The Civil Service Under Stress: The Fall in Civil Service Power and Authority

The failures of governments of both parties in the 1970s had prepared for radical changes in the nature of government under Margaret Thatcher. Among them were that ministers resumed greater power over their civil servants. While various aspects of the relationship between ministers and officials changed and despite the introduction of special advisers, close partnership — the Haldane relationship — was largely retained between them until the end of the 1980s. In the 1990s ministers began to operate less closely with the civil service, largely because they found they had less time for departmental work under the Major and the first Blair administrations. Many of the skills for which civil servants had been trained became less in demand because of the ending of the Cabinet style of government, the reduced importance of ministers appearing before parliament and the greater involvement of spin doctors and media handlers in preparing public documents. However, new skills were required: more rapid accessing of information and more skill in implementation and responsibility for it. The Wilson reforms of 1999 were in large part aimed to remedy these shortcomings. There remains a question whether enough of the Haldane relationship survives for government not to be driven towards greater definition of the rules in which civil servants operate.     

Stepping Out: Rhetorical Devices and Culture Change Management in the UK Civil Service

Organizational culture is the pattern of values and beliefs held by members of an organization and the management of culture is now one of the most frequently discussed of all organizational concepts. The excitement associated with culture is attributable to two factors. First, it is argued that culture is the key to organizational performance; simply stated, a strong organizational culture can be a source of competitive advantage. Second, culture is perceived as an alternative method of control to traditional and technocratic forms of management and can be manipulated to ensure that employees are enthusiastic and committed to organizational objectives.
Despite the extensive interest in this topic, culture remains an elusive concept. This paper investigates the nature of culture and considers strategies for introducing cultural change. Specifically, the aims of the paper are threefold. First, to locate and explain the interests and significance of culture change for the public sector. Second, using a case study of a newly created agency, to investigate the problems and issues affecting cultural change in the civil service. Third, to reassess and critically evaluate the claims for culture management made in the literature. Finally, this paper questions some of the assumptions in the literature, which with few exceptions are biased toward top management and the unitary conception of organization, an ideological frame of reference which is particularly problematic in the public sector.     

法国社会党的领袖危机

法国社会党的改革和重建,其中一个重要的内容就是设计一个总统候选人的推选程序,使其最终的领袖具有合法性又具有权威性能赢得下次总统的胜利.社会党在迎接着一次严峻的考验,未来的总统选举一名社会党总统人选能否胜出正在考验着社会党的执政能力.     

Public Administration in Libya: Continuity and Change

ABSTRACT

Libyan public administration has been shaped by Libya’s history, ideology, and economy. It has been negatively affected by the political changes occurring since independence in 1951, particularly Gaddaf’s distinctive initiatives, and by upheavals in the post-Gaddafi transition. Libya’s rentier economy has had its impact on public administration, particularly through its promotion of widespread public corruption. This article analyzes the history of Libya’s politico-administration system before describing the current administrative arrangement, identifying the essential factors that have given rise to those arrangements, and analyzing the contemporary characteristics of public administration that constitute the key future challenges Libya faces.     

法共的变革和"新共产主义"理论

在苏东剧变的冲击和法共力量日趋下降的情况下,以罗贝尔·于为代表的法国共产党提出了一套系统的"新共产主义"理论,主张对党的组织原则和机构进行改革,把党建设成为一个现代的、开放的、充满活力的、民主的新型共产党.这是法共为寻求符合法国国情的发展道路而进行的一种积极探索.但其变革迄今未能取得预期的效果,法共仍面临着种种困难.     

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.