Representative Bureaucracy: Implementing Effects and Structural Barriers of Affirmative Action Initiative in Nepal

Baburam Bhul

doi:10.64423/arpa.v32i1.32

Authors

Baburam Bhul Nepal Open University (NOU) Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.64423/arpa.v32i1.32

Keywords:

Social inclusion, constitutional goal, reservation system, meritocracy, cultural barriers

Abstract

Since its adoption in 2007, affirmative action policy within the Nepalese civil service has been the focus of research concerning representative bureaucracy dynamics. This study elucidates the extent to which affirmative action initiatives have fostered representation of marginalized groups within the bureaucratic framework of Nepal, thereby promoting social equity and inclusivity. Through qualitative research methods and a scoping review of 75 secondary scholarly articles and authorized publications, the research reveals that the affirmative action policy has positively impacted the representation of women and historically marginalized communities. The findings of this research shed light on both the adverse and positive effects of affirmative action and key barriers in Nepal’s civil service since 2007–2022. While affirmative action policy has contributed to a notable growth in the representation of marginalized groups, including women, Dalits, and ethnic minorities, inequalities persist in terms of equal opportunities for empowerment and meaningful participation in decision-making processes. Furthermore, structural barriers such as deep-rooted biases, a lack of adequate education and resources, patriarchal organizational culture, and limited political commitment pose major hurdles to the effective implementation of affirmative action initiatives in Nepal.

References

Anzia, S. F and Berry, C. R. (2011). The Jackie (and Jill) Robinson effect: why do congresswomen outperform congressmen? American Journal of Political Science 55(3):478–493. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5907.2011.00512.x

Bista, D.B. (1991). Fatalism and development. Nepal struggle for modernization, OrientLongman Publication.

Bhatta, P., Adhikari, L. Thada, M. and Rai, R. (2008). Structures of denial: Student representation in Nepal’s higher education. Studies in Nepali History and Society 13(2), 235–263. http://www.martinchautari.org.np/files/pramodbhatta_lilaadhikari_manuthada_rameshrai(3).pdf

Bhul, B. (2021). Perceptional effects of reservation policy for the inclusive civil service of Nepal. International Journal of Social Sciences and Management, 8(2), 380–390. https://doi.org/10.3126/ijssm.v8i2.34676

Bhul, B. (2023). The review of affirmative action for the inclusive civil service of Nepal. Nepalese Journal of Public Affairs, 1(1), 23–45. https://doi.org/10.3126/njpa.v1i1.63288

Bolick, C. (1996). The affirmative action fraud: can we restore the American civil rights vision? Cato Institute.

Borooah, V. K. (2010). Social exclusion and jobs reservation in India. Economic and Political Weekly, 45(52), 31–35. https://www.cato.org/books/affirmative-action-fraud-can-we-restore-american- civil-rights-vision

Bradbury, M., & Kellough, J. E. (2011). Representative bureaucracy: Assessing the evidence on active representation. The American Review of Public Administration, 41(2),157–167. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0275074010367823

Braun, C.M. (1995). Affirmative action and the glass ceiling Source, The Black Scholar, 25(3), 7-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/00064246.1995.11430734

Browne, E. (2013) Ethnic minority public sector employment. GSDRC Helpdesk Research Report 989. Birmingham: Governance and Social Development Resource Centre, University of Birmingham. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/57a089ffed915d3cfd000528/hdq989.pdf

Chalam. K. S. (1990). Caste Reservations and Equality of Opportunity in Education. Economic and Political Weekly, 25(41), 2333–2339. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4396871

Crosby, F. J., Iyer, A., & Sincharoen, S. (2006). Understanding affirmative action. Annual Review of Psychology, 57, 585–611. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1146/annurev.psych.57.102904.190029

Dee, T. S. (2005). A teacher like me: Does race, ethnicity, or gender matter? The American Economic Review 95(2):158–165. https://doi.org/10.1257/000282805774670446

Dahal, D.R. (2003). Population monograph of Nepal. Vol. I, Central Bureau of Statistics, Kathmandu Nepal.

Deshpande, A. (2013). Social justice through affirmative action in India: An Assessment. In J. Wicks-Lim & R. Pollin (eds), Capitalism on Trial: Explorations in the Tradition of Thomas E. Weisskopf). Northhampton: Edward Elgar, pp. 266–85. https://ideas.repec.org/h/elg/eechap/14843_18.html

Dhakal, D. (2013). Analyzing reservation policies in Civil Service of Nepal. Paper presented to Professor Nobuhiro Hiwatari as a requirement for the course on International Political Economy (Case Study) at GraSPP, the University of Tokyo. https://www.pp.u-tokyo.ac.jp/graspp-old/courses/2013/documents/5140143_10b.pdf

Dhungel, R. (2015). Nepal’s experience with inclusive development planning: Balancing social justice and efficiency. International Journal of Public Administration, 38(9), 639-648.

Drucza, K. (2016). Talking About Inclusion: Attitudes and Affirmative Action in Nepal. Development Policy Review, 35(2), 161–195. https://doi.org/10.1111/dpr.12205.

Edigheji, O. (2007) Affirmative action and state capacity in a democratic south africa. Johannesburg: Centre for Policy Studies. https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi= b101d3994ff665648506a75cf26a2f217dde568a

Ferreira, F. and Gyourko, J. (2014). Does gender matter for political leadership? The case of US mayors. Journal of Public Economics 112:24–39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2014.01.006

Ghimire, R. (2020). Constitutional and Legal Framework for Social Inclusion in Nepal. In J. Kumar, & S. Maharjan (Eds.), Social inclusion in Nepal: Historical background, current status and future prospects, Springer (pp. 61-81).

Gibelman, M. (2000). “Affirmative action at the crossroads: A social justice perspective,” The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare, 27(1), 153-174.. https://doi.org/10.15453/0191-5096.2632

Gidengil, E. and Vengroff, R. (1997). Representative bureaucracy, Tokenism and the glass ceiling: the case of women in Quebec municipal administration. Canadian Public Administration,,40 (3), 457-480.

Government of Nepal (GoN), (2007). Civil Service Act, 2049 (1993), Second amendment 2007. Nepal Law Commission. https://lawcommission.gov.np/content/12254/12254-civil-service-act-2049/

Gu, J., McFerran, B., Aquion K., and Kim T.G. (2004). What makes affirmative action-based hiring decisions seem (un)fair? A test of an ideological explanation for fairness judgments, Journal of Organizational Behavior, 35, 722–745. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.1927

Gurung, H. (2005). “Affirmative action in Nepalese context.” In national dialogue in affirmative action and electoral system in Nepal, 26-27 September 2004, Kathmandu. Kathmandu: Enabling State Programme, pp. 27–48.

Gyawali, K. (2020). Examining the implementation of reservation policy for social inclusion in Nepal. Contemporary Voice of Dalit, 12(1), 50-62.

Haider, H. (2011) Effects of political quotas for women, GSDRC Helpdesk Research Report 757. Birmingham: Governance and Social Development Resource Centre, University of Birmingham. https://gsdrc.org/publications/effects-of-political-quotas-for-women/

Holzer, H. J., & Neumark, D. (2006). Affirmative action: What do we know? The Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 26(2), 463-490. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 26(1), 215–215. https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.20241

India. (1980). Report of the backward classes commission (Mandal Commission Report). Ministry of Education and Social Welfare, Government of India.

Jamil, I. and Baniamin, H.M. (2020), Representative and responsive bureaucracy in Nepal: a mismatch or a realistic assumption? Public Administration and Policy: An Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 23 No. 2, pp. 141-156. https://doi.org/10.1108/PAP-03-2020-0016.

Jamil, I. (2019), The promise of representative bureaucracy and citizen’s trust in the Civil Service in Nepal. in Jamil, I., Dhakal, T.N. and Paudel, N.R. (Eds.). Civil Service Management and Administrative Systems in South Asia. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, CH, pp. 121-147.. https://link. springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-90191-6_6

Jamil, I. & Dangal R. (2009). “The state of bureaucratic representativeness and administrative culture in Nepal.” Contemporary South Asia 17:2, pp. 193–211. https://doi.org/10.1080/09584930802346497

Jencks, C. (1998). Racial bias in testing. The Black-White test score gap 55:84. https://awspntest.apa.org/record/1998-06583-001

Johnson, T. (2015). Service after serving: Does Veterans’ Preference Diminish the Quality of the US Federal Service? Journal of Public Administration Research & Theory 25(3). https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muu033

Kasara, K. (2007). Tax me if you can: Ethnic geography, democracy, and the taxation of agriculture in Africa. American Political Science Review 101(01):159–172. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055407070050

Kingsley, D. (1944). Representative bureaucracy. Antioch Press, Yellow Springs, OH.

Korten, D. C. (2011). Globalizing civil society: Reclaiming our right to power. Seven Stories Press: New York. https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/289966

Kramon, E., & Posner, D. N. (2016). Who benefits from distributive politics? How the outcome one studies affect the answer one gets. Perspectives on Politics, 14(2), 391-408. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592713001035

Krislov, S. (2012). Representative bureaucracy. Quid Pro Books. https://www.ebay.com/p/143559251

Lawoti, M. 2005. Towards a democratic Nepal: Inclusive political institutions for a multicultural society. London: Sage. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/books/638/

Leonard, J. S. (1984). The impact of affirmative action on employment, NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES, Issue March.

Leslie, L. M., Mayer, D. M., & Kravitz, D. A. (2014, August). The Stigma of affirmative action: A stereotyping-based theory and meta-analytic test of the consequences for performance. Academy of Management Journal, 57(4), 964–989. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2011.0940

Lewis, G. B. (1997). Race, sex, and performance ratings in the federal service. Public Administration Review pp. 479–489. https://doi.org/10.2307/976959

Lott, J. R. (2000). Does a helping hand put others at risk? Affirmative action, police departments, and crime. Economic Inquiry 38(2):239–277.. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1465-7295.2000.tb00016.x

Marion, J. (2009). How costly is affirmative action? Government contracting and California’s Proposition 209. The Review of Economics and Statistics 91(3):503–522. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25651355

Meier, K.J. (2019). Theoretical frontiers in representative bureaucracy: New directions for research. Perspectives on Public Management and Governance, Vol. 2 No. 1, pp. 39-56. https://doi.org/10.1093/ppmgov/gvy004

Meier, K. J., & Capers, K. J. (2014). Representative bureaucracy: Four Questions, Chapter 23. In G. B. Peters & J. Pierre (Eds.), The Sage Handbook of Public Administration (Concise 2nd ed., pp. 370–380). Los Angeles: Sage. https://sk.sagepub.com/reference/hdbk_pubadmin/n28.xml

Meier, K. J. and Nigro, L. G. (1976). Representative bureaucracy and policy preferences: A study in the attitudes of federal executives. Public Administration Review pp. 458–469. https://doi.org/10.2307/974854

Middleton, T. (2013) Scheduling tribes: A view from inside India’s ethnographic state, Focal–Journal of Global and Historical Anthropology 65: 13–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.3167/fcl.2013.650102

Middleton, T. & Shneiderman, S. (2008). Reservations, federalism and the politics of recognition in Nepal, Economic and Political Weekly 43:19, pp.39–45.

Moodie, M. (2013). Upward mobility in a forgotten tribe: Notes on the “creamy layer” problem, Focaal–Journal of Global and Historical Anthropology 2016(65): 23–32. https://doi.org/10.3167/fcl.2013.650103

National Inclusion Commission (NIC). (2022, July 30). Effect of affirmative action in existing government services Study Report, 2022 (1st ed., Vol. 1). Pulchowk, Lalitpur. http://ninc.gov.np/ publication.aspx?nid=3014&c=24

Onta, P., Maharjan, H., Humagani D. R., and Parajuli S. (2008). Sambeshi media (eds.). Martin Chautari: Kathamandu. https://martinchautari.org.np/mc-publications/samabeshi-media