Right-wing populist attitudes among European public servants – A cross-country comparison
| DOI | 10.1177/0952076719869789 |
| Published date | 01 October 2020 |
| Date | 01 October 2020 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Right-wing populist
attitudes among
European public
servants – A cross-
country comparison
Wouter van Acker
Faculty of Social Sciences, KU Leuven Public Governance
Institute, Leuven, Belgium
Abstract
Thus far, there has not been any investigation into the populist held beliefs and atti-
tudes among public servants. These attitudes, given the considerable discretionary
decision power of public servants, and their influence in policy-making processes,
could have a significant impact on public policies. This paper investigates the populist
attitudes of public servants, based on data that are retrieved from the European
Social Survey. The paper compares public servants from Austria, Belgium, Denmark,
France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.
The results show that public servants hold surprisingly similar populist views as com-
pared with non-public servants, and that there are striking differences between coun-
tries. There are significant implications for the work public servants do, and the
representativeness of the administration.
Keywords
Bureau voting model, ideology, public–private cleavage, public service motivation, voting
behavior
Introduction
Populism has dominated the news headlines over the last several years. Whether it
has been stopped (in France), or halted (in the Netherlands), or has won (in the
USA), no one seems to know yet. Everyone does seem to agree, however, that it is a
force to be reckoned with. It is a term linked with a decrease in trust among citizens
Public Policy and Administration
2020, Vol. 35(4) 485–506
!The Author(s) 2019
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DOI: 10.1177/0952076719869789
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Corresponding author:
Wouter van Acker, Faculty of Social Sciences, KU Leuven Public Governance Institute, Parkstraat 45, Bus
3609, Leuven B-3000, Belgium.
Email: wouter.vanacker@kuleuven.be
in those who govern them. A term linked with a loss of resilience. And, especially in
Europe, a term linked with nationalistic and anti-immigration rhetoric. Up to this
point, however, populism has been given surprisingly little attention in public
policy, management and governance debates and research (Stoker, 2017). As we
see a rise in right-wing populist attitudes amongst citizens in Northwestern Europe,
what is that like for public servants? Do public servants differ from the average
citizen on this matter?
There has been quite some research into the populist beliefs and attitudes of
citizens, as well as their backgrounds and common denominators (e.g. Akkerman
et al., 2014; Hawkins et al., 2012; Ivarsflaten, 2008; Oesch, 2008). At the same time,
there has been an extensive research tradition into the political attitudes of public
servants (a small and random sample: Aberback and Rockman, 1976; Bednarczuk,
2015; Blais et al., 1991; Jensen et al., 2009; Rattsø and Sørensen, 2016; Rouban,
2007). This strand of research has shown that the average public servant, in Europe
at least, is usually more left-leaning than the average non-public servant. At the
same time, the research surrounding public service motivation (PSM) has shown
that altruism, and a belief in the government as a solution for societal problems, is
a real and pervasive phenomenon amongst public servants. Both these findings
would suggest that public servants would score lower on right-wing populist atti-
tudes. They would be more likely to trust the government, be satisfied with the
system, and feel more positively towards refugees and migration. However, a cross-
over study on populism and public servants has not yet been conducted, and the
validity of the extrapolation of findings in voting-behavior and PSM literature to
that of populist attitudes remains unknown.
Besides the typical gap-in-the-literature argument, why would populism
amongst public servants be relevant to begin with? In short, because the political
attitudes of public servants matter. Surely, they get orders from politicians,
and have to carry out their wishes. But they also have considerable room to
shape decisions, policies and budget-allocations during the policy-making process
(for example through information asymmetries in their advantage). Furthermore,
especially in the NPM and post-NPM era, where the ‘let managers manage’ adage
is based on the notion of autonomy, a rise of populist attitudes could greatly
influence policy-making processes. Many public servants yield a large degree of
discretionary power in their decision making, street-level bureaucrats being a prime
example of this. So, what would, or could, the implications be of populist held
attitudes among public servants? If public servants tend to not trust the democratic
institutions they serve, or are not satisfied with the manner in which their democ-
racy currently functions, this could have important consequences for public sector
performance. Public servants might lapse in their individual performance if they
hold such views and levels of trust. Another possibility is that they might, using
their room for autonomous decision-making, act against the wishes of the govern-
ment they no longer trust or, in extreme cases, recognize as legitimate. Their per-
ception of their political influence as an individual could be a similar signal of
alienation amongst public servants. If public servants don’t think they have
486 Public Policy and Administration 35(4)
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