President Woodrow Wilson told Black leaders, ‘Segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen.’ He was one in a long line of racist American presidents.
Technical expertise comes first: the first vessels through the Suez Canal in 1869.
Wikimedia Commons
In the US, some federal departments become known as ‘turkey farms’ – stuffed with loyal but ultimately useless political appointees.
To some, White House aide Jennifer Williams and Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman are impartial truth-tellers; to others, they are power-hungry bureaucrats.
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
Public officials are now in the spotlight: Does the public view them as professionals, bound by duty, or as elites who invoke ideals while pursuing their own agendas?
In 1978, President Jimmy Carter spoke at a Northern Virginia high school about civil service changes underway.
AP Photo/Jeff Taylor
South Africa’s finance minister delivered a budget that tried to balance serving the public interest, while maintaining the stability of public finances.
Garbage piled up in the opposition-held city of Afrin, Syria, in March 2018.
AP/Lefteris Pitarakis
Keeping the water and power on, managing sewers and collecting garbage will help communities shattered by the Syrian civil war rebuild – and keep out the Islamic State, says a former aid official.
Scotland’s former first minister Alex Salmond legally challenged the SNP government under the leadership of his former protege Nicola Sturgeon, and won.
Robert Perry/epa
With Brexit mired in doubt, it could be said the stars are aligning for Scottish independence. But now it looks like the SNP could self-combust after the government’s humiliating court defeat.
Brexit looms large over Whitehall.
Victoria Jones/PA Wire
Government departments have been squeezed particularly hard over the past few years. Now they need to find thousands of people who can work out how to leave the EU.
President Donald Trump speaks at a conference for law enforcement.
REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
The Trump administration may do well to make a friend of the federal bureaucracy it’s so intent on gutting, according to an expert who studies the role of civil servants in government.
Rogers was a key figure in Brexit negotiations.
EPA/Thierry Roge
The general loss of faith in the economy is the most important issue President Zuma must address. More radical social and economic transformation, with emphasis on land reform will be most critical.
Thousands of civil service employees gather during a protest march for higher pay at the Union Buildings in Pretoria in 2010.
EPA/Jon Hrusa
South Africa’s government should urgently announce a moratorium on civil service employment growth. The country has reached its upper limit in the number of civil servants that can be sustained.
Secret evidence can leave employees in the dark.
Nicole Salow