International Journal of Civil Service Reform and Practice

Book Review

Pan Suk Kim — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 00:00:00 -0700

Review of the book "Public Service Evolution in the 15 Post-Soviet Countries: Diversity in Transformation", Edited by Alikhan Baimenov and Panos Liverakos (Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan, 2022), 579 pp., ISBN: 9789811624612, https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-16-2462-9

A Strategic Shift: Azerbaijan's Journey to Competency-Based Civil Service Selection

Maleyka Abbaszade, Parviz Kazimov — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 00:00:00 -0700

Azerbaijan is updating its civil service recruitment by transitioning to a competency based HRM model to better align with the rapid changes in the labour market. This shift fosters a more flexible, transparent, and validated system, emphasising individual skills and organisational goals. The State Examination Centre (SEC) is instrumental in this transformation, integrating broader HRM strategies for career mobility and talent management. The new model includes significant updates in assessment methods, focusing on cognitive abilities, competencies, and reducing organisational burdens, aimed at enhancing efficiency and inclusiveness in civil service practices. Incorporating Situational Judgment Tests (SJT), general mental abilities (GMA) assessments, structured interviews, and assessment centre (AC), the new approach seeks to provide a more nuanced evaluation of candidates, ensuring a fit that supports both individual career development and national talent management strategies, marking a significant evolution from traditional methods to a comprehensive, competency-driven recruitment process.

Key words: Competency-based recruitment, competency-based HRM, generic competencies, technical competencies, situational judgement test (SJT), general mental abilities (GMA)

Decentralising Democratic Governance in Village India: Looking Back and Beyond

Prabhat Kumar Datta — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 00:00:00 -0700

The idea of decentralised governance was conceived in the nineteenth century by some leading European thinkers like Mill, Bryce, and Tocqueville both as a politico-administrative arrangement for weakening power and authority of the national state along with effecting improvement in administration and as institutions of participatory democracy. During India’s struggle for freedom Gandhi stood for it strongly. In village India it has taken the forms of panchayats. The new Constitution of independent India embodied it in the chapter on Directive Principles of State Policy which is not enforceable in the courts of law. An attempt was made to implement the concept in the 1950s on the basis of the recommendations of the Balvantrai Mehta Committee. But the experience has not been encouraging as institutions had either lost their momentum leading to the unavoidable decline in course of time or ‘killed before they were truly born’ in almost all the states. The Constitution was amended in 1992 to give the panchayats a new lease of life. But again, the future does not seem to be bright as they seem to stand at the crossroads. The paper will try to look back to trace the historical development of the institutions for the purpose of developing a comprehensive perspective and to assess the current state of affairs with special focus on the challenges being confronted. Another objective of this study is to search for silver lining, if any, and to suggest what needs to be done to strengthen the process of decentralised democratic governance in rural India. The study will be based on the secondary source material including illustrative case studies to build up and sharpen arguments.

Keywords: Decentralised Governance, Panchayats, Constituent Assembly, Balvantrai Mehta Committee, Constitutional Amendment.

Modernising Local Representative Bodies Case Study: Implementing 2022 Constitutional Reforms in the Pavlodar Regional Maslikhat

Ilya Terenchenko — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 00:00:00 -0700

The foundation of national statehood rests upon robust local self-government. At this level, solutions to many socio-economic development challenges can be effectively implemented, fostering sustainable growth and citizen well-being. As a social state, the Republic of Kazakhstan possesses unique experience in establishing and developing a local government system heavily influenced by representation of the people. However, like any system, it requires periodic changes and modernisation to effectively address contemporary challenges. This article presents pilot proposals for modernising local representative bodies (“maslikhats”) – drawing upon the experience of the Pavlodar regional maslikhat. These proposals incorporate new scientific knowledge with the potential for practical application in improving local governance.

Key words: power, modernisation, maslikhat, deputy, local government, local representative body, elections.