Merit, Autonomy, and Administrative Burden: Evidence from African Countries

• In Event: Public Administration from a Global Perspective

Abstract

Appointing civil servants based on merit and granting them autonomy to make their own decisions have become hallmarks of modern bureaucracy. Recent political developments in the United States and abroad, however, have threatened to erode merit principles and politically subordinate bureaucracies. Contemporary populist leaders who condemn unelected bureaucrats for wielding excessive power and failing to act in the interests of the citizenry have taken measures to hold bureaucrats more accountable and keep the administrative state in check, if not roll it back altogether, including greater use of at-will appointments, the thickening of bureaucracy with political appointees loyal to elected leaders, and weakening of collective bargaining power enjoyed by public employees. Against this backdrop, we set to examine the impact of merit appointments and bureaucratic autonomy in administrative decision-making on administrative burden. The main research question we ask is how appointing bureaucrats on merit and granting them autonomy in decision-making impact administrative burden in ease of doing business. We examine this question by analyzing an unbalanced panel of 54 African countries (2013-2021) created using data from the World Bank, United Nations, and Global Integrity. Africa poses an interesting setting in which to explore these relationships due to the continent’s poor economic development, generally low levels of administrative capacity and expertise, and history of politicizing bureaucracies. Preliminary results obtained using two-way fixed effects regression (countries and years) show that merit appointments and evaluations within bureaucracies along with bureaucratic autonomy improve the business regulatory environment and reduce administrative burden.

Keywords: meritocracy, autonomy, bureaucracy, administrative burden

Author

• Faisal S Cheema, Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs