Power and the public service

Article Abstract:

This article examines the relationship between the role of the public service and the extent and limits of its power. It raises, first, the issue of the severe limits to the power of the government in general and the public service in particular. It then explores a pivotal paradox, namely, that of an apparently powerless public service possessing, in fact, very significant power to influence public policy and program direction. The various roles are identified which, by their nature, give the public service its power base. These roles are those of policy manager, policy advisor and developer, policy advocate, policy maker, adjudicator, and linch-pin. The reciprocal nature of the power relationship is noted through which those in positions of power are controlled by those they seek to control. Eight sets of public service power-holders are identified and their characteristics noted: the managerial cadre; support specialist; the unions; the central agencies; collegial departments; agencies able to exert horizontal controls; the common service agencies; and quasi-judicial bodies. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Psychological aspects, Public employees, Government employees, Control (Psychology)

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Public Service 2000: the renewal of the public service

Article Abstract:

In December 1989 the prime minister launched an initiative of public service reform and renewal called "Public Service 2000". The initiative is designed to equip the public service of Canada to meet the challenges of an increasingly demanding national and international environment. Based on the premise that the key to management is the motivation of people, the underlying thrust of Public Service 2000 is on changing how public servants are managed and, more broadly, how work is done in government. Building on the established foundations of the modern, professional public service, Public Service 2000 will lead to reforms in mandates, structures and operations and, above all, in the management culture of the public service, its efficiency and its capacity to serve Canadians effectively. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

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Does public opinion matter? The adoption of federal royal commission and task force recommendations on the national question, 1951-1987

Article Abstract:

Existing research in the field of Canadian public administration reveals relatively little about the presumed linkage between royal commissions and mass-level attitudes on the one hand, and government policy-making on the other. Focusing on the case of federal royal commission and task force recommendations in the fields of cultural and economic nationalism, this paper questions the extent to which such recommendations coincide with the results of national public opinion surveys and with federal public policy decisions. In general, mass-level attitudes are found to parallel nationalist commission proposals but to be somewhat divided. The relatively continentalist orientation of elite attitudes seems to better explain federal policy initiatives in the period 1951 through 1987. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Research, Political science research, Policy sciences, Public opinion

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