Informace o publikaci
Public Administration Reforms in Slovakia: Limited Outcomes (Why?)
| Autoři | |
|---|---|
| Rok publikování | 2018 |
| Druh | Článek v odborném periodiku |
| Časopis / Zdroj | NISPAcee Journal of Public Administration and Policy |
| Fakulta / Pracoviště MU | |
| Citace | |
| www | https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/nispa-2018-0005 |
| Doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/nispa-2018-0005 |
| Klíčová slova | Slovakia; public administration; reforms; civil service; local government |
| Popis | The goal of this paper is to document and to analyse public administration reform dynamics and outcomes in three selected areas – transparency and accountability, civil service and local self-governments. The high level of potential access to government information in Slovakia does not “produce” increased accountability, predictability and also does not effectively serve as a tool to control corruption. We argue that citizens are not only victims, but also accomplishers: their tolerance for corruption, excessive bureaucracy and rent-seeking is confirmed by many existing studies. Concerning civil service reform, Slovakia shows a substantial reform reversal towards politicisation and centralisation after 2001, which clearly threatens the fundamental features of democratic governance. Soon after the EU accession in 2004 major regressive changes took place, and the Civil Service Office was abolished in 2006. The new legislation in force from 2017 (forced by the EU conditionality) should return the Slovak civil service back on the right track – let us to see. With regard to self-government the reforms aimed towards the establishment of more independent local and regional self-government. However, the major issue here is the extreme fragmentation on the municipal level – almost 3,000 municipalities in the country, most of them bellow 1,000 inhabitants. Many studies confirm that amalgamation (or at least functional amalgamation) is necessary – but there is no political will to start it. |