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. 

Dwarika Dhungel describes Nepal’s experience with civil service reform as it transitioned from a unitary state ruled by a monarchy to a multi-party parliamentary state evolving toward a decentralized federal system. At the start of this transition, an Administrative Reforms Commission chaired by the prime minister was established. It prepared 116 recommendations to right-size and rationalize the civil service and the organization and functions of government. However, while the commission did its work a large number of civil servants were fired, throwing the reform process into turmoil and the commission chairman resigned. Officials from the political parties then began to politicize the civil service, removing long-time employees and elevating party supporters. At the time of the interview, the Asian Development Bank pressed for some reform and anti-corruption efforts and a new “good governance” law had been enacted, but whether it would be implemented was unknown.  

Tobias Flessenkemper discusses the European Union Police Mission’s strategies and priorities in Bosnia-Herzegovina. He argues the command structure in the Bosnia police, which included a minister of the interior in each canton assuming administrative and executive roles that typically fall to police commissioners, overly politicized the Bosnia police in the levels of upper management. He considers politicization a major obstacle to police reform that was manifested differently in Bosnia’s two entities. Whereas in the cantons in the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, encroachment by ministers of the interior on the traditional roles of police commissioners created one type of politicization, in the Republika Srpska, police were hesitant to investigate cases involving politicians or wealthy individuals. Still, he points out that the police were one of the most trusted institutions in Bosnia, which he credits to their visibility and roots in the communities in which they served. Finally, he posits that the effectiveness of the police was subverted somewhat by Bosnia’s weak judicial system and lack of prisons.     

Edward Larbi-Siaw describes in detail the process of tax administration reform in Ghana during the late 1980s.  First, the reform program sought to recruit highly skilled and diversified personnel that could raise to the challenges posed by the new taxation environment.  Larbi-Siaw describes alternative strategies to incentivize employment with the National Revenue Secretariat (NRS), including salaries matching those offered by the private sector and hierarchy adjustments aimed at providing in-demand scientists with ranks equal to those they would have at universities. This was possible only after the NRS was removed from the civil service to circumvent pay restrictions and rigid promotion systems.  Second, the secretariat was transformed into an agency through an institutional overhaul that involved the creation of departments specialized in research, internal operations, auditing, finance and human resources. Third, enhanced supervision and monitoring of revenue flow contributed to an increase in effectiveness and a reduction in corruption and malfeasance.  This was complemented by selective purges of corrupt or underperforming officials, with the notable exception of the operations core that remained largely untouched due to the strategic need to maintain the NRS running throughout the restructuring process and to minimize resistance.  Larbi-Siaw attributes the lack of generalized resistance to the reform to the support of the government, a consensus-building approach predicated on internal deliberation and consultation with other relevant agencies, and the successes of creative outreach efforts of the newly created NRS customer service and public relations departments. Nonetheless, there were two main sources of resistance. First, civil servants resented the retention of revenue to sustain high salaries at the NRS, which resulted in the abolition of retention and the drain of many qualified staff.  Second, public discontent over misused funds affected the NRS due to the inevitable link between revenue collection and expenditure. Information provision was key to transparency, and required extensive cooperation with the Ministry of Finance that could not always be secured due to intrinsic institutional conflict over jurisdictions.  Both factors also contributed to the considerable delay in integration of the revenue agencies—the Internal Revenue Service and the Customs, Excise and Preventive Services—despite a stated preference for a one-stop shop.  Finally, Larbi Siaw describes specific tax regulations that were introduced, highlighting the role of codification in the management of special interest groups that had previously been able to secure ad hoc exemptions.  

Case Study:  Professionalization, Decentralization, and a One-Stop Shop: Tax Collection Reform in Ghana, 1986-2008

Farooq Sobhan talks about the work of his Bangladesh Enterprise Institute, which specializes in training civil servants.  The institute was undertaking to train a core group of mid-level bureaucrats in order to help them develop key management and budgetary skills.  He emphasizes the importance of job stability. Under the system prevalent in Bangladesh, people were transferred between positions frequently and did not get the opportunity to specialize.  Sobhan stresses his belief that those who receive training must be encouraged to stay in positions that will allow them to use their new skills.  He also identifies the problem of students who study abroad and never return, and the need to make the civil service more attractive.  He also reflects on how a politicized civil service is damaging for a country, and shares ideas for depoliticizing a bureaucracy.  He concludes by looking forward to the day when the Bangladeshi civil service has pride of place in society.