High-ranking Civil Servants Research Articles

Military Goals and Plans of the “Pan-German League” in the Memories of Heinrich Claß (1868–1953)

The recently published second part of the memoirs of Heinrich Claß, chairman of the Pan-German League, who made a personal contribution to the dissemination and public acceptance of anti-Semitic, racist and expansionist views, and who also played an essential role in establishing and developing the communication of right-wing forces that sought to exert background influence on public policy, are of great scholarly interest and broaden the source base for studies of radical nationalism on the eve and during the Great War. In addition to the Pan-Germans’ own military aims related to the annexation of European territories that have already been studied in historiography, the memoirs illustrate the internal tense struggle for their approval within the Pan-German League as well as Claß’s various attempts to forge co-operation with high-ranking civil servants and the Reichswehr leadership. Claß made the resignation of Reich Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg his goal, for the sake of which he established contacts at the highest level. Under wartime conditions, the Pan-German leader’s previously cautious attempts to hint at the need to change the national system of government took concrete shape and became the subject of public and political struggle. Claß’s ideas were associated with the establishment of a dictatorship in the form of the unlimited power of an emperor-appointed official who would, under war conditions, be allowed to act bypassing constitutional norms and established mechanisms of power. The war, in his opinion, was to bring to power a dictator capable of looking after the national interests. The memoirs of Claß show how, against the background of the struggle for the resignation of the Reich Chancellor and a series of military failures, the imperial civilian and military elite evaluated the idea of dictatorship and coup d’état, which allows one to assess in a new way the effectiveness of the Pan-German actions and, consequently, the potential of the Pan-German League.

DCI William Colby and the Constitution: Moral Leadership in the “Year of Intelligence”

This article explores the leadership ethics of Director of Central Intelligence William Colby within the context of the release of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) “family jewels,” the internal record that listed how the CIA had been involved in a number of illegal activities, including domestic spying. It explores the moral dimension of bureaucratic leadership and illustrates its presence in Colby’s thinking and actions through three indicators: his understanding of the regime values of American democracy; his adherence to his oath of office as a high-ranking civil servant, which he viewed as a positive duty; and his recognition that, in a contest between the executive and legislative branches, counterintuitively, Congress is the party on which the future existence of the CIA rests. Beyond an assessment of Colby’s personal characteristics, this article explores issues of moral leadership in the realm of intelligence and contributes to an understanding of the role of accountability in a fraught political landscape.

The revolving door of former civil servants and firm value: A comprehensive approach

Previous studies on the “revolving door” phenomenon primarily focused on politicians and high-ranking civil servants. This paper comprehensively surveys the transition of all ranks of civil servants and political figures into the private sector, investigating the determinants and implications for firm value. Using a comprehensive dataset of former government officials hired by publicly listed firms in Israel from 2007 to 2015, the study reveals that 60% of these firms hire former government officials, constituting 9% of all directors and executives. Findings indicate that firms with higher regulatory burdens are more likely to hire former government officials. Additionally, the appointment of a former government official to a firm's management is associated with an increase in firm value. Notably, the value increase is not dependent on the appointee holding a high-ranking government position. The effect is more significant when the appointee is the first former government official hired by the firm, and it diminishes with the time elapsed since their departure from the political or civil service positions. These results suggest that it is the unique capital accumulated during civil service that impacts firm value, rather than general human capital.

Anti-Corruption Policy and Whistle-Blowing Intentions: Quasi-Experimental Evidence From Meritocratic Civil Service Systems

How does an anti-corruption policy shape bureaucrats’ intentions to whistle-blow? Anti-corruption research suggests that civil servants with certain characteristics are more or less likely to blow the whistle, due to a discrepancy in perceptions of expected outcomes within the organizational hierarchy. We test this logic by examining how civil servants’ gender, age, and civil service rank shape changes in their whistle-blowing intentions, leveraging the recent implementation of an anti-corruption policy in South Korea. By analyzing original survey data on over 5,000 civil servants, matching pre- and post-implementation groups, we find that male, older, and high-ranking civil servants, respectively, are more willing to whistle-blow than female, younger, and low-ranking civil servants when the anti-corruption policy is implemented. The implication of this finding is that the greater power and prestige granted to the former groups within the organizational hierarchy may make them more willing to do so.

Which political outsiders do Europeans prefer as ministers?

AbstractPrevious research suggests that Europeans want more experts in government, but which experts do they want and why? Using survey data collected in 15 European countries, this study compared citizens’ preferences for high-ranking civil servants, university professors, and business executives over traditional political actors (MPs and former ministers) as ministers in government. Overall, university professors were rated more positively than MPs or former ministers in almost all countries, whereas civil servants and business executives were only rated more positively than politicians in Poland, Italy, Spain, Greece, Ireland, and Belgium. While political distrust is a key predictor of preferring political outsiders, we also found that civil servants are not as appealing to politically distrusting individuals, depending on the country. Furthermore, while the demand for more expertise in government mainly influences preferences for university professors, the demand for more government by the people is connected to preferences for business executives and (to a lesser extent) civil servants. The latter finding challenges the common distinction between citizen and expert-oriented visions of democracy and the alleged ‘elitist’ underpinnings of empowering non-elected outsiders.

Social Scientists

Social Scientists

New books & media

New books & media

Parliamentary scrutiny of the quality of legislation in Spain. The role of parliamentary clerks

ABSTRACT This article examines the case of Spain as part of a broader comparative study on parliamentary scrutiny of the quality of legislation, looking in particular at the role played by the Letrados de las Cortes Generales, the corps of high-ranking parliamentary civil servants, or clerks, of the Spanish bicameral legislature. As in many other countries, the Spanish political landscape has witnessed an increasing polarisation in the last decade which has led to the fragmentation of the Congreso de los Diputados, or Lower House, once dominated by a two-party system. This has severely affected the parliament´s legislative function. Fewer laws are passed, and there has been a shift in the origin of legislative initiative. Government bills are no longer so easily passed, whereas non-governmental bills have more chances now of becoming laws than before. Against this background, and given the lack of specific parliamentary bodies or guidelines for the scrutiny of the quality of legislation, the Letrados de las Cortes Generales seem essential in contributing to improving the quality of bills, whichever its origin, throughout the legislative procedure, until their passing into laws. This article explores at length their role and the different steps and ways in which they do this. It also analyses the progress in setting standards and bodies for Legislative Drafting by the Spanish Government since, in the absence of specific ones for parliament, Government’s Guidelines are usually applied by the Letrados in their work. To illustrate the current debate on the quality of legislation, the evolution of the Spanish Constitutional Court’s rulings on the matter is also briefly outlined. In conclusion, and though limited to legal and technical aspects, the Letrados de las Cortes Generaleś scrutiny of bills does contribute, to a large albeit imperfect extent, to improving the quality of legislation in Spain.

Іран: від «білої революції» до ісламської антишахської революції (аналіз суспільно-політичних трансформацій)

This paper examines the Iranian experience of Western-style modernization that was initiated by Mohammed Rezа Shah Pahlavi from the 1960s to the 1970s and led to a radical change of the government and society structure. The role of socio-cultural and political preparation of society and government for radical economic changes in successful modernization is analyzed. The positive achievements of the "white revolution" reform program and the socio-political contradictions nature created during the reforms are revealed. The main reasons for the failure of this modernization project centered on the author’s views are highlighted. The anti-Shah movement broke out at a time when Iran was one of the fastest growing economies. However, high rates of economic growth were not accompanied by an improvement in the living standards of a large part of the population and deepened property and social inequality in society. There were the Shah family members, high-ranking civil servants, large private business representatives and skilled workers among the reforms beneficiaries. The most numerous and consistent part of the anti-Shah movement that appeared in response to modernization reforms consisted of the Shiite clergy representatives, traders and small producers associated with the economy traditional sector. The author explains the participation of students and intellectuals who were educated in a Western way and shared the values of the liberal world in the revolutionary events of 1978-79 by the fact that the authorities prohibited their participation in the political process. In fact, the authoritarian regime of the Shah's personal power made it impossible to create the public dialogue, which would allow for a policy of reforms to be adjusted to social demands. As a result, the Shah's power was overthrown due to the mass anti-Shah protests.

Aspiring Top Civil Servants’ Distrust in the Private Sector

Ce travail étudie les croyances envers le secteur privé des étudiants souhaitant intégrer la haute fonction publique en France. Pour ce faire, nous analysons les données d’un sondage réalisé à Sciences Po, grand établissement français connu pour former une grande partie des hauts fonctionnaires mais aussi des étudiants souhaitant travailler dans le secteur privé. Les résultats indiquent que les étudiants souhaitant travailler dans la fonction publique font preuve d’une plus grande méfiance envers le secteur privé (comparativement aux autres étudiants), pensent davantage que diriger une entreprise est aisé, et perçoivent significativement moins de bénéfices au recours à des partenariats public-privé. Ils déclarent également plus fréquemment que les travailleurs du secteur privé sont motivés par leurs intérêts propres. Ces résultats ont de fortes implications pour comprendre le niveau de la réglementation du secteur privé en France, ainsi que la coopération entre les secteurs public et privé.

Exposure in and Out of School: A Black Bermudian Male's Successful Educational Journey

Background/Context The influence of non-school based venues has been historically significant for people of African descent who have often had to buttress their schoolhouse experiences with support from community-based influences. For example, Black churches, barbershops and athletic environments like basketball courts, and soccer and cricket clubs are particularly relevant for Black males in spaces like Bermuda and urban communities in the United States. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study Drawing on a larger oral history project, this paper reports the findings of a secondary narrative analysis of a Black Bermudian male to provide an in-depth understanding of his in-school and out-ofschool educational experiences, identity construction and success. The authors seek to answer the following research question: How does a Black Bermudian male describe the impact of his ethnic community for shaping his successful educational journey? Research Design While the larger oral history study includes data collected from 12 Black Bermudian males, the scope of this article specifically focuses on the secondary narrative analysis of the experiences of one of the participants, Brandon Smith. As a published author, high-ranking civil servant, and prominent community leader, Brandon is arguably one of the most successful Black Bermudian males of his generation. Findings/Results The results of the study reveal that the participant's educational success was undergirded by his exposure to varying constructs related to his personal and cultural identity; exposure to engaged educators, mentors, spaces, and opportunities in elementary, secondary, and post-secondary settings; and exposure to mechanisms of identity and success in the geographical spaces of Bermuda, the Caribbean, and the United States. Conclusions/Recommendations Three subsections of the participant's exposure are discussed in the manuscript: nondeficit community and school-based exposure, multigenerational academically legitimizing support, and border crossing exposure. This study suggests that a Black Bermudian male can experience educational success when his educational journey inside and outside of school provides balance between his knowledge and acceptance of his identity. The authors contend that the schoolhouse is not the only space or variable that defines or prepares Black males for academic (or personal) success. Furthermore, many students who identify as African American in school may also have familial connections to the Caribbean, Africa, South America, Europe, Bermuda, and other jurisdictions. As such, educators should consider the significance of regional differences on Black male identities (e.g., North, South, East, West, Midwestern), and find ways to help students see relevance between their personal identities and larger causes and contexts.

Kampen om de tyske skoler i Danmark efter 1945

Kampen om de tyske skoler i Danmark efter 1945

Multi-dimensional Perception of Parental Involvement

The main purpose of this study was to define and conceptualize the term parental involvement. A questionnaire was administrated to parents (140), teachers (145), students (120) and high ranking civil servants in the Ministry of Education (30). Responses were analyzed through Smallest Space Analysis (SSA). The SSA solution among all groups rendered a two dimensional solution with a coefficient of alienation .18. The SSA map clearly divided 44 parental activities into four quadrants. The left and right regents represent the focus of parental activity: The left regent represents in-school activities and the right side represents out-school activities. The upper and lower regents represent the organizational level: The upper regent represents organizational based activities and the lower regent represents student-based activities. The initial findings also demonstrated that parental involvement can be defined by the 44 actions, which are deployed on the SSA map in a polarized facet. The facet includes four elements (separation index 1.00): Resources, school welfare, control processes and pedagogical and wellbeing contents. We now have a better understanding of what constitutes school-related parental involvement; we know that it reflects a broad spectrum of parental actions and activities, which can take place either at school or outside the school. The involvement can be expressed actively or passively, often relating to the school as an organization and often in the personal context of one's own child.

Tax fraud: a socially acceptable financial crime in France?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to point out that tax fraud, recognized as a scourge by both governments and responsible tax-payers, hits public finances hard with an inevitable knock-on effect on general welfare. Based on this observation, key players interviewed for this paper, including magistrates, a trade unionist and a high-ranking official, will attempt to provide some possible solutions to help understand why significant sections of public opinion consider this very particular form of financial crime to be legitimate, largely inspired by the notion that tax fraud and evasion are socially acceptable and even seen as a national sport in certain countries. Design/methodology/approach – The survey was carried out among 20 tax officials, a trade unionist, two magistrates and a high-ranking civil servant. The interviewees were carefully chosen for their ability to provide valuable insights into the reasons behind the lenient treatment of fraudsters by a state lacking the necessary means and structures to fight this crime. Findings – The fight against tax fraud has clearly sparked numerous controversies around evaluation, scope, criminal perpetrators and cooperation between services. Social implications – Tax fraud, an offence committed with the aim of avoiding taxation or reducing the amount of tax to be paid, ranges from low-level illegal activity, such as undeclared work to make ends meet, to more serious offences, such as value-added tax carousel fraud. All the unpaid tax resulting from such blatant flouting of the law represent a serious loss of revenue for the state and local authorities. Originality/value – The fight against tax fraud is crucial in determining taxpayers’ acceptance of the contribution required for state expenditure and investment. In a country such as France, where tax fraud is almost a national sport, combating this scourge will help restore the state’s budgetary sovereignty by making it central to people’s concerns about redistributive justice, tax equality and fair access to public goods.

THE STATUS OF A CIVIL SERVANT ACCORDING TO THE AUSTRIAN LEGISLATION IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE NINETEENTH AND EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURIES (CASE STUDY OF THE GALICIAN VICEGERENCY)

The legal status of a civil servant in Austria and Austria-Hungary has been clarified on the grounds of the analysis of the Austrian legislation of the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is emphasized in the article that the institute of the vicegerency was established on grounds of governorates that functioned up to 1849 and was subordinate to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which determined its place in the system of authorities of the Austrian Empire as a higher local authority (regional government). It is clarified that it was typical for Austria of that time not to have the division into people who worked in political bodies, civil servants and supporting personnel (cleaners, coachmen, etc.). Only the division into administrative and judicial workers was juridically established. In acts of a legislative nature there was a list of formal demands to a person that was willing to take any position in the Austrian vicegerency. The procedure of service, payment for work, the procedure of application of work encouragement and disciplinary penalties were regulated quite carefully. The author brought to notice that from the perspective of the Austrian state administration, clergy was also considered as a specific class of civil servants, and for improper performance of duties, entrusted to them by law, the vicegerency had a power to take disciplinary actions against them. Among the drawbacks of functioning of civil service in Austria in the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, we can name such system diseases of the bureaucracy as corruptness and poor level of professionalism (as a rule, among high-ranking civil servants that were sometimes appointed only because of their social status and aristocratic origin).

SOCIAL NETWORKS IN THE BOARDROOM

This paper provides evidence that social networks strongly affect board composition and are detrimental to corporate governance. Our empirical investigation relies on a large data set of executives and outside directors of French public firms. This data source is a matched employer–employee data set that provides detailed information on directors/CEOs as well as information about the firm employing them. We find a strong and robust correlation between the CEO’s network and that of his directors. Networks of former high-ranking civil servants are the most active in shaping board composition. Our identification strategy takes into account not only firm and directors’ fixed effects but also the matching of firms and director in terms of one observable and one unobservable characteristic. Turning to the direct effects of such network activity, we find that firms in which these networks are most active pay their CEOs more, are less likely to replace a CEO who underperforms, and engage in less value-creating acquisitions. These findings suggest that social networks are active in the boardroom and have detrimental effects on firms’ governance.

Contract farming, and the success of smallholders in rubber production in Côte d’Ivoire

Some multinationals are currently investing in massive land purchases and, in so doing, they are threatening family farmers, at least to the extent that they are depriving them of land. Contract farming can be revisited as an alternative. We hypothesize a reduction in social conflicts and a process of technical and institutional innovation. We tested this hypothesis during a survey of 350 farms conducted in 2008 in the West Central Region of Côte d'Ivoire. The basic income of the small rubber farmers we surveyed came from cocoa, but half had adopted rubber. In Côte d'Ivoire, family rubber farms are part of a value chain in which plantation companies still play a key role in providing technical back-up and in purchasing the farmers' rubber. This structure, which resembles contract farming, brought rubber cultivation to the villages at a strategic moment in the decline of cocoa, helping the planters to reinvest, readjust their income, and subsequently to save, as payments for rubber were organized through banks. On the whole, the balance is thus positive for private and public companies and for family farmers. However, the question concerning the development of large plantations by high ranking civil servants and their pressure on land remains open.

The reframing of family policies in France: processes and actors

French family policy is generally considered as one of the oldest, most explicit and extensive in Europe. To understand the changes in this public policy sector during the past decades, we first discuss the roots and scope of family policy and then propose a ‘process tracing’ to identify sequences, based on two sets of opposing principles that have shaped French family policy history: universality versus selectivity and French ‘familialisme’ versus individualism. In the last two sections, a detailed analysis of the dynamics of change is presented before focusing on the role of the different protagonists of this change: political actors, high-ranking civil servants, family associations and experts. We underline the importance of a small group of high-ranking civil servants, called the ‘welfare elite’, in this specific sector, whose contribution explains the permanent French specificity and path dependency.

Max Burckhard, haut fonctionnaire et littérateur, directeur du Burgtheater de 1890 à 1898

This article is meant to initiate further consideration of the links between the various aspects of Max Burckhard’s personality. Among the various occupations which he held — namely magistrate, jurist, high ranking civil servant, writer, journalist, publisher — the most outstanding was that of director of the “Burgheater”. His stance as a champion of modernity inside a traditional institution is a reflection of the position of Austria at that time, stuck in the middle of insoluble conflicts as it was. In his very extensive written work, which deals mainly with Law and Theatre, and also with social and political issues, he appears to be a progressive intellectual, clearly taking sides with the feeble and weak but refusing to claim a political position. Although he was a civil servant on several occasions, he considered the State as a devise meant for oppression. As a playwright and novel writer he was a satirical observer of his times, but his view remained exclusively anecdotal.

Correspondence of Charles Darwin on James Torbitt's project to breed blight-resistant potatoes

The most prolific of Darwin's correspondents from Ireland was James Torbitt, an enterprising grocer and wine merchant of 58 North Street, Belfast. Between February 1876 and March 1882, 141 letters were exchanged on the feasibility and ways of supporting one of Torbitt's commercial projects, the large-scale production and distribution of true potato seeds (Solan um tuberosum) to produce plants resistant to the late blight fungus Phytophthora infestans, the cause of repeated potato crop failures and thus the Irish famines in the nineteenth century. Ninety-three of these letters were exchanged between Torbitt and Darwin, and 48 between Darwin and third parties, seeking or offering help and advice on the project. Torbitt's project required selecting the small proportion of plants in an infested field that survived the infection, and using those as parents to produce seeds. This was a direct application of Darwin's principle of selection. Darwin cautiously lobbied high-ranking civil servants in London to obtain government funding for the project, and also provided his own personal financial support to Torbit.