The Politics of Populist Bureaucracy: Towards an Analytical Framework

• In Event: Populism, Democratic Backsliding, and Public Administration

Abstract

Populists in governments attempt to transform public administration systems in manifold illiberal ways. This paper outlines an analytical frame for systematic comparative research on determining how populists in government attempt to convert their public bureaucracies, what are their motivations, what are their chances to succeed. It bridges between different strands of scholarship, which have remained rather insulated so far. It complements the debate on system transformation and democracy systematically with administrative aspects. The chapter thus offers a path to integrate public administration scholarship in system transformation research by eliciting the role of bureaucracies in reform projects of populist governments.

Authors

• Michael W. Bauer, European University Institute

• Jon Pierre, Goteborg University

• Kutsal Yesilkagit, University of Utrecht