An Assessment of Relationship Between Permanent and Temporary Executives in Ethiopian Bureaucracy

Abstract

Politics - administration interface is the relationship between politicians and public servants which lies in the heart of public administration. Ethiopia has officially been branding herself as developmental state since the early 2000s. In the context of developmental state, organic and symbolic relationship between the politics and Public service is vital in achieving developmental goals.The aim of this research is examining the nature of interface between leaders in political office and the bureaucracy in the Ethiopian civil service. To this end, the research question is: “What is the nature of interface between leaders in political office and the bureaucracy in the Ethiopian civil service?”The research approach is basically qualitative case study. The actual data collection has covered three ministries. The instruments that have been used for collecting data are in-depth interview with key informants; focus group discussions; and document analysis.Given the findings of this research, one of the key challenges that are hindering the Ethiopian federal civil service from being developmental is the lack of development of a professional and politically neutral civil service. Hence, the Ethiopian bureaucracy lacks some attributes of bureaucracies in developmental states.

Keywords: Ethiopian public service, politicization, bureaucracy