The Interaction between Political Appointees and Civil Servants under Democratic Governance: A Content Analysis of “Yes Minister”
Chi-Jung Lu, Li-Chun Lin, Don-Yun Chen (pdf file)
Abstract
All democratic states face the challenge of ruling party alternations, especially as they relate to the interaction between political appointees and senior civil servants. Political appointees represent political parties and political interests. Political parties and voters have high expectations that these political appointees can achieve certain outcomes. Conversely, civil servants work under a system that protects career bureaucrats, and are expected to develop professional expertise, stabilize the operation of government, and act according to professional rather than political considerations. Due to their different value orientations, political appointees and civil servants frequently have contrasting missions. Reconciling these two types of value is fundamental to ensuring the proper functioning of government. As a result, the interaction between political appointees and civil servants has a critical influence on the performance of government.
However, it is not easy to directly observe the interaction between political appointees and civil servants. To outsiders, the actual interaction between the two always appears to have taken place in a black box. In order to shed light on this black box, this study analyzes the interaction between appointees and civil servants as depicted in film and television programs. The classic British series, “Yes Minister” was chosen as the study's research subject due to its skillful and poignant portrayal of interactions between ministers and bureaucrats, allowing a deeper understanding of the issue. The study employs textual analysis as the principal research method. Each of the series’ 21 episodes were textually reinterpreted using the same analytical methods, which were constructed by categorizing the decision-making environment, value orientations, behaviors, and reaction to policy outputs for both political appointees and senior civil servants. After analyzing and categorizing the interactions between political appointees and civil servants, we can learn more about the possible scenarios for their relationship. Practically speaking, political appointees and civil servants can use this study to learn more about their roles and mutual interactions.
Keywords: “Yes Minister”, political appointees and civil servants, value preference, choice behavior, film and television product analysis