How “Place” Shapes the Public Servant: Papua New Guinea’s Public Administration Within the Contexts of “Big Man” and “Wantok” Systems

Abstract

Reform agendas that include bureaucratic and market characteristics have shaped the form and characteristics of public servants. These experiences are mostly relevant to Western developed countries, and the experience outside these nations, however, has been quite different. Reforms in developing countries have had quite different trajectories and impacted on public servants in unique ways. Through the examination of the trajectory of reform in Papua New Guinea (PNG), this chapter demonstrates how "place" shapes notions of the public servant, where place refers to the political and cultural context. In PNG's case, modern forms of public administration have been layered over its traditional institutions and culture: big man and wantok systems. Exploring the example of PNG demonstrates how place shapes the public servant through its administrative and sociocultural contexts providing some insight into this relationship.

Public Sector Reform and the Public Servant

“…As we have argued in this chapter, trajectories of reform turn out not to be so rational, planned, or intentional and reform practice tends to echo a much broader set of experiences that we see in the work of Mintzberg et al (1998). We also know that new reform agendas do not sweep away old models or ways of doing; instead we see a complex layering effect (Dickinson 2016;Ugyel 2016). This layering and hybridity pose its own complexities for public sector practice, with each of these ideal types operating simultaneously in systems in real time, pushing and pulling against the others.…”

“…And these target and triggers can differ across time and space. Wilson's (1887) calls for change focused as much on merit as they did on overcoming corruption and patronage in the United States; in contemporary times the "good governance" movement has had similar target (Ugyel 2016). And centuries prior to this, Wang Anshi set out reforms of the civil service in Song Dynasty China which mirror many aspects of what are considered modern public administration practices, the main aim being to ensure that right structures, processes, and institutions were in place (Drechsler 2013a).…”

“…There is extensive work demonstrating that reforms are not necessarily suited to the recipient states nor has the evidence been developed to show that transfer actually works (Ugyel 2016;Ugyel and O'Flynn 2017). Instead reform transfer can create a range of challenges in practice.…”

“…As has been previously mentioned, TPA has its roots in reform. And key characteristics of TPA were developed to overcome weaknesses of personal and patronage administrative systems (Hughes 2003;Ugyel 2016). TPA has an emphasis on hierarchy and a public sector ethos (see : Table 1), and centered on the apolitical role of public servants, actors who were clearly distinguished, and separated, from elected officials.…”