Uncovering Bureaucratic Hierarchies Using Career Paths

• In Event: Careers of Officials in East Asia and Beyond, Past and Present

Abstract

Which positions in a bureaucracy convey power? Is a reassignment to a similar position in a different province or ministry indeed a lateral move, or maybe a promotion or demotion in disguise? Researchers have tried to guess the hierarchy of official positions by gauging push and pull factors. They assume that individuals who held high positions will usually continue to hold such jobs (push factor), and positions that serve as stepping stones for important positions are themselves important (pull factor). This paper combines these insights by testing a variety of algorithms and network centrality measures on a large number of career moves of high-level Chinese bureaucrats between 1978 and 2006, the appointments of Ethiopian officials under Emperor Haile Selassie, and to high-level appointments in the Qing dynasty. In all three cases, the position ranking based on the social rank algorithm correlates strongly with the official hierarchy, but is also able to distinguish between two positions of officially similar rank that most experts would regard as dissimilar: it places provincial party secretaries above governors in modern day China, for example. The paper thus provides additional tools for the research on promotions not just in the modern Chinese bureaucracy, but any reasonably stable bureaucratic organization. It also presents additional ways to analyze and visualize individual career paths in more detail, or track the rise and fall of departments and provinces in importance over time.

Author

• Franziska Barbara Keller, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology