Representative Bureaucracy: Passive and Active Representation in German Ministries and Agencies

Description

Public administrations struggle for diversity and passive representation in its leadershippositions. The theoretically expected reward is not only increased legitimacy but also a boost in overall service performance. The proposed theoretical mechanism is the introduction and activation of distinct social identities into rather homogeneous groups, bearing the potential for higher diversity in attitudes and role perceptions, and the potential for active representation ofmarginalized groups. To test this claim, the paper analyses how socio-demographic factors (as gender, migrant background, socioeconomic status) influence role perceptions and attitudes of senior civil servants (SCS) in Germany. Controls are in place for type of organisation (ministry or agency), hierarchical position, educational and career background, religion and age. The analysis draws on the 2017 edition of thePolitical-Administrative Elite (PAE) survey capturing more than 1,000 senior civil servants from ministries and agencies at federal and state level. Our findings reveal that there is no larger effect of socio- demographic factors on role perceptions and attitudes, i.e. no correlation of passive and (the potential for) active representation can be reported. Bureaucratic socialisation, combined with mechanisms of elite reproduction, is likely to explain these results.

Period	26 Jun 2019 → 29 Jun 2019
Event title	International Conference on Public Policy 4 (ICPP)
Event type	Unknown
Degree of Recognition	International