A Typology of the Latin American Civil Servant : Patronage Appointee, Technocrat, Loyalist, or Careerist

Latin American (LA) civil services have traditionally been characterized by their rapid personnel rotation, unstructured careers schemes, and networks that are primarily based on patronage loyalties. During the twentieth century, the civil service in Latin America has undergone several stages of reform as a result of structural adjustment programs and conditional loans from international institutions, which, together with the regions’ own political development, have created a complex system of hybrid forms of civil service. The coexistence of highly technocratic institutions (“isles of efficiency”) and more patronage-oriented institutions is therefore common in Latin America. Furthermore, these institutions also produce different types of civil servants ranging from technocratic to political.This chapter provides a general overview of the theoretical discussions concerning the study of civil services in LA by comparing approaches focusing on “state capacity” or “administrative tradition.” According to the state capacity approach, scholars have largely explained the role and functions of civil servants based on their capacities and their relative political autonomy, while the administrative tradition approach emphasizes their access to state positions and whether or not they are meritocratic. Based on these discussions, this chapter proposes a fourfold categorization of civil servants (patronage appointees, technocrats, partisan loyalists, and careerists) that coexist in LA bureaucracies. The chapter concludes by briefly summarizing the central ideas of the civil servant typology and the potential challenges with regard to their application in practice