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1

Does Centralization Serve Efficiency ? De-Agencification in Hungary

100%
Gellén M.
NISPAcee Journal of Public Administration and Policy
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2012
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vol. 5
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issue 2
67-87
EN
For a long time, Hungary has been known for its quick and promising development of stable democratic institutions that made it a reference country in the CEE region during the1990s and the early 2000s. However, a series of economic crises threw light on the efficiency defects of the operations of the Hungarian public administration emerging in the late 2000s. Thus a new series of structural and operational reforms was launched recently, inspired by the current stern economic times. These reform steps can be briefly characterized by the labels of concentration and centralization affecting the entire corpus of administration. In practical terms, Hungary makes an attempt to adapt to the current economic conditions via increasing efficiency and via more effective coordination while trying to conserve the achievements of the transition period. The article briefly introduces the major changes so far and offers a rationale to understand the motives of the reform. The article examines these questions based on empirical data and research
2

From Overdecentralization to Overcentralization ? Hungarian Experience in Handling the Crisis at the Local Level

100%
Gellén M.
NISPAcee Journal of Public Administration and Policy
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2014
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vol. 7
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issue 2
51-69
EN
This paper provides a polemic interpretation of recent Hungarian public-administration reforms compared to the opinions that can be found in international scientific literature. The divergence of the various interpretations stems from the different perspectives on the historic context of the development path of the Hungarian municipal administration during the pre- and post-regime change period. The differences in the interpretation of the achievements of the regime change determine whether one would suggest a minor correction or a total replacement - if given the possibility. After briefly describing the public-administration legacy of the communist past and of the post-communist decades, the article delves into the analysis of the financial unsustainability of the highly decentralized local-government system. The analysis builds on the findings of international financiers that operate as policy- transfer powerhouses, as well. Bursting financial tensions led to Hungary’s loan agreement with the IMF in 1996. Although the loan was paid back by 1998, internal systemic inefficiencies stemming from the uneasy compromises of the regime change still had their corroding effect, although vulnerable finances were veiled by occasional conjunctures in the domestic and international economy. In the year 2008, the country became virtually insolvent and again applied for an IMF loan. The IMF itself formulated certain measures to increase the efficiency of the overdecentralized local-government system. Unlike its predecessor, the government that stepped into power in 2010 had the political power to launch systemic corrections in the local-government system. The reforms contained a trade-off : the majority of local competences in exchange for fiscally consolidating local governments. This is labeled as a trade-off between efficiency and democracy by certain authors. It is a fact that the overdecentralized form of local public administration was inefficient and unsustainable. Now there is an opportunity to test whether an overcentralized public administration would be efficient.
3

Public Administration Education in a Legalistic Setting: New Tendencies in Hungarian Public Administration and Training

100%
Gellén M.
NISPAcee Journal of Public Administration and Policy
|
2013
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vol. 6
|
issue 2
53-67
EN
Th e article examines the recent developments in public service training in Hungary and draws conclusions for the future. Hungary is considered to be part of the legalistic culture of European PA; therefore we analyze the connection between the legalistic approach as a cultural environment of PA practice and PA education as an influential factor of changing this environment. Th e empirical part of the research contains three elements: analysis of the professional training of civil service, the content of PA university training and the composition of professions within the central civil service. Th e empirical findings on these three dimensions are analyzed in light of recent structural changes of PA university education and professional training. Under a Government Decree issued in 2012, the National University of Public Services was appointed by the Government to be in charge of PA education and training. Th e university itself was recently created by the merger of law enforcement, military and civil PA universities (academies). Th is structural change can be characterized by centralization and, to a certain extent, simplification, too. Th e restructuring of PA training is completed by the concept of the Government making the fields of public service permeable, open to each other. Th e university itself is a test field for this concept since police and military students have the opportunity to study civil PA courses. Th e need for this kind of cross-learning is supported by the new phenomenon that defense and policing are gradually becoming more civilian in their character, while traditional training in these fields must undergo serious changes too. Although the article states that the basic framework of public administration education - as a major driver of public administration culture - is still dominantly legalistic, it also introduces the ways in which the new public-administration education system has tried to change the content of its degree programs and how it has attempted to have an impact on the entire public-administrative system to move from procedural orientation to a more solution-oriented mindset.
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