Senior Public Servants Research Articles

Puzzles of Women’s Rights in Brazil

BRAZIL has the dubious distinction of being the Latin American country with the lowest level of women’s representation in national politics. Yet Brazil has Latin America’s largest, most vibrant, and most diverse feminist movement, and has pioneered policy changes advancing women’s rights. Brazilian women’s capabilities and opportunities—in terms of life expectancy, literacy , and labor force participation—have steadily increased. If Brazilian women are advancing in other areas, why not in politics ? In this article, I explore the seeming discrepancy between women’s gains in Brazilian society and their extreme under-representation in political office. I argue that institutional features —the weakness of Brazil’s women’s quota law, electoral rules, and clientelistic, unprogrammatic parties—go a long way toward explaining the difficulties faced by aspiring Brazilian women politicians. I also consider the question—given that Brazil is adopting public policies to advance women’s rights— of whether women’s political under-representation is really a serious problem. Women’s Minor Presence in Power Compared with the rest of Latin America, women’s representation in Brazilian politics is lamentably low. In 2002, women comprised a mere 6 percent of the Chamber of Deputies and 7 percent of the Senate, compared with a Latin American average of 15 and 12 percent, respectively. In 2000, no woman served in Brazil’s cabinet, while the Latin American average was 13 percent. SOCIAL RESEARCH, Vol. 69, No. 3 (Fall 2002) Puzzles of Women’s Rights in Brazil BY MALA HTUN To be sure, some women occupy important positions, such as Benedita da Silva, the governor of Rio de Janeiro; Roseana Sarney , governor of Maranhão and former presidential candidate; Marta Suplicy, mayor of São Paulo; Kátia Born, mayor of Maceió; Luiza Erundina, also a former São Paulo mayor and current federal deputy; and Rita Camata, federal deputy and vice presidential candidate on the Brazilian Social Democracy Party -Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PSDB-PMDB) ticket. These women are exceptions, however, because the numbers demonstrate that Brazil lags behind both Latin American and world averages, at least at the national level (see table 1). Women are slightly more numerous among senior public servants in Brazil, but their representation at the top is still massively disproportional to women’s overall participation. Data from 1998 show that women comprised 44 percent of all federal government employees in Brazil, yet made up a mere 13 percent of employees of the highest rank (18 out of a total of 136), and 16 percent of the second highest rank (90 out of a total of 546) (Avelar, 2001: 99-101). Women are also scarce in the top tiers of the Brazilian diplomatic service: in 2000, 6 women were at the top rank, and 18 at the second-highest rank (103). In 2000, a woman was appointed to the Supreme Court for the first time in Brazilian his734 SOCIAL RESEARCH TABLE 1: WOMEN IN POLITICAL POWER IN BRAZIL 2002 1990 1980 Ministers 0% 17% n/d Senate 7% 0% 1% Chamber of Deputies 6% 5% 1% Governors* 7% 0% 0% State Legislatures 10% 5% 2% Mayors 6% 2% 1% Municipal Councils 12% n/d n/d *After April 2002, there were two women governors of Brazil’s 26 states and 1 federal district. Sources: Inter-American Dialogue (2001b); Htun (forthcoming). tory, even though 29 percent of candidates who pass public examinations to become judges are women (Veja, November 8, 2000). Brazil’s low numbers are striking when seen in comparison with some other Latin American countries, whose levels of women’s representation are among the highest in the world. In Argentina and Costa Rica, where quota laws have been enormously successful , women make up 31 and 35 percent of Congress, respectively. In Argentina, women also comprise 36 percent of the Senate. Women are 21 percent of Congress in Nicaragua, 18 percent in Peru, and 16 percent in the Dominican Republic and Mexico. The record of Latin American presidents in appointing women to their cabinets is impressive. Soon after his election in 2002, Columbian President Alvaro Uribe appointed 6 women to serve in his cabinet, out of a total of 14 posts (43 percent). In 2000...

‘It’s the identification, stupid’: profiling senior public service managers for training and development

A review of practices of senior management development across the upper echelons of the public services of major jurisdictions shows that while the need to develop leaders is universally recognised by governments, there are still considerable gaps in the development function. One of the key gaps the article argues that is central to the training and development function is that of identification and targeting of individuals. A profiling protocol is presented that is argued could be an appropriate tool for governments to consider as they seek to link the desired competencies with the career aspirations of their public service senior managers.

Policy development and the environment

Following on from a quantitative (questionnaire- based) study into policy-making procedures and the consideration of environmental concerns therein within Australian government agencies, a further qualitative study was undertaken to identify opportunities for modifying and improving existing approaches and methodologies for strategic environmental assessment (SEA). Based on semi-structured interviews of senior public servants, an investigation of existing policy-making procedures, methods of incorporating environmental concerns into these procedures, and measures to improve the policy process to account better for environmental concerns was carried out. The results show that the variation in both agency policy-making procedures and the degree to which environmental concerns are incorporated into policy-making compel the selective application of existing and proposed SEA approaches to suit the required circumstances.

Senior Public Servants, Political Discrimination and Dismissals

In recent years literature on public administration in Australia has often referred to the increasing politicisation of both the federal and state public services. Increasingly, senior members of the bureaucracy are appointed on contract. Such contracts can often be terminated without the need to give reasons. Presumably some dismissals will be motivated by partisan, or party‐political, considerations. Where this is so, what role might there be for anti‐discrimination legislation, particularly that denying discrimination on the grounds of political belief or activity in the workplace?

Movers and stayers: mobility patterns among senior public servants in Canadian provinces

Abstract: There has developed in Canada a well‐established literature on bureaucratic elites at the federal level. There has not, however, been a systematic study of bureaucratic elites at the provincial level. While individual scholars have studied particular provincial governments, there have been few studies that covered more than one province. This paper, which analyses a census of assistant deputy ministers and deputy ministers in every Canadian province between 1988 and 1996, considers the mobility of these top two levels of the senior public service. The findings indicate that there has only been a slight decline in the number of senior public servants as governments have downsized. The findings also show that, unlike at the federal level, there is limited mobility among these senior public servants, with roughly one‐third of them changing each year. In some provinces, mobility levels increase slightly in the year after an election. Levels of mobility and changes in the number of senior public servants also vary across provinces, but there is no pattern based on the size of the province. Finally, there are important differences in the mobility depending on the type of department. In particular, in departments where there is a core knowledge or skill, mobility levels are much lower than in departments that lack such a core. These findings throw some light on the difficulties provinces may have in solving some of their more intractable policy problems.Sommaire: Il existe au Canada une bibliographie solidement implantée concernant les elites bureaucratiques au niveau fédéral. Il n'y a pas eu, par contre, d'étude systématique concernant les élites bureaucratiques au palier provincial. Des chercheurs ont analysé un gouvemement provincial à la fois mais peu d'études ont examiné plus d'une province à la fois. Dans cet article, qui analyse un recensement de sous‐ministres adjoints et de sous‐ministres dans chaque province du Canada entre 1988 et 1996, nous examinons la mobilité des ces deux niveaux supérieurs du fonctionnariat. Face aux réductions d'effectifs gouvernementaux, le déclin du nombre de hauts fonctionnaires semble avoir été léger. On constate aussi que, à l'encontre du palier fédéral, il y a une mobilité limitée chez ces derniers, environ un tiers changeant chaque année. Dans certaines provinces, le taux de mobilité augmente légèrement l'année qui suit une élection. Les taux de mobilité et l'évolution du nombre de hauts fonctionnaires varient aussi d'une province à l'autre, mais la taille de la province ne semble pas être un facteur déterminant. Enfin, il y a des écarts de mobilité importants selon le type de ministère. Notamment, les ministères exigeant des connaissances ou des aptitudes particulières ont des taux de mobilité très inférieurs à ceux des autres. Ces constatations mettent en relief les difficultés auxquelles peuvent se heurter les provinces lorsqu'elles essaient de régler certains de leurs problèmes les plus ardus en matière de politiques.

Symposium on public management teform in New Zealand:: Reflections on the international public management network/victoria university workshop

The genesis of the workshop on public management reform in New Zealand, held in Wellington on March 10, 2000, was an invitation from the International Public Management Network to the Graduate School of Business and Government Management at Victoria University to organize and co-host a one-day event in Wellington following the Network’s Sydney 2000 Conference. Approximately sixty people attended the workshop. The majority of attendees were senior public servants in the New Zealand government. In addition, there was a representation of academics from New Zealand and Network members who came on from the IPMN conference in Sydney at Macquarie Graduate School of Management March 4–6.The mix of speakers was strongly weighted towards practitioners, as is reflected in the articles in this symposium. The three central agency contributions are all from officials who have a reputation for thinking creatively and critically about the future of New Zealand public management, Derek Gill, Andrew Kibblewhite and Anne Neale. Graham Scott kindly agreed to provide the keynote address. Robert Gregory, a well-known critic of the New Zealand reforms, was the sole academic voice in this small chorus of practitioners. Gregory would be the last to claim that he is “representative” of anyone’s opinion other than his own.

Competition, Marketisation, Public Services and Public Ethics

The topic I address provides an embarrassment of scope. At the same time, it allows the development of a theme that is worthwhile discussing. When in the public sector is it worthwhile to import private sector concepts, principles and practices and when would the adoption of a private sector model be injurious to the state's constituents? The theme is worthwhile discussing, in part because some of Australia's jurisdictions appear to be adopting what they consider to be private sector practices, without an adequate framework to guide them. Because there is no proper framework, mistakes are made which could have been avoided. There is also some evidence that the public is uneasy about the loss of ‘public’ from the term public services. It would not be in the public’s own interests to resist, for no good reason, the adoption of private sector principles where that would allow more cost‐effective services. The topic also allows a discussion on the influence on public sector ethics of the trend to place senior public servants on contracts that can be disposed of without a reason or prospect of appeal.

The Paradox of Managerialism

Unlike the traditional language of public administration, which emphasizes stability, rules, and responsiveness to the law, the new public management vocabulary accentuates change, decentralization, responsiveness to consumers, performance, and the need to earn rather than to spend. Borrowing from the world of private-sector management, the vocabulary of the new public management has so far shown a remarkable degree of consensus among the political leadership and opinion makers of various countries about the desired nature of change. Change is to be primarily organizational: its goal is to strengthen management capacity in government operations. New public management thus conjures up images of debureaucratization (Savoie, 1994, 187) and depoliticization. As Osborne and Gaebler (1992, 267) note, book is about governance, not politics. This article seeks to undermine the latter image by focussing on the implications of political executives' losing control over the implementation of their policy following managerial reforms put in place under NPM. Such loss, in turn, makes them hunger for more control over the bureaucracy. The striking outcome of this process is that the senior servants who are removed from policy making and thus supposed to be less political (i.e., less in the line of fire and more secure as a result), find their positions becoming more insecure due to the political executives' desire for more control. This outcome is best formulated as a paradox: Investing in the public administration's managerial capital (i.e., giving public managers more authority to manage programs) is most likely to result in political executives' disinventing in the public administration's political capital (i. e., giving ministers greater capacity for setting central directions and priorities and intervention in personnel matters) so as to resolve the problems of loss of control over policy implementation raised by the managerial rearms put in place under the new public management. The contradiction between reduced policy making of senior servants and enhanced policy control over them raises two hypotheses. First, the more authority and discretion public managers are given to manage programs, the less secure political executives want them to be. Second, making senior civil servants less secure is most likely to have the following systemic influence on the public administration. As ministers obtain a greater capacity for setting central directions and priorities, senior bureaucrats lose policy autonomy but gain a greater managerial element in their role. When an alternative (policy) advisory structure is set up, the role of senior officials contracts. These hypotheses are strongly supported by a comparative analysis of changes in senior officials' tenure security and protection from external competition in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom, Austria, and Malta between 1980 and 1996. These countries present a range of governmental structures, cultural attributes, and management traditions. New Zealand, Malta, and the United Kingdom represent unitary states whereas Australia, Canada, and Austria feature a federal structure. The United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada are located within the Anglo tradition; public service in these countries operates on the principle of anonymity, secrecy, and political neutrality. Their very institutional structures work on the principle of elected political executives who are advised by the permanent civil servants and are responsible for policy implementation. Political executives maintain the professional and apolitical character of the civil service by avoiding actions that might fundamentally alter the relationship between political executives and bureaucrats. In the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand, for example, ministers are limited in their choice of eligible civil servants. In Canada, however, the staff of ministers offices, like deputy ministers, senior public servants working at the head of public or quasi-public corporations, or the staff working in so-called administrative courts, are not governed by the principle of merit. …

The Impact of Electoral Reform on the Public Service: The New Zealand Case

October 1996 marked the beginning of a new era in New Zealand politics, with the advent of a system of proportional representation based on the German model. This article explores the impact of electoral reform on the public service. First, it summarises the extensive public sector reforms during the mid‐to‐late 1980s and considers the preparations undertaken by the public service for proportional representation. Second, it outlines the concerns and expectations about the likely consequences of the new electoral system on the bureaucracy. Third, against this background, the article examines the extent to which the public service has been affected by electoral reform. It is argued that despite some notable changes to the political environment within which officials operate, the overall impact of proportional representation on the public service to date has been modest. The analysis presented here is based on a series of interviews conducted during 1997 with ministers, senior public servants, ministerial advisers and parliamentary officials, along with a range of secondary sources.

Integrative governance: challenges for the senior public service

Integrative governance: challenges for the senior public service

The Pursuit of Serviceable Labour in Australian Capitalism: The Economic and Political Contexts of Immigration Policy in the Early Fifties, with Particular Reference to Southern Italians

The paper examines the class context of Australian mass immigration from southern Europe, particularly from southern Italy, in the late forties and early fifties. I argue that economic and political considerations were primary in the minds of the industrialists (especially from the automotive and iron and steel sectors), politicians and senior public servants who developed policy on the size and composition of mass immigration at the time. These considerations included the desire to overcome chronic labour shortages through the importation of what was commonly considered to be 'docile'and 'hard working' labour. The industrialists who deeply influenced mass immigration policy were convinced that the mass immigration of southern Europeans (particularly southern Italians) would shift the balance of power between organised labour and capital further towards the latter. This created tensions within the councils of immigration policy development between the industrialists and those representing the trade unions. The role of the public service and of the Immigration Minister in quarantining the policy advice of the industrialists from excessive trade union intervention is also considered in this paper.

Contempt of Parliament and Constitutional Rights

The appellant, Mutasa, was a former Speaker of the then House of Assembly. He had addressed a seminar of senior public servants where he had voiced the opinion that the calibre of MPs was so low as to make Parliament meaningless and that they were uninformed, lacked intelligence and demeaned the institution of Parliament. The respondent, the Speaker of Parliament, ruled that the appellant's words constituted a breach of parliamentary privilege and a select committee of members of Parliament was appointed to investigate the matter. The committee took evidence from witnesses in the absence of Mutasa. He was questioned but was not allowed legal representation and the select committee also refused his request to recall, for further examination, witnesses who had testified. As a result of the committee's recommendations, Mutasa was found guilty of contempt of Parliament and severely reprimanded by the Speaker. Mutasa sought a judicial review of the proceedings of the select committee arguing that the finding of contempt should be quashed on the grounds that the committee's procedure had violated his right to a fair hearing (contrary to section 18(2) of the Constitution) and that his utterances outside Parliament were protected by his constitutional right to freedom of expression. The Speaker then issued a certificate under section 6(1) of the Privileges, Immunities and Powers of Parliament Act which the presiding judge deemed to be conclusive of the matter and accordingly stayed the proceedings. Mutasa appealed to the Supreme Court.

Departmental Secretaries: Introductory Notes

Termination and appointment of some departmental secretaries before and after the 1996 election triggered considerable unease within the Australian public service, not only among departmental secretaries. Yet the environment which facilitated such changes had been evolving inexorably over several decades through legislative changes, debates fostered by official inquiries and the broader context of change in the Australian economy and workforce.A dispassionate review was called for to ensure that the important issues raised last year were indeed properly analysed, while standing back from the immediate emotions and avoiding any suggestion of inappropriate public debate between current senior public servants and the new government (and the new opposition).I believe the articles offered in this symposium provide a major contribution to that dispassionate review, and hope they receive the attention they deserve from the parliament and senior commentators on public affairs. They not only dissect the issues, but remind us importantly of several decades of public administration history in Australia, the UK and Canada.These introductory notes are not intended to express my personal views on the suggestions made, but to draw attention to some of the underlying themes and issues.

An Assessment of: 'A Framework for Competiton - The Report of the Advisory Committee on Competition in Ontario's Electricity System to the Ontario Minister of Environment and Energy, May 1996'

Anyone taking a critical view of this Report and its recommendations must do so with some trepidation because the Ontario Government has appointed the ultimate in blue ribbon panels. I recall joining the federal Department of Energy, Mines and Resources in the late 1970s and asking a senior public servant who had been the best Minister during his 25 years in the Department. Without hesitation, he answered Donald Macdonald (who served as Chair of the Advisory Committee).

After the Reforms: Some Patterns of Attitudinal Change among Senior Public Servants in Canberra and Wellington

Major public sector changes in Australia and New Zealand over the past decade have produced significant shifts in the beliefs, training and outlook of public servants. Using data from surveys in 1986–87 and 1994–95, this article tracks key attitudinal changes. It finds more marked change in Wellington than in Canberra, perhaps reflecting the more radical public sector agenda on that side of the Tasman

Lost in the market? A survey of senior public health service managers in New Zealand's 'reforming' health system.

In 1993, New Zealand implemented radical health sector reform, separating purchaser from provider and creating a competitive market. This paper reports on a 1994 survey of senior managers' perceptions of how well public health services were adapting to this more commercial environment. An initial questionnaire to chief executive officers of Crown health enterprises, the main providers of public health, as well as secondary treatment services, was followed by a telephone survey of managers of public health services. Chief executives expressed generally positive views about the importance of public health, especially health promotion, within their organisations. Public health managers indicated a wide range of negative and positive views about the new system. They were concerned especially about service fragmentation, diminished information-sharing and decreased collaboration, especially with Maori and general practice providers. Questions were raised about the compatibility of competition with the need for collaboration in public health. The major issue was the inefficient, costly, conflicting and fragmented purchasing arrangements for public health. Managers wanted united systems and fewer purchasers. More positive views were expressed on an improved focus on outputs and clearer directions, and none wanted to return to the former era of an entirely separate system for public health services. The abolition of the Public Health Commission during 1995 should lead to increased integration of purchasing and policy making, but important questions remain about the place of public health services, especially in their links with primary care.

Post-Reform Attitudes of New Zealand’s Senior Public Servants: A Follow-up Study

Post-Reform Attitudes of New Zealand’s Senior Public Servants: A Follow-up Study

The Mauritian senior public service since independence: some lessons for developing and developed nations

The Mauritian senior public service since independence: some lessons for developing and developed nations

The Australian Domestic Pilots’ Dispute of 1989 and Its Implications: An Interpretation

The 1989 domestic pilots' dispute in Australia provided a stark demonstration of the underlying conflict and tensions of the neo-corporatist Prices and Incomes Accord. The pilots proposed a wage increase outside of the Accord guidelines but of comparable tnagnitude with the wagge increases received by senior executives within the airline sector and senior public servants. A protracted campaign saw the government and employers, with the tacit support of the ACIU, use a range of extreme measures against the Australian Federation of Air Pilots. Eventually, industrial peace was returned to the domestic airline sector. However, the costs, financial and emotional, of the dispute were considerable. The government restored industrial "order" but left considerable disquiet and division within the Australian trade union movement. The dispute established many important precedents for the business sector and the opposition Liberal/National Parties coalition in their push for labour market de-regulation in Australia.

PUBLIC MANAGEMENT OR PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION?

Abstract: The debate over managerialism has been the most controversial issue in Australian public administration journals in recent years. Although most articles have been critical, there have been responses in favour of the changes by senior public servants. One unfortunate consequence of this debate has been the appearance of a gap between academic public administration and public service practice.This paper argues that, from several angles, the work now carried out by public services is management rather than administration. It argues that managerialism is a long‐overdue reform to a model which has outlived its usefulness. The traditional model of public administration was an irrelevance for many years; it was never efficient or effective and deserved to be replaced. However, public management does not necessarily mean the widespread and uncritical adoption of practices from the private sector. What it should mean is that a distinctive public management needs to be developed. This should take account of the differences between the sectors, but still recognise that the work being done by public servants is now managerial rather than administrative.