In this interview, Sigrid Arzt Colunga explains the role of the Technical Secretary of the National Security Council in Mexico. She discusses the administrative coordination necessary to serve national and public security needs in Mexico. Just as the Calderon administration is coming into power, she describes the political diplomacy and cooperation she uses to transition into her newly created role as the President’s security adviser. She also details the process of communicating with and reporting to the President and Congress, as well as coordinating efforts with other ministers and technical secretaries. Arzt says one of the challenges of the job is that the legal mandate detailing the power of the position is vague, and because it is a new position, others in the bureaucracy and older agencies do not immediately accept her authority. Arzt also explains the mission and vision behind the National Security Plan, and describes some of her responsibilities, like allocating budget appropriations, working with the governors to secure states, and coordinating agenda items for the President’s meetings with senior administrators. 

In this interview, Nitish Kumar explains the role of the Chief Minister and the progress made in Bihar through governance and reform. Kumar talks about initial challenges and a changing atmosphere in Bihar over the course of his administration, with the mood shifting from fear and mistrust to confidence in government and law and order. Detailing major reforms in governance, law and order, education, healthcare, and more, Kumar describes specific actions taken by Bihar’s government. These include passage of an Arms Act to secure public spaces, expansion of and increased attendance in public schools, increased infrastructure and transportation, delegation of responsibility in government offices, implementation of a Rights to Public Services Act and more. Kumar discusses what he sees as successes from his time in office, and the steps he takes to effectively govern the people of Bihar.

In this interview, Edmundo Jaime Pérez Yoma, the former Minister of Interior under the Bachelet Administration discusses the 2010 presidential transition process in Chile, specifically how they transitioned from one coalition to another, from President Bachelet’s left-wing coalition to President Piñera’s right-wing coalition. He argues that the main responsibility of an outgoing government to an incoming government is to make the transition as smooth as possible. He mentions that to accomplish this, he gave his team a list of instructions on how to effectively handle the transition. Some of the instructions included to not hire any more government officials and to communicate and schedule meetings with President Piñera’s appointed ministers. Moreover, Perez Yoma acknowledges that some ministers were very reluctant to work with the Piñera administration, given that they belonged to a different coalition. He claims that to address this issue he met with those ministers and told them that working with the Piñera administration was in their benefit because it would prevent the incoming officials from blaming them for lack of information. Perez Yoma mentions that the transition process went very smoothly until the February 27th earthquake. Once the earthquake struck, he argues, President Piñera and his administration became very proactive and wanted to manage the situation by themselves. In addition, they lost support from people, like the commander-in-chief of the army, who decided to follow Piñera’s orders because he already had a position secured in his administration. As a result, communication and cooperation between the two administrations worsened after the earthquake. He concludes by recommending to Ministers of Interiors facing a similar transition to the one he handled to prioritize the interests of the country over the interests of both the outgoing and the incoming government.

Case Study:  Transferring Power in a Crisis: Presidential Transition in Chile, 2010

Sheka Mansaray talks about the strides that Sierra Leone's police service has made since the brutal civil war which ended in 2002.  He details the chaotic security situation when he took over as national security adviser in 1998, and he talks about the decision to recruit a foreigner to be the inspector general of the reorganized police force.  This decision was based on the importance he assigned to having a neutral person in the role, in order to help rebuild public respect, to assist in depoliticizing the service and to provide expertise and knowledge.   Mansaray also talks about redefining intelligence roles within the police and military in order to reduce duplication of effort.  He talks about the importance of extensive and effective training for police because of the agency's close engagement with the public and the increasing sophistication of criminals.  He believes training in upper-level management skills has been very successful and advocates a stronger focus on training lower-ranking police who walk beats.  Mansaray emphasizes that despite the continued challenges, the Sierra Leonean police have made progress in transforming a politicized force allied with “dysfunctional elements in society” into a more effective and accountable service.

Case Study: Building Strategic Capacity in the Police: Sierra Leone, 1998-2008

John Wallace, team leader of Bangladesh's Managing at the Top 2 (MATT 2) project, identifies lack of accountability as the major challenge to Bangladesh's civil service.  Wallace introduces the rationale behind MATT 2 and differentiates it with its predecessor, MATT 1.  Whereas the first stage of the MATT project (1999-2002) focused on the training of individuals but not on the culture of the organization itself, MATT 2 (2006-2013) sought to create a critical mass of reform-minded civil servants and enable a reform environment.  Wallace says, "It is all about giving skills to senior civil servants, giving them experience with reforms, actual experiences of reforms."  He addresses the relationship between the U.K. Department for International Development and the government of Bangladesh, particularly regarding reforms in governance and human resource management.  Wallace highlights the need for donor coordination for distribution of resources so as not to duplicate efforts and work at cross-purposes.

Case Study:  Energizing the Civil Service: Managing at The Top 2, Bangladesh, 2006-2011