Institutional Change of the Senior Civil Service: A comparative analysis of the United Kingdom and South Korea

Abstract

This thesis provides a comparative analysis of the process of Senior Civil Service (SCS) reform to improve understanding of changes in the United Kingdom and South Korea. A SCS system is a distinctive personnel management arrangement for high-ranking officials. It is not only composed of various sub-systems about their reward, competency and loyalty, but is also influenced by dynamic politico-administrative relations. Moreover, this civil service reforms vary depending on the different places and eras. The thesis attempts to examine the characteristics and causal factors behind the SCS change from the perspective of historical institutionalism, as well as to assess the changed results in multi-dimensional framework. The comparative case study explores the development of the British and Korean SCS systems in the period from before their launch to after the turnover of government (Mr. Blair and Mr. Lee) based on the concepts of public service bargains (PSB) and politicisation. Both countries can be comparable cases methodologically because of their contrasting backgrounds, and measuring both countries' SCS types before and after the alternations in government allows to recognise the pattern of the institutional changes over time. Then the comparison of their processes and results facilitates to analyse the key causal factor(s) of the dynamics. The findings reveal not only the diverse types of SCS, which varies across time and space, but also the different patterns of its change process by means of its institutional properties. Also, this research demonstrates empirically that the shift toward managerialism in the core of PSB, reward and loyalty, drove the changes to the SCSs in Britain and Korea. This relation may be comprehended fully by establishing the change mechanism in which the bargains over power, as well as the institutional resources shaping or delimiting the strategies of change-agents are reflected. The assessment of these changes can differ according to which method or perspective is adopted. Furthermore, it is discovered that the gradual transformation of the British SCS, which is founded on the ‘agency’ bargains, contrasts with the institutional change of SCS in Korea where the ‘tutelary’ bargains has been deep-rooted. Consequently, this thesis contributes to the development of literature on the SCS systems, civil service reform and PSBs by providing insights into the SCS concept and the institutional dynamics.