Civil service reform in post-communist Europe: the bumpy road to depoliticisation

Abstract

This article seeks to explain why civil service reform trajectories have differed in post-communist Europe, and why reforms have so far not led to the de-politicisation of personnel policy. It argues that the communist legacy of over-politicised personnel policy, the mode of transition and the constellation of actors after the first free elections shaped the personnel policy and civil service reform dynamics in the period directly after the change of regime. However, in terms of reform outcomes, the road to de-politicisation of post-communist civil services posed too many obstacles to lead rapidly to successful reforms. Neither governments of the left and the right nor new generations of senior bureaucrats have an incentive to engage in efforts to de-politicise post-communist civil services. The context of post-communist transformation has tended to lock in a pattern of civil service governance that is characterised by high levels of political discretion.

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