Introduction

The civil service represents the administrative interface between the government and civil society (Pierre 1995c; Raadschelders et al 2007) although the extent of powers to control this relationship vary in different countries depending on tradition, the constitution and the role of government. The civil service can propose and advise ministers on government policy and its administration. For less important or routine policy, civil servants are more likely to make decisions. The major change in the civil service in western states since the 1980s has been the extent to which agencies and other privatised systems of administration have entered into governments and, while this was expected to extend the distance between politicians and the administration of their policies, this has not been the case in practice (Hood 1995). There has also been an extension of the role of politicisation in decision making, including the way in which advice is provided to ministers from special advisers (SpADs) that have potentially created distance between the civil service and ministers. Lastly the news cycle has shortened with a potential shift to more short-termism in policy making.

When discussing the role of the civil service in the UK, there are a number of dimensions to be considered, including its purpose and what kind of civil service the country needs. In this chapter, the civil service is considered in an international context that frames a discussion of its purpose in the UK. Five dimensions are used which are drawn from a range of texts on comparative civil service systems, how they operate and the pressures on them for change (van der Meer 2011).