Civil service
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A civil servant or public servant is a civilian career public sector employee working for a government department or agency. Many consider the study of civil service to be a part of the field of public administration. Further workers in non-departmental public bodies, (called QUANGOs in some countries) may also be classed as civil servants for the purpose of producing statistics. Collectively they form a nation's Civil Service or Public Service.
Contents |
[edit] Early civil services
No state of any extent can be ruled without a bureaucracy, but organizations of any size have been few until the modern era. Administrative institutions usually grow out of the personal servants of high officials, as in the Roman Empire. This developed a complex administrative structure, which is outlined in the Notitia Dignitatum and the work of John Lydus, but as far as we know appointments to it were made entirely by inheritance or patronage and not on merit, and it was also possible for officers to employ other people to carry out their official tasks but continue to draw their salary themselves. There are obvious parallels here with the early bureaucratic structures in modern states, such as the Office of Works or the Navy in 18th century England, where again appointments depended on patronage and were often bought and sold.
One of the oldest examples of a merit-based civil service is the Imperial bureaucracy of China which can be traced back as far back as the Qin dynasty. In the areas of administration, especially in the military, appointments would be based solely on merit. After the fall of the Qin dynasty, the Chinese bureaucracy would regress into a semi-merit system known as the Nine-rank system. However, the eventual Tang dynasty would decreasingly rely less on aristocratic recommendations and more and more upon promotion based on written examinations. The Chinese civil service became known to Europe in the mid-18th century, and influenced the development of European and American systems. (Bodde 2005)
Ironically, and in part due to Chinese influence, the first European civil service was not set up in Europe, but rather in India by the East India Company, distinguishing its civil servants from its military servants. In order to prevent corruption and favouritism, promotions within the company were based on examinations. The system then spread to the United Kingdom in 1854, and to the United States with the Pendleton Civil Service Act.
[edit] The British Civil Service
In the British Civil Service, civil servants are career employees recruited and promoted on the basis of their administrative skill and technical expertise, and as such do not include, nor are appointed by, elected officials or their political advisors. Civil servants are expected to be politically neutral, and are prohibited from taking part in political campaigns or being members of Parliament. However, the extent of this political neutrality in practice - especially within the ranks of the most senior of Civil Servants - has sometimes been questioned.
In the UK, employees of the National Health Service and of Local Government Authorities are not considered civil servants. The British Civil Service was at its largest in 1976 with approximately three-quarters of a million servants employed. By April 1999, this number had fallen to a record low of 459,600 due to privatization, outsourcing and cutbacks, although this has again risen since then.
The archetypal senior British civil servant was famously caricatured in the 1980s BBC comedy Yes Minister and the civil service is also the subject of the other comedies, The Thick of It, as well as the earlier radio series, The Men from the Ministry.
[edit] The United States civil service
In the United States, the Federal Civil Service is defined as "all appointive positions in the executive, judicial, and legislative branches of the Government of the United States, except positions in the uniformed services." (U. S. Code Title 5 § 2101). In the early 19th century, it was based on the so-called spoils system, in which all bureaucrats were dependent on elected politicians. This was changed by the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883 and today U.S. Federal civil servants are appointed and recruited based on merit, although certain civil service positions, including some heads of diplomatic missions and executive agencies may also be filled by political appointees. Under the Hatch Act of 1939, the political activities of civil servants are restricted.
The U.S. civil service includes the Competitive service, and the Excepted service. The majority of civil service appointments in the U.S. are made under the Competitive Service, but certain categories in the Diplomatic Service, the FBI, and other National Security positions are made under the Excepted Service. (U.S. Code Title V)
United States State and local government entities often have competitive civil service systems that are modeled on the national system, to one degree or another.
[edit] The Indian Civil Service
The Indian Civil Service, attracts the best talent in India. Officers are selected through a tough examination system and are allotted services according to their rank and choice. Once selected in a service, promotions are time bound. As in other countries, Civil servants are expected to be politically neutral, and are prohibited from taking part in political campaigns or being members of Parliament. However, there are examples of bureaucrats of having either resigned or retired to join politics.
[edit] Other countries
Other countries tend to use systems which vary between these two extremes. For example, in France all civil servants are career officials as in Britain, although ministers have a greater ability to select the occupants of senior posts on grounds of political sympathy (and consequently senior officers have the opportunity for lengthy secondments to the private sector when they are seen as unsuitable to work with the party in office); while Germany makes a clear distinction, as in the US, between political and official posts (though the threshold is placed rather higher).
Employees of international organisations (e.g., the UN or the IAEA) are sometimes referred to as international civil servants.
[edit] References
Bodde, D. Chinese Ideas in the West [1]
[edit] See also
- Bangladesh Civil Service
- Civil service of the People's Republic of China
- French Civil Service
- German civil servant ("Beamter")
- Hong Kong Civil Service
- Indian Civil Service
- Civil service of the Republic of Ireland
- List of military officers who have led divisions of a civil service
- New Zealand public service
- Central Superior Services of Pakistan
- Singapore Civil Service
- British Civil Service
- United States civil servicede:Öffentlicher Dienst
et:Avalik teenistus id:Pegawai negeri ja:公務員 no:Embedsmann zh:公務員
