Paper/Speech Details of Conference Program for the 14th NISPAcee Annual Conference Program Overview IX. Working Group on Integrity in Public Governance Author(s) Mikko Lagerspetz Tallinn University Tallinn Estonia Rikmann Erle, Title Learning democracy by doing administration: Attitudes, roles and everyday practices of Estonian civil servants File Paper files are available only for conference participants, please login first. Presenter Abstract Not unlike in other former Soviet Republics and Socialist countries, Estonia’s systemic change and restored independence in 1991 brought forward a thorough reorganization of its public administration. In the Real Socialist regime, civil service was not “modern” in the sense of Weberian bureaucracy: its functioning was neither predictable nor based on transparent principles. Even the smallest decisions could be politicised, and the outcomes often depended on power games between different networks of power and loyalty. During the ongoing process of democratic consolidation, the renewed corps of civil servants is involved in the adoption and creation of new value judgments, professional identities and patterns of communication. Despite the existence of formal regulations and laws, the routine of everyday activities plays a key role in this process. As a result, standard procedures for making decisions and communicating with the public emerge. The actual operation of public institutions largely depends on the values on which civil servants base their activities, and the ways in which their social and professional roles become defined. To a large extent, the construction of a professional identity means defining loyalties and ethical standards. When making decisions in situations including contradictions between different loyalties and different ethical principles, civil servants often cannot rely on traditions, ideologies and role models commonly known and accepted. Estonia, like the majority of other post-Socialist countries has adopted a public service code of ethics, but it is yet unclear what influence it may have had on identity development – to what extent the code of ethics has taken root among civil servants, and to what extent it can be applied as support for everyday decision making. From June 2005 to January 2006, the first large-scale study of attitudes and roles within public administration will be conducted in Estonia (with financing from the State Chancellery). The study makes use of two distinct research methods, i.e., group interviews and a national questionnaire of civil servants. Approximately 60 top state and municipal officials have participated in the group interviews. After that, a questionnaire based on an analysis of the interviews will be sent to around 1,000 employees within state and municipal administration. Among the problems we are seeking an answer for are the following: - What types of situations present great ethical conflicts or require choices between different loyalties? - To what extent has a standardization of values among civil servants taken place? Can such standardization be attributed to the existence of an official code of ethics? - How do informal codes of practice develop within public sector organizations? - What differences can be observed between different governmental levels or types of organization? - What are the conflicting loyalties, role expectations, value systems, and ideologies that influence public sector employees? The presentation provides an overview of the main results of the study.
