The Political Economy of Reform of the Administrative Systems of Public Sector Personnel in Latin America: An Analytical Framework

This study develops a conceptual and analytical reference framework for the preparation of case studies on political determinants of the level of success of the reforms of the system of public-sector personnel in Latin America. Its main goal is to orient the empirical work toward the evaluation of the explanatory weights of the different structural, institutional and strategic variables that have a bearing on the ability of driving forces to initiate and sustain processes of change oriented toward improved efficiency, honesty and responsibility on the part of government employees. This document was commissioned by the Inter-American Development Bank as a Regional Policy Dialogue for the Public Policy Management and Transparency Network's 3rd Meeting on Civil Service Reform held on November 14th and 15th, 2002 in Washington, DC.