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CIVIL SERVICE REFORM IN LATIN AMERICA: TYING POLITICIANS’ HANDS

CIVIL SERVICE REFORM IN LATIN AMERICA: TYING POLITICIANS’ HANDS. Blanca Heredia CIDE, Mexico IADB, Regional Policy Dialogue, III Meeting of the Management and Transparency Network Washington D.C. November 14-15, 2002. Civil Service Reform in the 1990s. Reform wave triggered by:

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CIVIL SERVICE REFORM IN LATIN AMERICA: TYING POLITICIANS’ HANDS

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  1. CIVIL SERVICE REFORM IN LATIN AMERICA: TYING POLITICIANS’ HANDS Blanca Heredia CIDE, Mexico IADB, Regional Policy Dialogue, III Meeting of the Management and Transparency Network Washington D.C. November 14-15, 2002

  2. Civil Service Reform in the 1990s • Reform wave triggered by: • fiscal duress • electoral competition • market-centered openess • Dominant ideological trends internationally: • anti-state • anti-bureaucracy • Managerialism on the rise • Central objectives: • cost and size reduction • efficiency enhancement • increased efficacy, responsability and probity

  3. The problem: Public personnel in the region • Key Deficiencies: • high cost (% of public spending) • low efficiency, professionalism and probity • lack of systematic and reliable information • fragmentation • low capacity to provide public goods • Main causes: • clientelism • gap legality – reality • irresponsible discretion • loyalty vs merit • rigidity

  4. Size and Cost of Government Source: Carlson y Payne, 2001; WDI, 2001

  5. Public Expenditure and Fiscal Revenue, 1998 Source: Carlson y Payne, 2001; WDI, 2001

  6. Models of Reform

  7. The politics of civil service reform: Distintive traits • Strongest opposition comes from power holders • Difficult to generate winners in the short run • Main potential winners (citizens) uninterested • Long process; iterated game • High chances for reversal and/or colonization of the new rules by old practices • Success requires cooperation –not merely neutralization- of actors affected by reform (politicians & bureaucrats) • Very high enforcement costs

  8. The reform process:Central Actors • President • Civil Service reform team • Fiscal and budgeting technocrats • Party politicians • Public employees´ representatives

  9. The reform process: Stages and conditioning factors Initiation [timing & Priority] Change of rules [rules;laws constitution] Implementation [altering bhv & outputs] Design [content] STRATEGIES [who executes; packaging; sequencing] IDEAS [reform model View of State] FISCAL DURESS; ELECTORAL COMPETITION

  10. The politics of successful implementation: pivotal challenges • Reducing government elites’ irresponsible discretion over hiring, promotion, pay and firing • Sustaining the reform effort over time • Gaining affected parties’ (politicians and bureaucrats) cooperation without compromising central reform objectives in the process • Enforcing new public personnel regime

  11. Brazil, Mexico and Uruguaycompared (1)

  12. Brazil, Mexico and Uruguaycompared (2) Brazil, Mexico and Uruguaycompared (1)

  13. Conclusions:Critical facilitating conditions • Presidential resolve • Adequate diagnosis (technical & pol) • Endurance of triggering factors • Emphasis on capacity-building • Information strategy • Budget and personnel coordination • Careful sequencing

  14. Proyect participants Blanca Heredia, Mexico Francisco Gaetani, Brazil Fernando Filgueira, Uruguay

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