Transcript jan24

PUBLIC SERVICE VALUES
The “Swivel Service”?
January 24th 2006
Political-Bureaucratic Conflict –
Potential Sources


personal
ideological
– bureaucracy developed under one partisan gov’t facing new government

territorial
– e.g. defending bureaucratic turf against political intrusion
– defending bureaucratic expansionism (esp. budgets) against retrenchment
 bureaucrats as “budget-maximizers”

innovation (political) vs. stasis (bureaucratic)
– fundamental conservatism of bureaucracy as an organizational form

systemic
– the result of each of the different actors adequately performing their
different roles
Subjective vs. Objective
Responsibility
Subjective Responsibility
re: Friedrich
Central Concept: Moral
Responsibility
Focus: ethics
Objective Responsibility
re: Finer
Central Concept:
Political Responsibility
Focus: controls
Accountability/Responsibility of
the Senior Public Service

subjective vs. objective responsibility
– explicit political controls are not enough if
there is no sense of subjective responsibility
(Friedrich)

importance of public service values
Procedural vs. Substantive
Public Service Values

PROCEDURAL

SUBSTANTIVE
– neutrality
– public interest
– accountability
– efficiency/effectiveness
– responsiveness
– responsiveness (public)
(political)
– integrity (ethics)
– fairness and equity
(procedural)
– fairness and equity
(substantive)
The Public Service...

“The public service is a special calling. It is not
for everyone. Those who devote themselves to it
find meaning and satisfaction that are not to be
found elsewhere. But the rewards are not
material. They are moral and psychological,
perhaps even spiritual. They are the intangible
rewards that proceed from the sense of devoting
one’s life to the service of the country, to the
affairs of state, to public purposes, great or small,
and to the public good.”
The Tait Report
The Public Service...
“The notion of public interest is a touchstone of
motivation for public servants. It is for the public
service what justice and liberty are for the legal
profession, or what healing and mercy are for the
medical profession.”
The Tait Report
 “The public service is there to remind elected
leaders to do those things we should do but for
which there is no immediate political gain.”
Former Ontario Premier
Bob Rae

The Public Service...

“Speaking truth to power”
– the corollorary of “honesty in advice”

What would be the characteristics of a senior
bureaucracy likely (and able) to perform this
type of function?
– What type of person is likely to develop these types
of values?
The Career Public Service

benefits
– speaking truth to power
 long-term view of the public good
– expertise/capability
 performance based on merit

drawbacks
– may not be politically responsive
– may become ossified
 rigid adherence to accepted policies
The Paradox of Public Service
Values

demand high ethical standards of public
servants


strong substantive values


may bring them into conflict with elected officials
demand people who are highly capable


requires people devoted to public service
capable of challenging elected leadership
raises issues of democratic control
The Paradox of Public Service
Values

a highly competent/ethical public service
(required for democracy)
– may generate considerable conflict between public
service and elected officials
– may raise issues of democratic control
Bureaucratic-Political Conflict

what if there is no evidence of conflict between
bureaucratic and elected officials?
– are bureaucrats doing their job?
 i.e. “speaking truth to power”
 “reminding political officials of things they should do but
for which there is no immediate political gain”
– have elected officials been captured by the
bureaucracy?