Patronage and the Public Service: A Dynamic Performance Governance Perspective

Patronage is one of the enduring issues in public administration. Although the virtues of merit-based recruitment and retention in the public service are extolled widely, patronage of some form persists in many, if not most, countries. By using system dynamics modeling applied to performance governance, this chapter provides an analysis of both the pathological and the eufunctional aspects of patronage appointments in the public sector. It also considers the potential virtues of using patronage appointments. In addition, using a dynamic performance governance model, we examine how patronage may actually improve the performance of public services.