The Future of Global Public Administration in the Age of Democratic Backsliding

It is ironic that democracy is considered the best institutional arrangement for governing when citizens and their leaders alike accept the rule of law, yet this very system also allows for resistance and disagreement. Indeed, across the globe some (populist) leaders have used democracy’s instruments to undermine its very foundations. In this policy brief, democratic backsliding is discussed as a function of a lack of education in civics. It is clear that laws and a constitution cannot defend themselves, and that citizens and their leaders cannot be relied upon as guardrails against populists hijacking the political system for their own gain. The only infallible guardrail is bureaucracy, provided that staffing is on a meritorious basis. Should bureaucracy be populated by loyalists to a regime, democratic backsliding prevails. The study of public administration has never been more important, for it educates the next generation of citizens and career civil servants.