Encouraging Civil Servants to Speak Truth to Power
Who will tell the Emperor that he is wearing no clothes? My research suggests that the answer is public servants who believe personnel are recruited on the basis of merit. Merit recruitment not only isolates bureaucrats' careers from political influence, but it signals to them that as politically neutral officials, their professional duty includes the provision of frank and fearless advice.
Read the article in Public Administration
Watch the video abstract
Read the article in Public Administration
Watch the video abstract
Is Social Media Threatening the Public Service's Impartiality?
Social media is frequently hailed as improving democracy by increasing participation in politics. But what if citizens are also public servants who are supposed to be politically impartial? Is social media putting the public service's impartiality in jeopardy? My research suggests that the answer is...no. Public servants are less politically active online than those persons working in the private sector, despite being more politically active in traditional offline avenues such a signing a petition or attending a rally.
Read the article in the International Review of Administrative Sciences
Read the article in the International Review of Administrative Sciences
Has the Prime Minister become too Powerful?
Scholars often lament that since the latter half of the 20th century the Prime Minister has become too powerful in parliamentary countries. My research suggests that this is indeed the case. Knowing that first ministers have the power to appoint elite bureaucrats, I examine whether a change in first minister leads to an increase in the turnover of bureaucratic elites over the last 100 years. I find that since 1980, when a new first minister is elected there is a sharp increase in bureaucratic turnover even when the party has stayed the same, whereas prior to this time, only a change in party led to an increase in turnover. The evidence is consistent with a shift in power away from the party and towards the first minister.
Read the article in Parliamentary Affairs
Read the article in Parliamentary Affairs
Do Public Servants Resist Politicization?
Research suggests that governments have increasingly prioritized political criteria rather than merit when appointing elite bureaucrats. But how do bureaucrats perceive such efforts? Do they resist politicization? My case study research suggests that they do, and that bureaucratic resistance is tied to their identity as politically neutral officials invested with the obligation to provide frank and fearless advice.
Read the article in Administration and Society
Read the article in Administration and Society
Why Do Some Countries Politicize their Bureaucracy More Than Others?
During the last twenty years governments across the globe have increasingly abandoned merit recruitment in favour of political criteria when appointing senior public servants. But they have not done so equally. Are differences in politicization because of underlying administrative traditions? Data examining bureaucratic appointments in 20 countries across four traditions suggests so.
Read the article in International Public Administration Journal
Read the article in International Public Administration Journal
Did Margaret Thatcher Kill the Westminster Administrative Tradition?
Have control-obsessed governments led to the demise of Westminster administrative tradition? Examining the permanency of elite bureaucrats in Britain between 1949 and 2014 following a change in government, my research suggests that the tradition is alive and well! Since Margaret Thatcher became prime minister in 1979, levels of bureaucratic turnover following a change in government have not increased from what they were during the postwar period.
Read more in the London School of Economic's Blog Read the article in British Politics |
Does Federalism Lead to Better Informed Interest Groups?Rather than one government making a single decision, federalism means that several governments make their own independent decisions. My research suggests that when a particular policy issue is studied by several governments within a federal country, interest groups can use the succession of learning opportunities to further develop their own policy positions. Federalism can lead to better informed interest groups.
Read the article in Social Policy and Administration |
Does it Matter Who Advises Politicians?
Whether governments rely upon the advice career public servants or partisan advisers has important consequences on the type of public policies that governments develop. Whereas professional public servants tend to take a long-term outlook and prioritize technical expertise, partisan advisers tend to emphasize short-term electoral considerations. In an article co-authored with Patrik Marier, these differences are explained as varying "executive styles" and are shown to lead to different types of policies.
Read the article in the Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis
Read the article in the Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis