ABSTRACT
Political interference is also encouraged, or even driven, by career civil servants who can be just as animated by self-interest. Politicians interfere in civil service appointments and promotions, and in their decisions on disciplinary matters and in policy and in day-to-day operational matters. A pejorative view of civil servants so often found among politicians, the bureaucrats themselves, and the public at large is given a deal of credence by circumvention of process, political interference, low pay, and the poor allocation of staff. Thus, politicians and bureaucrats unwittingly built around themselves a system whose internal mechanisms are poorly integrated and frequently grind against each other. Complaints may also be filed against politicians; and investigations by legislators depend upon a department and its executive masters being forthcoming with information and some measure of cooperation. The threat to cut central funding, too, may also be more apparent than real: this, at least, is a view commonly adumbrated by legislators.
