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AbstractResearch on representative bureaucracy highlights the importance of translating passive into active representation. But what is the motivational basis that underlies this translation? Drawing on theories of social identity and intergroup behavior, we argue that bureaucrats belonging to underrepresented groups actively represent their own group because of a desire for positive distinctiveness. Two large‐scale conjoint experiments were performed using a unique sample of 1929 frontline investigators in the National Police in South Korea. Results show that investigator‐accuser gender match per se did not cause female investigators to prioritize female accusers of assault more than male investigators did. But once the assaults were manipulated to involve salient female disadvantages that lower women's status—for example, intimate partner violence—female accusers were more likely to be prioritized by female investigators. Our findings suggest that active representation is not unbounded partiality but a lever that guards against inequitable group disparities.

AbstractThe literature dealing with representative bureaucracy emphasizes the role that minority street‐level bureaucrats may play when, directly and indirectly, they actively represent clients with whom they share a common identity. My study goes further, contributing to the implementation literature, by examining why and how these street‐level bureaucrats use their discretion to shape non‐minority clients' attitudes toward minorities. I explore this phenomenon empirically through interviews with 36 Israeli lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) teachers. I analyze the traditional methods they routinely adopt, such as exposing students to information about minorities, encouraging open discussions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) issues in the classroom, and entrepreneurially developing and introducing innovative learning programs. I illustrate how they respond to ad hoc cases (e.g., protecting LGBTQ+ clients or taking advantage of outside events to promote understanding of relevant issues) and the approach of leading by example.

AbstractFinding a mission is important for employees to perform well in public service jobs. Research has demonstrated that leadership can facilitate mission valence among followers, but if and how leadership unfolds this effect in the presence of excessive bureaucracy (i.e., red tape) is unclear. This interaction is particularly interesting in the case of authentic leadership (i.e., a positive leadership style based on self‐awareness, consistent behaviors, and transparent relations with followers), as red tape may either neutralize or enhance the association of authentic leadership with mission valence. We test these rivalry hypotheses in a sample from a two‐wave survey among public employees in Germany. Results provide support for the neutralization hypothesis, as the relationship between authentic leadership and mission valence strengthens at lower levels of red tape. HR practitioners are thus challenged to reduce red tape and to make public organizations authentic places, where leaders can develop authenticity through self‐awareness.

Abstract
Extending voting rights to citizens living abroad has been one of the longest debated subjects in the Turkish Parliament, even more persistent than is generally assumed in academic and political circles. In this study, we aim to understand how Turkish political decision-makers conceived Turkey's external residents' right to vote from abroad and the rationalisations and conjectures put forward by parliamentarians during different political times. For this purpose, we traced parliamentary minutes back from the beginning of Turkey's two party-system to the present. We found that two channels of demand for change existed: pressure from citizens living overseas and individual parliamentarians who had connections with residents abroad. We also noticed that opposition parties' agenda towards the Turkish diaspora's right to vote differed when they took control of the government. Additionally, we found that coups d'état and the established bureaucracy in Turkey resisted the diaspora's right to participate in national elections.

AbstractCaseworkers of the Repatriation and Departure Service (DT&V), responsible for enforcing return orders in the Netherlands, systematically orchestrate "return conversations" with rejected asylum seekers and apprehended irregular migrants in hopes of realising the return of their "clients" without physical force. Based on semi‐structured interviews, we analyse which strategies the caseworkers use under which conditions and what they think about their strategies' (in)effectiveness. The analysis is informed by Scott's institutional theory and Lipsky's concept of street‐level bureaucracy. Our results show that caseworkers prefer regulative strategies but are under organisational pressure to also use normative and cultural‐cognitive strategies, especially when migrants cannot be deported. According to the caseworkers, these cases are often the most labour‐intensive and the normative and cultural‐cognitive arguments used are considered rarely successful. Also, these arguments seem to conflict with their social norms and cultural‐cognitive beliefs. We develop three hypotheses which can be used in future research.

AbstractThis paper describes the changing nature of the English and Swedish states between 1800 and 2020 from the perspective of ordinary citizens. We identify 13 typical life situations and then describe the types of citizens who interacted with the state, the number and types of public officials with whom they interacted, and where those interactions took place. We distinguish among three typical social groups: the poor, the middle, and the rich. We find, among other things, that the poor became objects of government policy much earlier than other groups, but they also remained in a world of parochial poor relief even as the middle and the rich began to interact with a more functionally differentiated, professional bureaucracy. These findings have important implications for scholarly debates on when the state began to interact directly with the civilian masses and the unevenness of state activities and capacities within countries.

This article assesses how changing paradigms of public administration have been reflected in public sector human resources management over time. It finds that large-scale reform acts, such as the Pendleton Act or the Civil Service Reform Act and the National Performance Review reflected the "ideals" of the rule-following bureaucrat of the Old Public Administration (OPA) and of the result-seeking entrepreneur of New Public Management (NPM). However, the advocate, empath, and networker of New Public Administration (NPA) and New Public Service (NPS) has not been pursued through similarly encompassing reform efforts. While gradual changes such as a more representative bureaucracy and increased collaborative governance have paved the way for a deeper integration of NPA and NPS values into human resource policy and practice, more efforts are needed to promote advocates, empaths, and networkers as the core of the "new" public service. We conclude by making some tentative suggestions in this direction.

ABSTRACTGraduate students are primarily socialized into the political science profession in departments, with networks of peers and informal mentors providing crucial sources of support. This article describes one model of departmental professional socialization that the authors have led—the Graduate Student Caucus—which can improve graduate students' day-to-day lived experiences. In this model, a small cross-cohort group of students is elected for a year-long term to develop professional and social programming for graduate students and to assist them in navigating university bureaucracy, teaching and research responsibilities, and the job market. The Caucus also regularly compiles and presents student concerns to their department administrators to steer the program's direction. We describe the structure of the Caucus and its activities to highlight the benefits of this model and its adaptability to other institutional settings. Governance mechanisms like a Caucus cultivate trust, boost confidence, and demystify the "hidden curriculum" in the profession.

AbstractCommunication professionals are increasingly found within government ministries. Based on classic work on bureaucracy and recent literature on mediatization and personalization, this article develops two ideal types: the government information provider and government spin doctor. These ideals are constituted by six dimensions: recruitment criteria, values, loyalties, reputational concerns, interactions, and tasks. A study of nonpartisan communication professionals in Norwegian ministries is used to illustrate the empirical relevance of the ideal types. The analysis shows that for loyalties and reputational concerns, Norwegian communication professionals resemble the government information provider. Regarding interactions and tasks, they resemble the government spin doctor. For recruitment criteria and values, the picture is mixed. The empirical application thereby illustrates a fruitful aspect of the framework as certain configurations will bring forth inbuilt tension in communication professionals' role. The framework allows a fine‐grained approach to extend ongoing debates of appropriate and inappropriate practices of communication professionals in ministries.

AbstractThe present study attempts to study the credit supply process in the Iranian banking industry by using the viable system model (VSM) to identify its vulnerabilities and improve the financing system. The method used in this study consists of three steps: (a) identification of system, (b) diagnosis of system and (c) control of information flow, communication channels and frequent errors. In this research, 37 credit experts from 17 different bank branches were interviewed about the process of granting facilities, and SPSS 23 was used to examine research objectives through the Delphi method. The results show that the structure of Iran's credit supply chain network suffers from such problems as deviation in the appropriate use of allocated credit resources, structural faults of the banking system and lack of administrative health, high bureaucracy, directed facilities, etc. In the end, some suggestions are provided for redesign and optimization of the credit supply network.

Political theory is rediscovering the colossus of public administration—the vast public service and regulatory bureaucracies and their countless employees and extensions that conduct the daily business of government. This review explains how something so visible could ever have fallen from view, and surveys four burgeoning areas of research. These pertain to the legitimacy of public administration, to the articulation of standards of good government distinct from good public policy, to the analysis of how the moral agency of bureaucrats is implicated and undermined by the everyday operation of bureaucratic agencies, and to how we should conceptualize the state when we apprehend it through the seemingly banal routines of administration. What emerges from this body of work is a picture of the executive bureaucracy as an object of normative, critical, and conceptual inquiry on a par with the other two branches of government, the legislature and the judiciary.

Resumo Estudos sobre implementação de políticas públicas têm buscado melhores formas de compreender as falhas e a própria realidade desse processo. A partir de uma revisão sistemática da literatura, que contou com análise bibliométrica, este artigo aponta a historiografia e as frentes de pesquisa sobre a temática e analisa a autoria e as redes de cocitação de autores. Posteriormente, uma metanálise das publicações que compõem o portfólio teórico final (construído por meio do ano de publicação, número de citações e fator de impacto dos periódicos) apresenta as perspectivas e os modelos teóricos prevalentes, os resultados empíricos e as lacunas de cada trabalho. Resultados apontam que temas como governança, desenvolvimento sustentável, e-government, street-level bureaucracy (burocracia de nível de rua), políticas de saúde e descentralização dos processos da administração pública trazem um cenário de pesquisas relevantes para teorizações e aplicações empíricas das discussões do campo. Por fim, apresenta-se uma agenda de pesquisa futura.

AbstractHow do frontline workers implement policy when it is politically contested and they face strong pressure from politicians and the media? Based on original data and a multi‐method analysis of juvenile justice policy and child protection policy in Switzerland, we show that political conflict can change policy implementation when frontline workers adapt their implementation practices in response to political and media pressure. We demonstrate that frontline workers seek to limit the influence of political pressure on policy implementation to safeguard their professional autonomy and reputation. However, we observe that they may also occasionally engage in what we call "blame‐avoiding policy implementation." While formally complying with the policy mandate, frontline workers exploit their street‐level discretion to make policy implementation less scandal‐prone and blameworthy, thereby lowering the likelihood of blame attacks. The findings have important implications for our understanding of policy implementation and the functioning of bureaucracy in more conflictual times.

This article analyses 26 interviews with frontline female practitioners from domestic violence and abuse (DVA) services for racially minoritised women in England and Wales, exploring how these practitioners – who are from the same racially minoritised communities as the women they support – responded to the challenges of the COVID-19 crisis. These specific practitioner perspectives offer valuable insights into the specific ways in which the pandemic exacerbated the intersectional vulnerabilities of minoritised women experiencing DVA. Interpreted through a standpoint feminist lens, the findings reveal how frontline practitioners used bureaucratic discretion both to meet minoritised women's changed needs during the pandemic in order to enhance their safety and to challenge the exclusions and intersectional inequalities underpinning pandemic policies. The study illuminates the institutional dimensions of frontline practitioner responses to the pandemic and contribute to debates within the street-level bureaucracy scholarship about the nature of bureaucratic discretion exercised by frontline practitioners.