IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/padxxx/v41y2021i2p51-62.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The politicization of civil service recruitment and promotion in Vietnam

Author

Listed:
  • Hang Duong

Abstract

Literature about the politicization of civil service recruitment and promotion generally treats loyalty and competence as being mutually exclusive and considers politicization to have negative consequences. While these studies focus mainly on multi‐party democratic regimes, studies in other political settings like Vietnam show that the conventional wisdom is controversial. Under the sole control of the communist party, Vietnam's civil service recruitment and promotion are highly politicized, and yet it has become more merit‐based. By analyzing this distinctive trajectory, this research shows that the conventional understandings of politicization need to be reconceptualized to include the combination of political and merit‐based criteria and the intervention of the political party. Additionally, while problems with politicization are inevitable, potentially positive aspects of politicization in authoritarian regimes, including stronger political leadership, better responsive competency, and improving efficient governance, should not be overlooked. This research also contributes to studies about the effects of politicization on development in developmental states.

Suggested Citation

  • Hang Duong, 2021. "The politicization of civil service recruitment and promotion in Vietnam," Public Administration & Development, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 41(2), pages 51-62, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:padxxx:v:41:y:2021:i:2:p:51-62
    DOI: 10.1002/pad.1910
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/pad.1910
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/pad.1910?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wood, B. Dan & Waterman, Richard W., 1991. "The Dynamics of Political Control of the Bureaucracy," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 85(3), pages 801-828, September.
    2. M. Shamsul Haque & Mark Turner & Mark Turner, 2013. "Why Is It So Difficult To Reform Some Asian Bureaucracies? Building Theory From Cambodian Evidence," Public Administration & Development, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 33(4), pages 275-285, October.
    3. Bawn, Kathleen, 1995. "Political Control Versus Expertise: Congressional Choices about Administrative Procedures," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 89(1), pages 62-73, March.
    4. Niheer Dasandi & Marc Esteve, 2017. "The Politics–Bureaucracy Interface in Developing Countries," Public Administration & Development, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 37(4), pages 231-245, October.
    5. Kopecký, Petr & Scherlis, Gerardo, 2008. "Party Patronage in Contemporary Europe," European Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(3), pages 355-371, July.
    6. Jose A. Puppim De Oliveira & Yijia Jing & Paul Collins & Evan M. Berman, 2015. "HRM in Development: Lessons and Frontiers," Public Administration & Development, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 35(2), pages 113-127, May.
    7. Rachel M. Gisselquist & Danielle Resnick & Sarah Repucci, 2014. "Designing Effective Civil Service Reform Lessons From Past Experience," Public Administration & Development, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 34(3), pages 207-218, August.
    8. George A. Krause & David E. Lewis & James W. Douglas, 2006. "Political Appointments, Civil Service Systems, and Bureaucratic Competence: Organizational Balancing and Executive Branch Revenue Forecasts in the American States," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 50(3), pages 770-787, July.
    9. Ward Berenschot, 2018. "Incumbent bureaucrats: Why elections undermine civil service reform in Indonesia," Public Administration & Development, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 38(4), pages 135-143, October.
    10. Rupert Hodder, 2014. "Merit Versus Kinship: A Category Mistake? The Case Of The Philippine Civil Service," Public Administration & Development, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 34(5), pages 370-388, December.
    11. Sean Gailmard & John W. Patty, 2007. "Slackers and Zealots: Civil Service, Policy Discretion, and Bureaucratic Expertise," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 51(4), pages 873-889, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kwan Nok Chan & Shiwei Fan, 2021. "Friction and bureaucratic control in authoritarian regimes," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(4), pages 1406-1418, October.
    2. Turner, Ian R, 2021. "Policy Durability, Agency Capacity, and Executive Unilateralism," SocArXiv stnzf, Center for Open Science.
    3. Peter Grajzl, 2011. "A property rights approach to legislative delegation," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 177-200, June.
    4. Ujhelyi, Gergely, 2017. "A köztisztviselői törvények hatása a kormányzati kiadásokra [The effects of civil-service legislation on government spending]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(9), pages 885-914.
    5. Ian R Turner, 2017. "Working smart and hard? Agency effort, judicial review, and policy precision," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 29(1), pages 69-96, January.
    6. Abbott, Kenneth W. & Genschel, Philipp & Snidal, Duncan & Zangl, Bernhard, 2018. "The governor's dilemma: Competence versus control in indirect governance," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Global Governance SP IV 2018-101, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    7. Bostashvili, David & Ujhelyi, Gergely, 2019. "Political budget cycles and the civil service: Evidence from highway spending in US states," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 17-28.
    8. Kenneth W. Abbott & Philipp Genschel & Duncan Snidal & Bernhard Zangl, 2020. "Competence versus control: The governor's dilemma," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(4), pages 619-636, October.
    9. Don S. Lee, 2020. "Executive control of bureaucracy and presidential cabinet appointments in East Asian democracies," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(1), pages 82-101, January.
    10. Min-Seok Pang, 2017. "Politics and Information Technology Investments in the U.S. Federal Government in 2003–2016," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 28(1), pages 33-45, March.
    11. Sanghee Park & Byong Kim, 2014. "Who is Appointed to What Position? The Politics of Appointment in Quangos of Korea," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 325-351, September.
    12. Patty, John & Turner, Ian R, 2024. "Strange Bedfellows: How the Need for Good Governance Shapes Budgetary Control of Bureaucracy," OSF Preprints pnx2u, Center for Open Science.
    13. Turner, Ian R, 2021. "Reviewing Procedure vs. Judging Substance: How Increasing Bureaucratic Oversight Can Reduce Bureaucratic Accountability," SocArXiv v6kzw, Center for Open Science.
    14. Michael M Ting & James M Snyder Jr & Shigeo Hirano & Olle Folke, 2013. "Elections and reform: The adoption of civil service systems in the U.S. states," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 25(3), pages 363-387, July.
    15. Jowei Chen & Tim Johnson, 2015. "Federal employee unionization and presidential control of the bureaucracy: Estimating and explaining ideological change in executive agencies," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 27(1), pages 151-174, January.
    16. Sameen A. Mohsin Ali, 2022. "Networks of Effectiveness? The Impact of Politicization on Bureaucratic Performance in Pakistan," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 34(2), pages 733-753, April.
    17. Michael M. Ting, 2017. "Politics and Administration," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 61(2), pages 305-319, April.
    18. Dietrichson, Jens, 2013. "Coordination Incentives, Performance Measurement and Resource Allocation in Public Sector Organizations," Working Papers 2013:26, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    19. Groll, Thomas & O’Halloran, Sharyn & McAllister, Geraldine, 2021. "Delegation and the regulation of U.S. financial markets," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    20. Nicolai PETROVSKY, 2011. "Measuring The Performance Of Federal Agencies And Programs In The Usa: An Overview And Some Reflections," Proceedings of Administration and Public Management International Conference, Research Centre in Public Administration and Public Services, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 7(1), pages 17-26, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:padxxx:v:41:y:2021:i:2:p:51-62. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0271-2075 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.