Public Service Recruitment Practices and Implications for Sustainable Development in Ebonyi State,Nigeria

ABSTRACT

Despite several reforms in Ebonyi public service, little or no indices of sustainable development has been recorded in decades. This study aims at examining the aspect of recruitment processes and how guaranteed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) attainment is affected. The findings drawn from three different ministries in Ebonyi State Civil Service (EBSCS) reveal that the processes of recruitment are characterized by nepotism, political interference devoid of merit, and professionalism. This implies that guaranteed sustainable development in Ebonyi state is at risk of attainment. This conclusion proves the relationship between Public Service Recruitment (PSR) processes and development. In view of the above, it argues that a new PSR reform should be instituted if the country is to achieve the targets set in the SDGs. This is hoped to promote accountability, transparency, and sound administrative governance in the public sector.     

The Politics of Administrative Reforms in Ghana: Perspectives from Path Dependency and Punctuated Equilibrium Theories

Since 1957, various Ghanaian governments have made, and continue to make, attempts to reform the administrative state for development. In spite of this, not much seems to have been achieved over the years. Why has the passion of successive governments for reforming the administrative system failed to yield the desired outcomes? What is the nexus between regime turnover and frequent administrative reforms? Where do we want to go, and what will take us there or at least close to our intended destination? What approach is likely to maximize the chances of success and minimize those of failure? We argue that administrative reforms in Ghana have been consistently undermined by the discontinuity of reform initiatives undertaken by successive governments; the inability to have a “national agenda for development”; continuous reliance on expatriates as consultants and advisers; over-reliance on multinational institutions for financial support; and by the absence of a “developmental state.”     

Administrative reform in china: Issues and prospects

China's experience of organizational reform is representative of the country's attempts to implement more general administrative reform. Forty years of organizational reform have produced only short-term successes. In the 1988 reforms, however, leaders proposed for the first time to re-define the role of the state in society. In general, the reforms have been undermined by political, economic, and institutional problems. These include conflicting elite priorities, cycles of economic centralization and decentralization, the interdependence of government agencies and economic enterprises, and the lack of incentives to economize. Consequently, the organizational reform management institutions are very weak. Successful implementation of organizational reform in the future depends to a large extent on further economic development.     

PUBLIC MANAGEMENT FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE: REFORMS,REGIMES, AND REALITY IN BANGLADESH

Bangladesh, a relatively young country, emerged with expectations of charting a new course in departing from its traditional and rigid system of public administration that prevailed during its existence as a part of British India and later as a province of Pakistan. The evolution of public administration in Bangladesh was profoundly influenced by the legacy of Pakistani rule, and subsequent efforts at reform hardly had any impact in breaking up the domination of the bureaucracy, which thrived under a pseudo-democratic and military-led government. Several factors contributed to the breakdown of administrative governance and the problem was reflected in poor performance, high incidence of corruption, and a lack of direction in the administrative system. A number of internal and external factors have exerted pressure for improving the system, but all efforts have yielded little result. Consequently, the achievement of good governance remains a distant dream in the absence of a vital and effective tool of public management.     

Why madrassah education reforms don’t work in Pakistan

Despite global pressure and national security concerns, the efforts of the Government of Pakistan to reform the madrassah system have proven to be futile. Extant literature on madrassah reform challenges relies overwhelmingly on information provided by governments and experts situated outside of these institutions. While these studies and reports present important findings and viable analysis on madrassah systems; most of the research fails to give voice to the major stakeholders of this system itself, such as the administration staff, teachers, students and parents. Our study fills this crucial gap by conducting semi-structured interviews and field observations inside Pakistani madaris (plural for madrassah) and their professional associations. We find that these madaris have been reluctant to participate in policy interventions offered by the government due to a major trust deficit brought on by differences over financial and curriculum regulation, degree recognition and the government’s role in shaping popular perceptions about madaris. This reluctance has turned down attempts for madrassah reformation and has in turn made them vulnerable to radicalisation. We conclude with policy recommendations for more effective government reforms and a stronger relationship between madrassah representatives and the Government of Pakistan.     

Administrative reform in modern Iran: an historical analysis

This article discusses administrative reforms in modern Iran in an historical context. Beginning in the mid-19th century, administrative reform became a concern of national policy-makers. A number of reforms have been attempted by the three political systems/regimes of Qajar, Pahlavi, and the Islamic Republic. Additionally, several administrative reforms were carried out, though short-lived, by certain revolutionary and popular governments in Iran. Efforts toward administrative reform are reviewed with an assessment of the positive and negative consequences or implications for the development of public administration in modern Iran. It is also argued that most of the dictated administrative reforms have failed in Iran, and that a culturally sensitive attempt at administrative reform has had a much greater chance to succeed than the traditional top-down approaches. Iran's revolutionary experiences tend to empirically support the validity of the former approach. Finally, further research is suggested on recent administrative reforms in post-revolutionary Iran.     

Local Government Modernization in Germany: Between Incrementalism and Reform Waves

In taking a historical-institutionlist approach, this paper looks at the development of administrative reforms in German local government which, because of the comparatively high degree of political and administrative decentralization of the Federal Republic has played a crucial role in the latter's entire politico-administrative setting and, hence, in its institutional reforms. The paper mainly identifies three stages in the post-war development of administrative reforms. During the 'planning movement' of the late 1960s and early 1970s, Germany's local level government and administration underwent significant and, to a considerable degree, lasting institutional changes. The 1980s were a period of incrementalist adaptation. Since the beginning of the 1990s, conspicuously later than in the Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian countries, but earlier and faster than the federal and the Länder levels, Germany's local government has embarked upon dramatic changes particularly on two scores. First, in a growing number of municipalities and counties, administrative modernization was incorporated under the heading of a 'New Steering Model' (NSM) that largely drew on the dominant international New Public Management (NPM) debate. The dynamics of the ongoing administrative reforms are marked by an 'amalgamation' of NPM/NSM and earlier ('traditional') reform concepts. Secondly, at the same time, the political institutions of local government have under-gone a significant shift as a result of the introduction of direct democratic procedures (direct election of mayors and heads of counties, binding local referenda). The paper argues that it is this co-incidence and co-evolution of administrative and political reforms that make for the peculiarity of Germany's current modernization trajectory, distinguishing it from the Anglo-Saxon and, to a lesser degree, from the Scandinavian modernization paths.     

SCALE ECONOMIES AND IRON LAWS: MERGERS AND DEMERGERS IN WHITEHALL 1971–1984

Between 1971 and 1984 there were ten cases of merger or demerger in British central government departments, ranging in importance from the massive DTI demerger into four distinct departments (1973) to the absorption by the Lord Chancellor's Department of the Office of the Public Trustee (1982). By analysis of changes in aggregate indices of 'top staff', 'middle staff', ratio of administrative grades to total staff, salary costs relative to total budget, budget relative to total Government budget, and staff relative to total Civil Service staff, some common hypotheses about the rationale and effects of such bureau-shuffling are explored. It is found that, if anything, like attracts unlike (in terms of these indices); that change in scale creates neither economies nor diseconomies; that reorganization does not inevitably produce cost escalation (the 'Iron Law of Prodigality'); but that the 'Iron Law of Inertia' (reorganization in practice has little observable effect on bureaucratic structure and working) is supported by the observed results.     

The Northern Ireland Civil Service: Characteristics and Trends Since 1970

"This is a damned funny country. There's one crowd singing 'Wrap the Green Flag Round Me' and another crowd sings 'Rule Britannia' and there's a lot of bloody civil servants up there in Stormont drawing twenty pounds a week and laughing at the lot of us." Comment made in 1939 to Patrick Shea, cited in Shea 1981, p. 205.
This paper offers a summary of research on the Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) that has been undertaken as part of an ESRC-supported project examining the changing nature of civil services throughout the British Isles. Not since Gladden's seminal work in 1967 have studies of the British Civil Services offered sufficient coverage of the long-existing variations within the UK. The weaknesses in coverage are particularly visible with respect to the Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS), which is accorded either footnote status in most work or even ignored altogether. A compelling case for closing the gap in the literature is underscored by the political devolution that was introduced after 1998. Far from being the unitary state associated with the Westminster model, the UK exhibits the features of a differentiated polity in which figure the contradictory impulses of centralization and fragmentation. In illustrating 'parity with particularity', the civil service arrangements obtaining within the Province of Northern Ireland clearly exemplify the differentiation with the UK. Moreover, with devolved fora now established for both Scotland and Wales, with associated pressure for more distinctive and even separate civil arrangements in each, Northern Ireland's experience offers valuable lessons on how the UK civil service may develop in Scotland and Wales.     

New Public Management and Administrative Reforms in Nigeria

This study examines the Nigerian attempts to implement the New Public Management (NPM) reform. The paper aims at identifying the strand, the extent of progress made and the reason(s) for success/failure recorded. The author finds that the poor success story of the reform is as a result of the preference of the more attractive cost-saving neoliberal economic aspect to the more involving and demanding bureaucratic aspect, the inconsistencies in program implementation, and lack of strong political will common to adopting reform in developing countries. The article recommends that reforms require dealing with the critical challenges of institutionalization, inconsistency and legitimization.     

German and Italian Municipalities’ Internal Control Systems: Convergence to a Neo-Weberian Reform Pattern?

This article contributes to the debate on convergence/divergence of public management reforms toward the new public management (NPM) paradigm by analyzing the internal control systems (ICSs) in Germany and Italy. Specifically, the study describes the ICS established at the normative level in German and Italian municipalities and evaluates the extent of the decisional convergence to NPM, using the INTOSAI guidelines. Although similarities between the two ICSs and the INTOSAI guidelines emerged, decisional convergence is not demonstrated. Instead, these countries seem to converge to a Neo-Weberian reform pattern since they are cautious in the introduction of new managerial tools and they maintain their domestic original ICS.     

Between Slow and Comprehensive Reformers: Comparing Government’s Funding Policies of Universities in Three European Countries

This article analyzes implications of political–administrative systems for public reforms in funding of higher education. A national comparison of government funding policies of universities in France, Norway, and England since the 1980s serves as the basis for analysis. The author challenges the common classification of political–administrative regimes where frequently early and comprehensive reformers become the benchmark of what characterizes a reform. The author shows how specific path-dependent mechanisms can be added to explain processes of change in countries associated with opportunities to prevent change (France), but also for countries that have been linked to comprehensive reform (England) as well as incremental reform (Norway).     

Top Civil Servants Under Contract

This article focuses on the introduction of the new top civil servant contract system in New Zealand and Norway. Even though both countries introduced contractual arrangements at the same time, the content of the reforms and their scope, scale and intensity are very different. The New Zealand reform was more radical and internally consistent. In contrast to an aggressive and thorough implementation in New Zealand, the contract system was implemented more cautiously and reluctantly in Norway. The effects of the reform are ambiguous and uncertain in both countries. A transformative perspective focusing on the interconnection between international administrative doctrines, national political-administrative culture, and polity feature is used to understand why contracts reforms have different contents, effects and implications.     

Suicide on the Indian subcontinent

The Indian subcontinent comprises eight countries (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Bhutan, and the Maldives) and a collective population of more than 1.3 billion people. 10% of the world's suicides (more than 100,000 people) take place in just three of these countries, viz. India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan. There is very little information on suicides from the other four countries. Some differences from suicides in Western countries include the high use of organophosphate insecticides, larger numbers of married women, fewer elderly subjects, and interpersonal relationship problems and life events as important causative factors. There is need for more and better information regarding suicide in the countries of the Indian subcontinent. In particular, studies must address culture-specific risk factors associated with suicide in these countries. The prevention of this important public health problem in an area of the world with myriad socio-economic problems, meager resources, and stigmatization of mental illness poses a formidable challenge to mental health professionals, policy makers, and governments of these countries.     

ORGANIZATIONAL PATHWAYS TO COMPLIANT REFORM IMPLEMENTATION: EVIDENCE FROM MEXICAN CIVIL SERVICE REFORM

A technocratic pathway to public management reform stresses the need for committing sizeable resources to reform implementation. Building on an institutional framework, we argue that there are alternative pathways to compliant implementation for government agencies with limited resources. Our comparative study of 55 Mexican government agencies that were the object of the 2003 Civil Service Reform Act reveals the co‐occurrence of both technocratic and institutional pathways to compliant implementation. The common denominator across pathways in organizations with limited resources was the absence of strong oppositional norms (patronage) and the presence of robust interpersonal trust. We conclude that the role played by available resources in compliant reform implementation is far from straightforward, and depends on different combinations of public organizations' endogenous characteristics.     

THE ODYSSEY OF ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS IN GREECE, 1981–2009: A TALE OF TWO REFORM PATHS

In Greece, two distinct reform paths led to institutional building and economic managerial types of reform. These two reforms, with the exception of the period 1996–2004, when both institutional and economic reforms were attempted, did not attract the same degree of attention. Institutional reforms were more successful than attempts at managerial reforms; reform implementation on the other hand varies. Economic and managerial reforms can be observed with regard to economic competition, the opening up of the market, and reducing the size of public sector, all areas where pressure from the EU has been stronger. Decentralization reforms were more important politically than administratively. Citizens' rights and service delivery were conceived as reforms of democratization and modernization rather than as managerial reforms. ‘Agencification’ amounted to circumventing existing ministerial structures. Change was incremental, and reforms were minimally guided by the New Public Management paradigm, because of little emphasis on changes imbued by managerial and economic values. Reform dynamics benefited not only from outside pressures but also from the operation of internal, ‘modernizing’ forces.     

New Public Management and Democratic Participation: Complementary or Competing Reforms? A South African Study

Abstract

Administrative and participatory reforms are common in developing countries, often introduced together and expected to complement each other. Some observers question whether the reforms do complement each other, however, specifically suggesting that the two types reflect different relational and governance patterns. Based on such thought, a “differential relationship influence hypothesis” is presented and tested, investigating whether new public management (NPM) reforms complement or compete with democratic‐participatory reforms. Econometric analysis of survey data shows that South African municipalities adopt NPM reforms more readily when influenced by top–down intergovernmental relationships but adopt participatory reforms more readily when faced with bottom–up civic influences. This evidence supports the hypothesis and indicates that administrative and participatory reforms may not complement each other. The study also indicates a common administrative culture effect on both types of reform adoption—differential relational influences can be tempered by experimental and change‐minded administrators in local governments.     

ADMINISTRATIVE REFORM – GENERAL PRINCIPLES AND THE AUSTRALIAN EXPERIENCE

Failure to understand the political nature of administrative reform and to develop a political strategy to overcome resistance lies behind the failure of many reform attempts. The prerequisites of reform include political will, time, resources, an ongoing institution promoting change, and a strategy which concentrates on the implementation stage when resistance is strongest. Such a strategy must use the principal levers of change, including legislation, which directly affect administrative behaviour. In Australia in the 1970s administrative reform proceeded only slowly with the exception of changes in some States and the introduction of a new body of Federal administrative law. A better reform strategy in the past two years has resulted in extensive legislative change at the Federal level including greater ministerial control over certain senior appointments, open public competition for the top one per cent of civil service jobs, affirmative action and industrial democracy. There has thus been a further shift towards a unique Australian model of public administration.