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Articles on Civil service

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A worker at the National Hurricane Center tracks weather over the Gulf of Mexico. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Politicians may rail against the ‘deep state,’ but research shows federal workers are effective and committed, not subversive

Years of research about the people who work in the federal government finds that most of them are devoted civil servants who are committed to civic duty without regard to partisan politics.
Nigeria recently started commercial operation of a China-assisted railway linking the southwestern cities of Lagos and Ibadan. Emma Houston/Xinhua via Getty Images

Book review: Nigeria has democracy but not development. How to fix it

In his new book, Nigeria Democracy Without Development: How To Fix It, international political economist Omano Edigheji explains why democracy has not led to development in Nigeria.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has reshuffled his cabinet amid growing accusations of of graft, and an outbreak of violence unprecedented in 25 years. Photo by Rodger Bosch/AFP via Getty Images

Beyond the cabinet reshuffle – what will it take to renew South Africa’s public sector?

South Africa’s public sector works somewhat better than those of most other middle-income countries. Yet, unlike them, it has not managed to achieve gains in the midst of messiness.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that many jobs can be performed remotely. It’s time to consider moving federal goverment positions into other regions of the country. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Is it time to move Ottawa out of Ottawa?

If work doesn’t need to be done in Ottawa-area offices, does it need to be done in Ottawa at all?
Trump put a portrait of Andrew Jackson in the Oval Office when he was president. Oliver Contreras-Pool/Getty Images

Trump wasn’t the first president to try to politicize the civil service – which remains at risk of returning to Jackson’s ‘spoils system’

For decades, presidents beginning with Andrew Jackson routinely replaced large swaths of the government workforce, often requiring them to pay fees to political parties in exchange for their jobs.

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