Scholars of public administration, economics, and political science, most from the region but some from western Europe and the US, describe the emerging civil service systems in nine countries, revealing the patterns that are developing during transition. They apply the methodological framework developed by the Civil Service Research Consortium to each country, providing a high degree of coherence that facilitates comparative analysis. They consider such aspects as the history of the system, internal labor markets, public opinion, relations between politicians and administrators, and civil service reform and development. They also take into account outside factors such as the possibility of joining the European Union. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

This study examines the civil service systems adopted in the post-communist Central and Eastern European democracies. While these new democracies underwent a process of civil service reform with the goal of increasing the level of bureaucratic professionalism and efficiency, civil service performance varies greatly in the region. Motivated by this empirical puzzle, this work answers two main questions: (1) What do the civil service systems created through civil service laws look like? and (2) In the absence of differences in institutional design, why do administrative apparatuses function better in certain countries than in others? In response to the first question, by using original data, this study finds that the formal provisions that regulate the civil service systems (as stipulated in civil service laws) differ only marginally across countries, establishing institutions which display primarily elements of professionalism and independence from political interference. Using four case studies, I answer the second question by taking into account the interplay between party competition and the modernization of state bureaucracy. In countries with party systems that display signs of institutionalization (e.g., low fragmentation and low volatility), there is little political patronage, as party competition is able to constrain cronyism. In the absence of political patronage, the civil service is filled with professionals chosen on a meritocratic basis, which enhances the system's overall quality. In contrast, countries with underinstitutionalized party systems (e.g., high fragmentation and high volatility) cannot rely upon party competition to constrain patronage politics. In such countries, the civil service is saturated with politically motivated appointments, undermining the level of professionalism in the entire system.

The Central and Eastern European states, recently accessed or acceding to the European Union are undergoing civil service reform processes incorporated in the general public administration reforms. Based on the necessity to promote good governance, the strategies of reform have been designed and implemented distinctly in each state; their finality consists in compatibility with a possible European model for civil service. A comparative analysis will take into consideration both the political-administrative systems of the states mentioned, the organization of the national civil service systems as well as the common European values embodied in civil service organization. Without being considered the most robust ones, the civil service systems in Central and Eastern European states are closely related to tradition, historical, economic or socio-cultural context as well as connections with the recognized systems: Anglo-Saxon, Continental German or Continental French. The elaboration of civil servants statutes represented a stage necessary to achieve the civil service reform. At the same time, the civil service reform focused on the following values: effectiveness, accountability, honesty, integrity, dynamism, lawfulness. For Central and Eastern European states, the civil service reform presents different forms. All these states have emphasized the preoccupation for improving the civil servants' performance, ensuring an active interface with the citizen.

This thoroughly revised and updated second edition of Civil Service Systems in Western Europe presents a comprehensive overview of the important issues in modern bureaucracies and provides a comparative analysis of the civil service systems of various Western European nations.

"This comprehensive book will prove popular with scholars and students of public administration, political science and international affairs as well as civil servants, politicians and policymakers."--BOOK JACKET.

We offer a comparative study of the differences in civil service systems across countries in order to observe how these systems relate to one another. We compare the civil service systems of twenty-six countries from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and eight non-OECD countries from Central and Eastern Europe to identify how different configurations of civil service systems are revealed through their shared attributes. Our data are drawn from the contents of civil service legislation and the status of those civil servants covered by the civil service laws of these countries. We use cluster analysis to identify several groups of countries whose civil service systems share similar features. We find that the estimated topography, or similarity among systems, depends on both subjective decisions about the number of groups and the variables used to estimate the space. However, we draw important conclusions about the value of certain cases, like the United States, for learning about other systems, and the need for expanded knowledge of systems from Central and Eastern Europe.

Building on the experience of hundreds of projects and programmes over more than a decade, this is a comprehensive study of East-West co-operation in public-sector reform since the collapse of communism.