review more research

Pepinsky, T. B., Pierskalla, J. H. i Sacks, A. (2017), „Bureaucracy and Service Delivery“, Annual Review of Political Science 20: 249–268.

Contribution to this answer

The survey shows how much the quality of public services depends on the way the bureaucracy is organized and on the professional relations within it and with the citizens. When the professional criteria are weakened, the problem is not just “bad staff” in one place the conditions under which the entire administration can work quality change.

review more research

Dahlström, C. i Lapuente, V. (2022), „Comparative Bureaucratic Politics“, Annual Review of Political Science 25: 43–63.

Contribution to this answer

Dahlstrm and Lapuente show why the relationship between political control and professional autonomy is not just an internal human resources issue: different ways of organizing bureaucracy have consequences for corruption, economic development and the quality of public services.

surveys in several countries

Schuster, C. i dr. (2022), „Exit, Voice, and Sabotage: Public Service Motivation and Guerrilla Bureaucracy in Times of Unprincipled Political Principals“, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 32(2): 416–435.

Contribution to this answer

Schuster and co-authors show what happens when officials who see their work as serving the public interest receive a political order that they consider harmful: they often try to convince the leadership to give up, but at the same time they are more willing to leave or to oppose from the inside. Political pressure can therefore gradually change the composition of the institution.

comparing several countries or cases

Alon-Barkat, S., Gilad, S., Kosti, N. i Shpaizman, I. (2025), „Career Civil Servants’ Socially Embedded Responses to Democratic Backsliding“, Perspectives on Politics.

Alon-Barkat, S., Gilad, S., Kosti, N. i Shpaizman, I. (2025), “Career Civil Servants’ Socially Embedded Responses to Democratic Backsliding,” Perspectives on Politics.

Contribution to this answer

At the Israeli state administration, the authors show that officials who see democratic backsliding as a serious threat more often want to leave the service, and less to speak and engage further at work. One reason is to expect future politicization and loss of professional influence so changing the political system changes who wants to stay in the institution.

Investigation of the conduct of civil servants

Gilad, S., Sulitzeanu-Kenan, R. i Levi-Faur, D. (2025), „A Taste for Government Employment Also Rests on Its Political Flavor“, Public Administration Review 85(5): 1412–1425.

Contribution to this answer

Gilad and co-authors show that political selection can start even before employment: in a polarized society people who are politically closer to the opposition are less interested in a job in the state administration. If this pattern is repeated, the institution can become more politically one-sided over time and without formal rule that only supporters of the government are employed.