Merit or Politics: Who becomes Civil Servant in Central and Eastern Europe?
Prof. György Gajduschek, from the Institute of Economic and Public Policy, and Katarina Staronova from Comenius University (Bratislava) recently published a joint paper analyzing selection and promotion of senior civil servants in three Central and East European countries (Estonia, Hungary and Slovakia).The paper argues that it is highly misleading to interpret the HR decisions regarding senior civil servants in the region based solely on formal institutions and legal norms. On the contrary, informal mechanisms such as personal relationships and party membership are decisive. Formal rules made to reduce or abolish favoritism and nepotism in this field regularly turn out to be ineffective and usually vanish within a short period of time.
The full paper is available here.