Paper/Speech Details of Conference Program for the 20th NISPAcee Annual Conference Program Overview Main Conference Theme Author(s) Milena Neshkova Florida International University Miami, FL United States Tatiana Kostadinova Title Explaining the incidence of administrative reform in Eastern Europe File Paper files are available only for conference participants, please login first. Presenter Milena Neshkova Abstract Observers of post-Communist politics have noted that civil service reform, an important part of the institutional transformation towards democracy, took place at different times in different countries. Hungary and Slovenia adopted the reform quickly after the fall of Communism, while Romania and Bulgaria waited longer. We develop a model that explains incidence of administrative reform, which builds upon a rational choice framework and includes domestic and external stimuli. Thus, elites decide on changing the status quo and reform the administrative system based on expectations for positive returns. They opt for reform as a mechanism to prevent political rivals from over-exploitation of state resources, and refrain from reform when strong enough to rule alone and unchallenged. However, we also argue that these effects are conditioned by the pre-existing institutional context and the EU integration process. The paper employs event history analysis to identify the relevant determinants of reform occurrence in thirteen East European states.
