Academy for Public Administration) scientists O. Parkhomenko-Kutsevil, O. Piddubchak, V. Poberezhnaia, N. Popadiuk, P. Sydorenko, R. Storozhev, S. Chernova, S. Haiduchenko, and others. Some positions of works of these scientists are used in the further for substantiation of own understanding of leadership.At the same time, the largest Google search engine for the query «leadership in public administration» (status 23.08.2021) received 558,000 links, which indicates that the concept of leadership is very popular. We have reviewed a few of them that are relevant to our own research [6, p. 35].Highlighting previously unsettled parts of the general problem. The research of leadership development in the public service is of particular relevance for modern Ukrainian society. Accordingly, the authors studied theoretical and conceptual approaches to the research and development of leadership in public authorities, taking into account the priorities of the “Public Administration Reform Strategies in Ukraine for 2022-2025”, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of 21 July 2021, №831-p.Aim of the paper. The article aims to reveal theoretical and conceptual approaches to the research of leadership in public authorities in the context of the tasks of scientific support for the implementation of the main goals of the “Strategy for Public Administration Reform in Ukraine for 2022-2025”.Paper main body. Summarizing various definitions, we can define leadership as a type of managerial interaction (in this case – between the leader and followers), based on the combination of different sources of power depending on a specific situation and aimed at motivating people to achieve common goals. In other words, leadership is the relationships of dominance and subordination, influence and direction in the system of interpersonal relations in the group, which lead to the intended goal. However, in socio-political life, the concept of “leader” is often associated with the concept of “manager”. Thereby, serious debates about the similarity or divergence of these concepts take place in the scientific community today. In particular, researchers are trying to reveal who is more required in a modern civil service – a manager, a leader, or a manager-leader? They also try to find out if a specialist can be an informal leader. If yes, how can a manager successfully use such a human resource then?Besides, the practice shows that a manager in public authorities is not always a leader, and a leader is not always a manager. It has also been proven that a manager with managerial skills, who exercised leadership, is more effective. Conclusions of the research and prospects for further studies. Leadership in public authorities is an understudied phenomenon that requires comprehensive research. Comparing the phenomena of leadership and governance within classical management and leadership, it can be argued that leadership involves the ability to lead employees to a common goal, to motivate them to want to do what is necessary.The way to an effective model of public administration management is the systematic development of leadership at all management levels.Development of innovative and service aspects of organizational culture and its management - this is the main task of leaders at all levels in public authorities in the context of the implementation of the “Strategy for Public Administration Reform until 2025”.

scholarly journals PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE OF CIVIL SERVANTS AS A FACTOR OF SUCCESS OF PUBLIC MANAGER

2020 ◽  
pp. 152-157
Author(s):  
A. Zhulavskiy ◽  
V. Hordiienko ◽  
N. Malko
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Civil Service ◽  
Professional Competence ◽  
Civil Servant ◽  
Civil Servants ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Effective Work ◽  
Public Administration Reform ◽  
European Standards ◽  
State Body

The article is devoted to the actual issues of professional competence of civil servants in the system of effective public administration. It was found out that official duties of a state body require professional knowledge and certain competencies of a civil servant how to properly apply them. The analysis of the legislative and regulatory framework in the field of civil service shows that a concept as "professional competence of civil servants." Undergoes formation of its foundations and development. The precondition for the formation of competencies for an employee is determined by the position requirements and job responsibilities. The role of the head of the state body, his/her vision and style of management of the institution and staff, his/her fairness and professionalism in the selection of specialists play an important role. The analysis of the procedure of civil servant evaluation, servant’s activities during the last year and the effectiveness of the tasks set by the head of the civil service indicates a constant need to increase the level of professional competence of the employees. Activities of an HR specialist or service, who is responsible for supporting employees in personal, professional and competence growth through elaborating individual plans and training schemes. Approaches to evaluate activities of civil servants and impact of these activities were identified. The current state of implementation of the system of training and re-training, the basic requirements and types of educational services, platforms, including online, were assessed. Basic requirements to professional competence of civil servants necessary for effective work of public authorities were identified. The ways to solve and improve the mechanisms of realization civil service policies, namely improvement of the system of increase of professional competence of civil servants, were suggested. Considering the long-term public administration reform in Ukraine, the government's focus on the gradual provision of public institutions with competent and professional employees who would meet European standards, was identified.

scholarly journals General characteristics of civil service systems

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 68-72
Author(s):  
Stanislav Lyubich
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
European Community ◽  
Civil Service ◽  
Service Systems ◽  
Service Organization ◽  
Mixed System ◽  
Public Interests ◽  
Public Administration Reform ◽  
Western Law

The article deals with elucidating the general features of various systems of civil service organiza-tion. The relevance of the study is due to the fact that Ukraine's participation in globalization and European integration processes reflects the necessity to study the experience of states that make up the Western law tradition, which should focus on civil service systems, based on the state's tasks within democratic societies and permanent public administration reform in Ukraine. The focus is on the distinguishing of three classic systems of civil service organization that are immanent to the European community states: career, job and mixed system. It is indicated the prevalence of career models within the abovementioned states. The determinant feature of the modernization model of the civil service is the management of purely public interests and demands.

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