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EIPASCOPE 2010/2
Ex mis et
ivil
er
vic
ebaes in the E of
ivil ervices in the E of – trum r
eform utcomes and es? C
the uture of the ivil ervice eridest viridepsena omaximil
hristoph Demm e
This article is presenting the results of a study on “ivil ervice ystems in the E of ” based on
empirical data from the E ember tates and realised within the European ublic dministration
Networ (EN) on the evolution of the classical bureaucratic career system in Europe.
The following discussion presents an overview of the current status of national civil services the 55
main reform trends that are ta ing place and the main outcomes of selected national reform
policies. The overall aim is to provide empirical evidence facts and comparative statistical evidence
in order to help eperts and scholars to better understand the different national civil service
systems the nature of reforms and the changes that are ta ing place. This study thus represents
basic research from which it may be worth continuing with more research into managerial issues
organisational reforms as well as different policies such as leadership issues developments
in the field of wor ing time diversity management anti-discrimination and pension reforms.
This overview may also serve as an instrument for a more rational discourse about the similarities
and differences amongst the different national civil services.
Introduction
National public services are moving through a fascinating ethical function they should serve society and the law
but also disorienting period of change throughout Europe. protect the population as well as function in a sustainable
During the last few decades almost all national (and manner. or all of these tas s and duties the ember tates
sub-national) public services have introduced major civil have established specific civil services. No government
service reforms. The discussion on what has been achieved functions as a private company or under labour law.
by restructuring the national public service is most
controversial. till there is little evidence of the outcome Public Service eorms and teir outcomes
of these reforms the identification and definition of new
administrative and organisational models and on the answer hen loo ing bac in time it indeed seems that every “era
to the uestion of whether and how a specific civil service (…) has a few words that epitomise its world-view and that
will survive at all in the future. are fied points by which all else can be measured. n the
till civil service systems are a constituent part of our iddle ges they were such words as faith grace od
system of government. odern government still depends nation in the eighteenth century they were such words as
to a great etent on the wor of the national civil services reason nature and rights...”.
and their employees the millions of civil servants. n fact n the field of public management reform language
the uality of life in Europe depends in many ways on those is changing all the time and is subject to many fashions.
who wor for governments and on how government wor s ne could also say that where classical civil service values
as such. urthermore civil services have a democratic and such as neutrality stability hierarchy impartiality fairness
eipaeu
and standardisation are “static” and “conservative” public with regard to the nature and outcomes of these reforms.
management reform values are “fluent” and “modern”. s a conseuence traditional features of the national civil
odern public management science still promotes the services are increasingly disappearing. ¦ong-standing ta en
linear development belief that there is always a better way for granted assumptions and orthodoies no longer hold.
to do things. anagement theory therefore often matches
es in the E of our own cultural belief that anything new is better and e Callene o Comparin Civil Service eorms in te
vic promising. Therefore many consider the old-fashioned term European nion
er “bureaucracy” as something negative whereas the modern
ivil term “good governance” is seen as more positive. eform ince the publication ublic anagement eform§
rhetoric also contrasts new (good) managerial reforms omparative nalysis from ollitt and ¢ouc aert (¡¡¡)
©
with old (bad) bureaucracies civil services and bureaucrats. until overnment at a lance (ED) (¡¡¨) awareness has
eridest viridepsena omaximil“The name given to the old – that against which the modern been growing of the importance of government activities
reformed public sector organisation stands out as superior – and public sector reform. Despite the great importance of
is usually something li e traditional bureaucracy”. owever the civil services for the well-being of our societies very
es? C it remains unclear as to what the new model actually is and little comparative and empirical information eists about
how it contrasts with the old model if this new model ever the nature of reforms and the reform paths of the national
trum reisted at all. civil services. Even amongst academics little attention has
ollitt claims that public management reform has been devoted to the field of comparative civil service reform
eba occurred much more as a result of replication of rhetoric outcomes. hat could be the reason for this£ ne basic
fashion and symbolism than the “grim dictates of the eplanation could be the enormous difficulties involved in
world economy or the functional necessity for increased carrying out comparative research in an area which until
efficiency”. hen loo ing from the past to the present recently was considered to be a national competence and
Ex mis ethowever it seems more li ely that change will not result in represents a branch of the politico-administrative system
a linear progress for the better that has been influenced the
but rather to failures successes f course most eperts have a clear most by national traditions and
paradoes dilemmas and history.
simple alternation. hoices idea of what they want to leave omparisons of the
must therefore be made very behind. The well nown bureaucratic national public- and civil
carefully. n reality public services have so far produced
sector moderniation is full pathologies have produced a counter a contrasting picture.¨ ost of
of paradoes and unintended these comparisons are based
results (see argettserri wave against the bureaucratic model. on ualitative and literature
and ood (¡¡)). oreover ¢ut what is emerging instead£ research. verall there is very
often public reform language little factual and empirical
is contradictory. evidence about structures
f course most eperts have a clear idea of what processes and policies in the national public services. The
they want to leave behind. The well nown bureaucratic same is true as regards the nature of civil service reforms and
pathologies have produced a counter wave against the evaluations in terms of their effects and outcomes.
bureaucratic model. ¢ut what is emerging instead£ New Due to the difficulties involved in obtaining reliable
public services new public management organisations data and carrying out applied empirical research many
hybrid organisations private sector-li e organisations theories reflect personal opinions images and perceptions.
post-bureaucratic organisations position systems£ ome ccording to ollitt and ¢ouc aert “There is a growing
observers even claim that public administration in the st fashion for the authors of academic tets to ‘confess’ their
¤ ¡
century has arrived in a new era of post-modernity. till own perspectives and li ely biases”. ften some countries
“techniues for organisational engineering come and go are praised as being reform-oriented countries whereas
with remar able rapidity. New techniues come into fashion others are seen as reform laggards although it remains
and old ones go out much li e the outfits modelled in aris unclear as to the basis on which these judgements and
ilan and New ¥or ”. value statements are based. nother challenge represents
s many modern terms imply the new models are mostly the identification of administrative models. s such the
counter models to an old model. owever there is not yet use of models is ambiguous§ “Not only is it difficult to now
a widely accepted new organisational model. oreover the what the eact reference is about but the word “model” is
move away from the classical model has produced new but often used with an everyday language connotation (...).
still not well nown organisational problems and difficulties. ne of the most typical uses of this ind of concepts of
n the future it will be interesting to see where and how new models is illustrated by the recurring temptation to loo at
organisational models and reforms will indeed produce so-called best practices in public management. omparing
better results. eperiences can be very fruitful if it is done according to a
s the study “ivil ervices in the E of ” shows the carefully designed programme but it usually ends up at
reform of classical bureaucracies is actually a fascinating best in misunderstandings at worst in used-car salesmen
subject. t challenges many popular assumptions and attitudes...”. verall many comparative publications about
increasingly calls into uestion the traditional characteristics civil service reforms easily ta e the direction of ideological
of civil service systems but leaves us puled as to the discourses.
outcomes of all reforms. n fact although almost all European The latter is not surprising given the fact that it is very
civil services are in a process of ongoing reforms there is difficult to obtain reliable yet comparable data from all
still very little nowledge and comparative information E ember tates. oreover different historical
EIPASCOPE 2010/2
Ex mis et
traditions and cultures as well as different systems have owever it observes different and distinct reform paths ivil
a considerable impact on public management modernisation amongst different country clusters administrative models
paths and on the outcomes of reforms. The relevance of and civil service systems. or eample the current reform er
contet and diversity in European public administrations also paths in ortugal and pain ustria and ermany or ¦atvia vic
has critical implications for the concept of mutual learning and ¦ithuania seem to differ widely. This reform process ebaes in the E of
and the possibility to “import” so-called best practices from does not only challenge many traditional perceptions and trum r
one country to another. traditional aspects of the bureaucratic civil services. n reality
ther problems relate to the challenges involved in it challenges the whole concept of a specific civil service and
comparing different national concepts and definitions of the traditional legitimacy of specific wor ing conditions es? C
civil services. or eample the concept of civil service is as such. oreover the often prevailing perception that
totally different in the ¢ritish concept. oreover whereas civil services are reform resistant is clearly wrong. nstead eridest viridepsena omaximil
some ember tates apply a narrow concept of the the tremendous pace of change is challenging the eperts
national civil service (e.g. reland and oland) others use who have difficulties in understanding how and why public
a broad definition (e.g. rance inland the Netherlands). services are changing.¤ oreover the current reform
oreover there can be too little or too much attention process is ta ing place in very different national contets
paid to theoretical issues too little or too much focus on and against the bac ground of widely varying traditions. n
historical eplanations an analysis which is too general addition the changing of some features has turned out to
without ta ing into consideration the many eisting specific be more sensitive in some countries than in others.
features of the national systems avoidance of different n the discussions and the analysis of the various civil
linguistic meanings and definitions etc. n particular when service systems much insight and many fascinating
comparing civil service systems developments have been
another problem stems from s the study “ivil ervices in the E found. owever the results
the uestion as to whether of ” shows the reform of classical of this comparative analysis
different reform concepts mean also represent a remar able
the same thing and whether the bureaucracies is actually a fascinating challenge regarding a theo-
comparison is really comparing subject. t challenges many popular retical understanding of the
the same issues. discussed change processes in
ther challenges relate assumptions and increasingly the field of civil service reforms.
to the lac of attractiveness calls into uestion the traditional n fact many reform outcomes
of doing research in a field confirm the assumptions of
which is often considered to characteristics of civil service path-dependency political
be very comple technical systems but leaves us puled as to culture rational choice
and dominated by legalistic neo-institutionalism Europe-
approaches. n many ember the outcomes of all reforms. anisation and convergence
tates civil service laws can theories at the same time.
easily fill hundreds of pages. Thus any comparative study oreover because of the growing fragmentation of national
faces the ris of being far too superficial. inally there is the public services the increasing diversity of the public sector
added difficulty of comparing and analysing the different wor force and the differences in structure and sie of the
(legal political organisational and -) instruments in national civil services this study also challenges uniform
different legal and administrative traditions and in many public motivation theories. n the other hand the findings
languages. do not challenge the eistence of public service motivation
as such. owever we agree with erry and ondeghem
Stud outcomes that it is necessary to investigate the influence of the
countryregioncivil service structure as an institution of
The study “ivil ervices in the E of ” too more than public service motivation. n addition it is also important
two years from which more than one year was dedicated to carry out more research on public service motivation in
to the gathering of data the clarification of concepts and different parts of the public sector. Do civil servants (still)
definitions. t was supported by all ember tates and the have a different public service motivation than other public
European ommission. ll ember tates contributed to the employees£ re civil servants in the ministries different to
study. There is no space to discuss the applied methodology those in the agencies£ Do civil servants in “bureaucratic”
in detail (the interested reader may consult the relevant countries have different motivations and values than civil
boo chapters and ¬). servants in post-bureaucratic countries£ nd – are civil
The study confirms an ED analysis which maintains servants more ethical because they are civil servants£
that there is§ This study gives evidence that different historical
traditions and cultures as well as systems have a
• a transition from a centralised to decentralised considerable impact on public management modernisation
determination of employment condition paths and on the outcomes of reforms. n a way the
• a shift from statutory to contractual or managerial findings in this study give an intriguing picture about the
governance differences and similarities of the public service systems in
• a development from career systems to post-bureaucratic Europe at the same time. t also illustrates the difficulties in
(position systems) identifying country models and geographical similarities in
• a delegation of responsibilities to managers times of decentralisation differentiation greater fleibility
• an alignment of pay levels with private sector practices and blurring of boundaries within the public sector and
• a change of special retirement schemes. between the public and private sector. t the same time it
eipaeu
also gives an overview about Europeanisation convergence others without ignoring the particularities of the national
and common reform and fashion trends in some areas. administrative structures. ence the nature and effects
n fact whereas in some policies similar reform trends and of public service reforms must be seen much more in the
reform outcomes can be observed in other fields differences contet of the different public administrative traditions
are prevailing or even increasing. lmost all ember tates geographical and cultural differences as well as the
es in the E of follow the same grand reform paths§ decentralisation of importance of different organisational structures. t the
vic responsibilities and responsibilisation of managers same time it must be seen in the contet of worldwide
er greater fleibility in recruitment and career development reform trends reform fashions political interests and the
ivil policies a stronger focus on individual and organisational importance of the European integration process.
performance management and a general trend towards
de-bureaucratisation. The relevance of contet and e need or better countr clusters
diversity in European public administrations has important
implications for the concept of mutual learning and good s the results of the study suggest it is also important to find
practice. ¢ecause of this it is almost impossible to offer better and more fine-tuned classifications for the national
a European definition of the term civil services and good civil service systems. t also becomes increasingly difficult
practices in civil service reform. nly in rare cases can to classify the ember tates into country traditions
foreign reforms be purchased as standard off-the-shelf geographical or civil service clusters. n fact similarities eist
products without ta ing into account their roles and only with regard to some institutional and structural issues.
repercussions in the respective administrations. uccess ne eample may illustrate this§ all editerranean countries
is only possible if new reform instruments are shaped have a career structure in their civil services whilst none of
to the needs of the specific administration ta ing the the candinavian countries has a career system. This could
particularities of the administrative culture into account. be interpreted as the eistence of two different models.
t the same time benchmar ing may only be possible in owever this is problematic for various reasons. n fact
those areas which are mar ed by a) common reform trends other institutional features may be very diverse within the
b) common reform fashions c) the adoption of common different country clusters and administrative traditions. or
reform instruments in a d) similar administrative culture eample continental countries differ sharply as regards the
structure. issue of civil servants’ job security.
rom the clusters only
one group editerranean
countries indeed repre-
sents a number of homo-
geneous civil service
systems. owever the
trend seems to be rather
in the direction of more
differentiation. n the
meantime especially after
the most recent reforms
in ortugal this group of
countries (reece yprus
ortugal pain and taly)
is becoming increasingly
diverse. lthough most
Despite all current developments away from the bureaucratic of these countries still share the fact that they have many
model it is difficult to say whether the findings confirm more bureaucratic features than the candinavian group
the end of the bureaucratic paradigm or the beginning they are also relatively diverse. The bureaucratic and
of a new post-bureaucratic paradigm. or certain the “privatised” talian civil service is very different from the still
classical bureaucracies are about to change. owever some relatively traditional and bureaucratic ree civil service.
bureaucratic features are not vanishing. t is also not yet clear n the other hand the reformed ortuguese civil service
what the post-bureaucratic paradigm is apart from remedies cannot be compared with the panish civil service which
to the wea nesses of the classical bureaucratic model. till still resembles the traditional rench model (although
developments li e decentralisation responsibilisation the panish reform process has introduced similarly to
greater fleibility deregulation and more openness are too ermany many different and diverse reform initiatives at
wide and too fluid concepts. These developments are also central and regional level). ontrary to this and despite
full of paradoes and ambivalences. onseuently they some significant differences between Estonia on the one
represent alternatives to the classical models. ¢ut does this hand and Denmar inland and weden on the other hand
also mean improvements£ the latter three candinavian countries can also be seen
hat is clearly noticeable is that the post-bureaucratic to form a relatively homogenous administrative tradition.
reform of the national civil services is gaining importance The Netherlands combine features of the candinavian
in all ember tates. s a result the current international states with classical bureaucratic states. The data suggests
reform process is leading to a boost in innovation that could that it would be problematic to include it into the same
also be of great interest in the respective national practice. category as ¢elgium ermany ¦uemburg and rance
The international comparison provides a multitude of which still have more traditional bureaucratic systems.
options for learning from the eperiences and problems of The nglo-aon countries and the Eastern European
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