The term civil service has two distinct meanings:
- Branch of governmental service in which individuals are hired on the basis of merit which is proven by the use of competitive examinations.
- Body of employees in any government agency, except the military.
A civil servant or public servant is a civilian career public sector employee working for a government department or agency. The public sector is the part of economic and administrative life that deals with the delivery of goods and services by and for the Government, whether national Regional The term explicitly excludes the armed services, although civilian officials will work at "Defence Ministry" headquarters. The term always includes the (sovereign) state's employees; whether regional, or sub-state, or even municipal employees are called "civil servants" varies from country to country. In the United Kingdom, for instance, only Crown employees are civil servants, county or city employees are not.
Many consider the study of civil service to be a part of the field of public administration. Public administration can be broadly described as the development implementation and study of branches of government Policy. Workers in "non-departmental public bodies" (sometimes called "QUANGOs") may also be classed as civil servants for the purpose of statistics and possibly for their terms and conditions. The acronyms Qango and Quango, variously spelt out as QUAsi Non-Governmental Organization, QUasi-Autonomous Non-Governmental Organization, and Collectively a state's civil servants form its Civil Service or Public Service.
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History
No state of any extent can be ruled without a bureaucracy, but organizations of any size have been few until the modern era. Bureaucracy is the structure and set of regulations in place to control activity usually in large organizations and government Administrative institutions usually grow out of the personal servants of high officials, as in the Roman Empire. This developed a complex administrative structure, which is outlined in the Notitia Dignitatum and the work of John Lydus, but as far as we know appointments to it were made entirely by inheritance or patronage and not on merit, and it was also possible for officers to employ other people to carry out their official tasks but continue to draw their salary themselves. The Notitia Dignitatum is a unique document of the Roman imperial chanceries Joannes Laurentius Lydus (Ιωάννης Λαυρέντιος Λυδός was an early Byzantine administrator and writer on Antiquarian subjects There are obvious parallels here with the early bureaucratic structures in modern states, such as the Office of Works or the Navy in 18th century England, where again appointments depended on patronage and were often bought and sold. The Office of Works was established in the English Royal household in 1378 to oversee the building of the royal castles and residences The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore known as the Senior Service)
China
One of the oldest examples of a civil service based on meritocracy is the Imperial bureaucracy of China, which can be traced as far back as the Qin Dynasty (221–207 BC). Meritocracy is a system of a government or another organization wherein Appointments are made and responsibilities are given based on demonstrated talent and Ability China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National Not to be confused with the Qing Dynasty, the last dynasty of China During the Han Dynasty (202 BC–220 AD) the xiaolian system of recommendation by superiors for appointments to office was established. The Han Dynasty ( 206 BC–220 AD followed the Qin Dynasty and preceded the Three Kingdoms in China. Xiaolian (Simplified Chinese 孝廉 literally Filially Pious and Incorrupt was a standard of nominating civil officers started by Emperor Wu of Han in 134 BC In the areas of administration, especially in the military, appointments would be based solely on merit.
After the fall of the Han Dynasty, the Chinese bureaucracy would regress into a semi-merit system known as the Nine-rank system, yet in this system noble birthright became the most significant prerequisite for one to gain access to more authoritative posts. The Nine rank system ( Pinyin: jiǔ pǐn zhōng zhèng zhī or jiǔ pǐn guǎn rén fǎ or much less commonly Nine grade controller system, was a Civil service
This system was reversed during the shortlived Sui Dynasty (581–618), which initiated a civil service bureaucracy recruited by written examinations and recommendation. The Sui Dynasty ( 581 - 618 AD and in the undertaking of other construction projects including the reconstruction of the Great Wall. The Imperial examinations ( in Imperial China determined who among the population would be permitted to enter the state's Bureaucracy. The following Tang Dynasty (618–907) would adopt the same measures of drafting officials, and would decreasingly rely upon aristocratic recommendations and more and more upon promotion based on the written examinations. The Tang Dynasty ( Middle Chinese: dhɑng (June 18 618&ndashJune 4 907 was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by
However, the civil service examinations were practiced on a much smaller scale in comparison to the strong, centralized bureaucracy of the Song Dynasty (960–1279). The Song Dynasty ( Wade-Giles: Sung Ch'ao was a ruling dynasty in China between 960&ndash1279 CE it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms In response to the regional military rule of jiedushi and loss of civil authority during the late Tang period and Five Dynasties (907–960), the Song emperors were eager to implement a system where civil officials would owe their social prestige to the central court and gain their salaries strictly from the central government. The Jiedushi ( were regional military governors in China during the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms ( 907-960 was an era of political upheaval in China, beginning in the Tang Dynasty and ending in the Song Dynasty. This ideal was not fully achieved since many scholar officials were affluent landowners and partook in many anonymous business affairs in an age of economic revolution in China. The Song Dynasty (960&ndash1279 of China was a period of Chinese history marked by commercial expansion economic prosperity and revolutionary new economic concepts Nonetheless, gaining a degree through three levels of examination — prefectural exams, provincial exams, and the prestigious palace exams — was a far more desirable goal in society than becoming a merchant. This was because the mercantile class was traditionally regarded with some disdain by the scholar official class. Scholar-bureaucrats or scholar-officials were civil servants appointed by the Emperor of China to perform day-to-day governance from the Sui Dynasty to This class of state bureaucrats in the Song period were far less aristocratic than their Tang predecessors. The examinations were carefully structured in order to ensure people of lesser means than candidates born into wealthy, landowning families were given a greater chance at passing the exams and gaining an official degree. This included the employment of a bureau of copyists who would rewrite all of the candidate's exams in order to mask one's handwriting and therefore make all candidates anonymous and unable to employ favoritism by graders of the exams who might be associated to them and recognize their handwriting. A copyist is a person who makes written copies In ancient times a scrivener was also called a The advent of widespread printing in the Song period allowed many more candidates of the exams access to required Confucian texts which could be utilized in passing the exams. Printing is a process for reproducing text and image typically with ink on Paper using a printing press Chinese classic texts or Chinese canonical texts ( refer to the pre- Qin Chinese texts especially the Confucian Four Books and Five Classics
Europe
The Chinese civil service became known to Europe in the mid-18th century, and influenced the development of European and American systems. Ironically, and in part due to Chinese influence, the first European civil service was not set up in Europe, but rather in India by the East India Company, distinguishing its civil servants from its military servants. The Honourable East India Company ( HEIC) referred to most commonly as the East India Company, also historically and colloquially as John Company, or In order to prevent corruption and favouritism, promotions within the company were based on examinations. The system then spread to the United Kingdom in 1854, and to the United States in 1883, with the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act. The United States Civil Service consists of all appointive positions in the executive judicial and legislative branches of the Government of the United States except positions in the It was also used in China
By country
Canada
Canada's Civil Service is a large body, with over 200 departments and 450,000 members, including commissions, councils, crown corporations, the Office of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. In the Commonwealth realms a Crown corporation is a State-controlled company or enterprise The Queen's Privy Council for Canada (QPC (Conseil privé de la Reine pour le Canada (CPR sometimes called Her Majesty's Privy Council for Canada or the Privy Council
France
The civil service in France is often considered to include government employees, as well as employees of public corporations. The French Civil Service (fonction publique française is the set of civil servants ( fonctionnaires) working for the French government. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics.
United Kingdom
The civil service in the United Kingdom only includes Crown employees; not those who are parliamentary employees. Her Majesty's Civil Service, also known as the Home Civil Service, is the permanent Bureaucracy of Crown employees that supports UK Government Ministers The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Public sector employees such as teachers and NHS doctors are not considered to be civil servants. Note that civil servants in devolved government departments in Northern Ireland are not part of the British Civil Service, but constitute the separate Northern Ireland Civil Service. Northern Ireland (Tuaisceart Éireann Ulster Scots: Norlin Airlann) is a Country within the United Kingdom, lying in the northeast of The Northern Ireland Executive is the executive arm of the Northern Ireland Assembly, the devolved Legislature for Northern Ireland
Republic of Ireland
The Irish Civil Service includes the employees of the Departments of State (except for Government ministers and a small number of paid political advisors) as well as a small number of core state agencies such as the Office of the Revenue Commissioners, Office of Public Works, and the Public Appointments Service. The Civil Service (An Stát-sheirbhís of Ireland is the collective term for the permanent staff of the Departments of State and certain State Agencies A minister or a secretary is a Politician who holds significant public office in a national or regional Government. The Office of the Revenue Commissioners ( RC) ( - now called simply Revenue - is the Irish Government agency responsible for Customs, Excise The Office of Public Works ( OPW) ( Oifig na nOibreacha Poiblí (legally the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland, though the full title is rarely used is a The organisation of the Irish Civil Service is very similar to the traditional organisation of the British Civil Service, and indeed the grading system in the Irish Civil Service is nearly identical to the traditional grading system of its British counterpart.
In Ireland, public sector employees such as members of An Garda Siochana and teachers are not considered to be civil servants, but are rather described as public servants (and form the Public service of the Republic of Ireland). ga '''''Garda Síochána na hÉireann''''' (ˈgaːrdə ʃiːˈxaːnə nə ˈheːɾʲən Irish for "Peace Guard of Ireland" often rendered The public service of Ireland consists of agencies which while not formally part of a Department of State, provide services on behalf of the government
Other countries
Other countries tend to use systems which vary between these two extremes. Per Stig Møller sd̥i ˈmølˀɐ informal sd̥iːˀ (born August 27, 1942 in Frederiksberg) is the current Foreign Minister of Denmark. Germany makes a clear distinction, as in the U.S., between political and official posts (though the threshold is placed rather higher); also see Beamter. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the
The Brazilian civil service is composed mostly of career servants, with nomination based on written examinations. Politicians may nominate candidates for some posts, especially higher ones.
Employees of international organisations (e. g. , the United Nations or the International Atomic Energy Agency) are sometimes referred to as international civil servants. The United Nations ( UN) is an International organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in International law, International security The International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA) is an international organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its
Other meanings
Civil service also means a form of legal conscientious objection, for example the Swiss Civilian Service. A conscientious objector (CO is an individual who on religious moral or ethical grounds refuses to participate as a combatant in war or in some cases to take any role that would support Civilian service is a Swiss institution created in 1996 as an alternative to military service. It should be noted that the Finnish "siviilipalvelus", French "service civil", German "Zivildienst", Italian "servizio civile" and Swedish "civiltjänst" all can be translated to "civil service".
References
- Ari Hoogenboom. Outlawing the Spoils: A History of the Civil Service Reform Movement, 1865-1883. (1961)
- Bodde, D. Chinese Ideas in the West [1]
- Brownlow, Louis, Charles E. Merriam, and Luther Gulick, Report of the President's Committee on Administrative Management. (1937) U. S. Government Printing Office.
- Kevin Theakston. The Civil Service Since 1945 (Institute of Contemporary British History, 1995)
- Leonard D. White, Charles H. Bland, Walter R. Sharp, and Fritz Morstein Marx; Civil Service Abroad, Great Britain, Canada, France, Germany (1935) online
- P. N. Mathur. The Civil Service of India, 1731-1894: a study of the history, evolution and demand for reform (1977)
- Schiesl, Martin. The Politics of Efficiency: Municipal Administration and Reform in America, 1880-1920. (1977)
- Van Riper, Paul. History of the United States Civil Service (1958).
- White, Leonard D. , Introduction to the Study of Public Administration. (1955)
See also
- Australian Public Service
- Bangladesh Civil Service
- British Civil Service
- Canadian civil service
- Central Superior Services of Pakistan
- Civil Service in Malaysia
- Civil service of the People's Republic of China
- Civil service of the Republic of Ireland
- European Civil Service
- French Civil Service
- German civil servant ("Beamter")
- Hong Kong Civil Service
- Indian Civil Service
- List of military officers who have led divisions of a civil service
- New Zealand public service
- Singapore Civil Service
- New Zealand public service departments
- United States civil service
Dictionary
civil service
-noun
- In parliamentary forms of government, the branches of government that are not military, legislative or judicial, but work to apply its laws and regulations
- the body of civilian employees of any level of government, not subject to political appointment and removal, normally hired and promoted largely on the basis of competitive examination.
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