The civil/public service is the method by which a Government (see the Sub-Chapter on Politics) provides necessary services (e.g. health, education, justice etc.) for its population. It could be said that the civil is the bureaucratic (see next post) part of the public. Where civil/public service breaks down, countries are said to be failed states.
It is interesting that from 2009 to 2011 Belgium had no elected Government. And in Northern Ireland there was no Government for a few years because the elected politicians could not find enough common ground to talk to each other. In both cases the civil/public service ran the country with little change perceived by the general population. If it was the other way around, both would be called failed states.
A facet of the public service, often observed, is its inflexibility.
It always appears to inhibit creativity, new ideas, and innovation. It is very cautious. It invariably measures outcomes in a way that focuses on cost rather than value. This gives rise to the joke about a civil servant being someone who finds a problem in every solution.
But let me unpack this joke a little – because in a way finding problems is necessary in a democracy.
After all, I, a very determined entrepreneur, might have a great idea that involves, say, building a road that will assist efforts to provide employment in an area of high unemployment. But that road would destroy an area of ecological significance. The role of the responsible civil servant in this case is to see the problem in that solution!
This Sub-Chapter will attempt to explore (and critique) the relevance of the values, the behaviour and thereafter the decisions of the Civil/Public Service in the context of the world of the Focus Group.