Abstract
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Slobodanka Stanković-Davidov
Deputy to the Provincial Secretary for Regulations, Administration and
National Minorities
Provincial Secretariat for Regulations, Administration and National Minorities
PROCESS OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REFORM IN THE
REPUBLIC OF SERBIA AND AUTONOMOUS
PROVINCE OF VOJVODINA
- Key Points Crucial for Success of the Process-
SUMMARY:
Activities of the state have manifold effects on our lives, from the very birth, when this event of our arrival into this world is officially registered and we commence our relationship with public administration. Whether this is going to be „the beginning of a beautiful friendship“ or not, mainly depends on the competence, efficiency and capacity of public administration. On the other hand, this kind of government apparatus actually represents a prerequisite for efficient performance of the „state“ in the broadest sense of the term. Even the best political and development programmes, adequate and reform-oriented legislation do not have much effect without the government apparatus with professional capacity and qualification for their implementation. From the above stated, it is evident that the interest of each individual, as well as of every transitional society, is to identify as the primary public administration reform goal, the creation of competent, efficient, transparent and uncorrupted administration, which citizens will perceive as their service, representing the main prerequisite for the development of the state, at the same time.
A prerequisite for successful reform is creation and raising political and social awareness about the significance of this reformatory process, as well as the significance of unbreakable interrelation and interdependence between this reform and reforms within other segments of society. Process of public administration system reform, cannot be observed merely as a legal issue, but also as the political one, because efficiency and rate of its implementation depends exactly on political structures and provision of adequate political support.
Reform of public administration system in Serbia began in November 2004, after adoption of the Public Administration Reform Strategy, accompanied by the Implementation Action Plan for the period 2004-2008 and establishment of the Public Administration Reform Commission, as a central strategic governmental authority in charge of this field. In September 2006, the Assembly of the AP Vojvodina adopted the Decision on Public Administration Reform and Development Strategy, whose integral part is a strategic document with determined action plan. This and further adoption of systematic legislations and decisions have created normative and legal framework for implementation of this reformatory process, but have not brought any significant results so far. Why has the reform stopped in the first phase? What conditions are required to be met in future in order to achieve successful reform?
This paper attempts to accomplish two ambitious goals. First, to analyze the overall effects and success of the public administration reforms both on the level of central government and AP Vojvodina, and second, upon the analyses to identify factors and conditions necessary for successful reform of the public administration in Serbia. With other words to answer the question, what went wrong?
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