As a field, we often relate merit and neutrality to the technical skills needed to be the “best” candidate for a job, but that was not necessarily what civil service reformers had in mind. The civil service system was meant to replace widespread political patronage, but the myth around the origins of the civil service system masked inequalities built into early testing requirements and institutionalized racial inequities in hiring practices. In this article, we argue the founding myth of bureaucratic neutrality was so powerful that it continues to reverberate in our field. We trace the current reverberations of the myth of neutrality through modern hiring practices and the contemporary legal landscape. By doing this, we present a systematic review of this rationalized myth in public employment, using an institutionalism framework. As the myth of bureaucratic neutrality continues to permeate decision-making, policy creation, and implementation, it will continue to institutionalize inequity within the field.

Politics-administration interface is perceived as the heart of practice of public administration and aims at fostering relationships between administrators on one hand and political leaders and the public on another hand. The interface is the direct opposite of the dichotomy and advocates for a complementary model to be adopted where both politicians and administrators work hand in hand. Woodrow Wilson, widely acknowledged as the founder of Public Administration as an academic discipline, famously asserted that proper administrative questions were not political questions, meaning political questions are different from administrative questions. In his view, politics was outside the purview of public administration. However, it can be argued that politics cannot be separated from public administration because one needs the other. The findings indicate that politics do play an important role in public administration of the country however; the problem starts when the discipline of public administration tries to separate the two. The academic writings try to separate politics from administration nevertheless; it may be possible in writing but difficult in practice. Hence the paper seeks to probe the effects that politics has on public administration specifically in South African public administration. The political leadership in the South African context contributes to the effectiveness of public administration in the country. The paper seeks to analyse the benefits or rather seeks to look at how the political leadership contributes or affect running of public administration. Furthermore, the relationship between politicians and administrators at the local level is the point of view. A comprehensive literature survey or review in the study was the most important research method to gather relevant data that supports the study. Thus, recommendations are that, since politics cannot be separated from administration in practice, the relationship between political leadership and public administration should be strengthened.

The Civil Service Act of 2007 was a significant enactment of reform in the island nation of the Maldives. It was part of the constitutional changes that the nation embarked on starting in 2003, which resulted in a new constitution leading to the country’s first multiparty elections for president and parliament. The initial focus of civil service reform in the Maldives was to change from a personalistic, patronage-driven system of public employment to a meritocratic employment system largely removed from the direct control of the elected government. Reforming the traditional centralized governance modalities was not the focus at that stage. The adopted civil service model was thus a continuation of a tradition of centralized governance through a statutory commission mandated with the overall human resource management of the civil service.

The main objective of this paper is to provide an overview of the administrative structure of Bangladesh, highlighting the history of key administrative-reform attempts, New Public Management (NPM), and major trends in the country’s system of administration. Based on a review of secondary material, the findings of this paper suggest that several reform initiatives have been adopted by successive governments to streamline the administrative system, but that regrettably, most of them have not been implemented. Most importantly, reforms targeting the installation of different principles of NPM in the administrative system have not been successful. Due to these failures, Bangladesh’s administrative system still displays a high degree of politicization, bureaucratic dominance, incapacity—institutionally, technically, administratively—a chaotic political situation, and deteriorating law and order. NPM reforms are a dire necessity, for they could help the country overcome these features of poor governance. To implement NPM reforms, strong political leadership is required—one capable of building a solid institutional framework, sound rule of law, a proper control structure, and an effective civil service system. Otherwise, the ineffective administrative system could continue to hinder the process of overall development in the country.

In the lobby of City Hall in Burlington, Ontario, an inscription reads “Where people, nature and business thrive”. Repeatedly voted as one of the best places to live in Canada, the City of Burlington is committed to innovation, sustainable growth, and to building trust with its most valued assets – its constituents.