Rod Rhodes on Political Anthropology and Civil Service Reform

On May 22, 2013, the notable Professor Rod Rhodes gave a public lecture on “Political Anthropology and Civil Service Reform”. This lecture was one of the events during the Collaboratory Week 2013 organized by the CBS Public-Private Platform and MindLab.

Rod Rhodes, who was recently awarded the 2012 International Research Association for Public Management and Routledge Prize for Outstanding Contributions to Public Management Research, talked about the main characteristics of public sector reform over the past decade. More specifically, he gave examples from previous fieldwork done in the UK government, and based on this some very good stories were told.

Rhodes’ fieldwork concerns the study of public administration and public sector reform, and he vividly shared his experiences from having had access to ministers and senior civil servants in three UK government departments. The findings from this fieldwork have also resulted in the book “Everyday Life in British Government” (Oxford University Press 2011) that uncovers exactly how the British political elite thinks and acts. Moreover, he is the author or editor of some 30 books including “The State as Cultural Practice” (with Mark Bevir, Oxford University Press 2010).

Through this extraordinary prospect Rhodes has witnessed and explored the world through the eyes of ministers and permanent secretaries. From this he revealed that beliefs and practices are important in creating meaning in politics, policy making and public-service delivery. These beliefs and practices are embedded in traditions, rituals and languages.

During the exiting lecture five lessons should be noted from doing ethnographical research in the UK government. In short, these five lessons include: 1) Coping and making sure that there are no surprises for the minister throughout the day, 2) Internal reorganizations do not work in the public sector, 3) Storytelling, 4) Change can be difficult because civil servants believe that their current practice works and they love their routines, 5) The controlling approach that “leaders know best” is wrong. In fact, the bottom knows best.
 

Watch the entire lecture here and download his presentation here: cbs_lecture_rod_rhodes.pdf.