<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>This essay elaborates how the analysis of administrative careers – both as dependent and independent variables – can be leveraged to gain a more systematic understanding of the relationship between politics and administration. It highlights how the analysis of administrative careers can provide answers to pertinent questions about the relationship between politics and administration, including civil service politicization, politicians’ motivations in patronage decisions, the interplay of organizational characteristics and top officials’ careers, and performance effects of administrative careers. It also includes suggestions on how to move forward in terms of research methods and how the systematic analysis of administrative careers can strengthen the comparative analysis of the relationship between politics and administration.</p></abstract>

This essay elaborates how the analysis of administrative careers – both as dependent and independent variables – can be leveraged to gain a more systematic understanding of the relationship between politics and administration. It highlights how the analysis of administrative careers can provide answers to pertinent questions about the relationship between politics and administration, including civil service politicization, politicians’ motivations in patronage decisions, the interplay of organizational characteristics and top officials’ careers, and performance effects of administrative careers. It also includes suggestions on how to move forward in terms of research methods and how the systematic analysis of administrative careers can strengthen the comparative analysis of the relationship between politics and administration.

Top Officials’ Careers and the Relationship Between Politics and Administration

NISPAcee Journal of Public Administration and Policy

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

This essay elaborates how the analysis of administrative careers – both as dependent and independent variables – can be leveraged to gain a more systematic...

Top Officials’ Careers and the Relationship Between Politics and Administration

Published Online: Dec 10, 2020

Page range: 35 - 48

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/nispa-2020-0013

Keywords
Administrative careers, patronage, performance, politicization, senior civil servants, turnover

© 2020 Tobias Bach, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Top Officials’ Careers and the Relationship Between Politics and Administration

Published Online: Dec 10, 2020

Page range: 35 - 48

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/nispa-2020-0013

KeywordsAdministrative careers, patronage, performance, politicization, senior civil servants, turnover

© 2020 Tobias Bach, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
Administrative careers, patronage, performance, politicization, senior civil servants, turnover