Overview
- Elevates the level of debate surrounding affirmative action through rigorous empirical analysis of how the demographics of public organizations affect governmental performance
- Provides compelling evidence that representative bureaucracies perform better
- Dispels preconceived notions about the adverse effects of affirmative action in the public sector
Part of the book series: Executive Politics and Governance (EXPOLGOV)
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Table of contents (8 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
- representative bureaucracy
- bureaucracy
- transformation
- affirmative action
- performance
- apartheid
- capacity
- service delivery
- administrative reform
- workforce diversity
- methodology
- causal mechanisms
- racial oppression
- exploitation
- South Africa
- Multivariate regression analysis
- organisational performance
- empathy
- advocation
- democracy
About this book
—Kenneth Meier, Distinguished Scholar in Residence, American University
"This study of public sector transformation goes beyond the descriptive qualitative research largely found in South African public administration historiography by undertaking sophisticated quantitative analysis to show that representation of previously historically disadvantaged groups, under certain circumstances, can improve the performance of public organizations. This is an excellent contribution, not only to public administration scholarship in South Africa, but also to the sparse literature on public organizations in developing countries. The book should be of great value to scholars and practitioners of public administration, as well as to students of political science and organizational studies."—Robert Cameron, Professor, University of Cape Town
"This book provides an excellent analysis of the theory of representative bureaucracy in the context of South African post-apartheid government. South Africa is an important and fascinating case. The work adds substantially to the literature on representative bureaucracy and will be of interest to all who are concerned with the effectiveness of government organizations."
—J. Edward Kellough, Professor, University of Georgia
Governments throughout the world seek to promote employment equity and ensure that bureaucracies are representative of the citizenry. South Africa offers a rare and fascinating case for exploring what happens to bureaucracies as they undergo demographic transformation. Grounded in the theory of representative bureaucracy and using a mixed methods approach, this book explores how major changes in the demographics of the South African public service have affected the performance of the institution. The empirical analysis offers compelling evidence that representative bureaucracies perform better. As public organizations become increasingly representative by hiring historically disadvantaged persons, especially Africans, their performance improves, controlling for a range of factors. Evidence indicates representative bureaucracies perform better because they empathize with and advocate for historically disadvantaged communities, are equipped with linguistic and cultural competencies to serve a diverse citizenry, and can induce compliance, cooperation, and coproduction.
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Representative Bureaucracy and Performance
Book Subtitle: Public Service Transformation in South Africa
Authors: Sergio Fernandez
Series Title: Executive Politics and Governance
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32134-5
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Political Science and International Studies, Political Science and International Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-32133-8Published: 09 December 2019
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-32136-9Published: 13 December 2020
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-32134-5Published: 22 November 2019
Series ISSN: 2946-367X
Series E-ISSN: 2946-3688
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XVIII, 288
Number of Illustrations: 11 b/w illustrations
Topics: Public Policy, African Politics, Legislative and Executive Politics, Governance and Government, Democracy, Political History