ABSTRACT
A third question concerning recruitment is the extent to which the public service is a distinct career, one for which the individual may prepare specially and that is regarded as a separate career hierarchy from the rest of the economy. It is interesting to note that movement back and forth between public and private employment – especially in policy-making positions – has been used as an indicator of two rather different relationships between society and the political systems. On the one hand, such movement is frequently taken to indicate a healthy congruence between the value structures of polity and society, a means of ensuring the representativeness of the bureaucratic structures, and even a means through which ‘‘typical’’ citizens can exert some influence on public policy. If the public bureaucracy is a more open career, then it is more likely that they will act in ways that the public would find legitimate and acceptable.
