Converting Political Interference to Engagement
““...work with political leaders, combine sound administrative practices and procedures with development agendas, and deliver on goals.””
Politics and the civil service are inextricably linked. The Indian Civil Service (ICS) recognized this soon after Independence. Mangat Rai observed that "from the first day of independence, the administration was indeed in politics," and S. Lall found that "in reality, political and practical considerations are often inseparable."
Later, in 1971, former Home Secretary L.P. Singh, narrating his experiences of higher levels of administration to a group of trainee IAS officers, said, "practically all government is politics - anything you do has political implications. Unless you keep studying political behavior and problems related to political institutions functioning in the country and at least some other countries, I think you can never become a first-rate civil servant. Many of the grievances of civil servants about the functioning of our political system arise from too idealistic a view of public affairs and a non-recognition of the fact that, after all, politics is concerned with power."
Essentially, what the ICS officers were saying is that civil servants should not see politics as "interference." However, it continues to be a widely held view that politics is an external factor in decision-making. This has resulted in a lack of focus in India on the development of skills and techniques to engage with politics institutionally.
Since there has been little research on the 'how' and 'what' of political engagement in India, we must draw lessons from proficient practices of practitioners operating in decision settings similar to India.
Roger Waldon, a practitioner, has identified four broad themes associated with effective action by practitioners (in this case, civil servants):
A willingness to integrate administrative ideas with politics (or 'smart' politics),
A focus on finding champions for ideas,
A focus on citizens, and
Attention to follow-up.
'Smart' politics’ means blending administrative ideas with politics. In practical terms, this requires officers to step back from an overreliance on rules, procedures, and precedents, and come to terms with political governance. They must work with political leaders, combine sound administrative practices and procedures with development agendas, and deliver on goals.
In other words, officers must consider how politicians would be affected by their decisions. They must be aware that decisions create winners and losers, and it's important to recognize who wins and who loses.
Secondly, having ideas alone is not sufficient because "no idea is good enough to succeed on the power of the idea alone." Officers must actively seek support for their ideas. Ideas must align with ongoing development agendas, and administrative responses must be based on an understanding of what political leaders and citizens need and how to respond with administrative initiatives. Relationships matter during the process of championing ideas, and relationships involve emotions. Emotions are crucial because they lead to the acceptance of new ideas by political stakeholders and citizens.
Third, citizen participation has taken on a different meaning in the internet era, including social media, distribution lists, listservs, blogs, AI, and search engines. Traditionally, citizen participation involved making people feel good by consulting them and seemingly listening to their concerns, without taking their views seriously or giving them opportunities to act on their own behalf. Nowadays, people want to participate throughout the entire lifecycle of projects and activities. Officers must be prepared to adjust the work plan based on citizen feedback, choose techniques that match the task, and ensure that participation and decision-making processes are open and accepted by all.
Fourth, officers must take action to make initiatives happen. Once an initiative is developed, they should stay committed to it. "Don't give up on it... it will only get implemented if you drive it. It won't get implemented on its own." This requires flexibility in decision-making during follow-up. Only then will there be broad buy-in for the action and support for implementation.
An overriding lesson is that administrators must decide how flexible they will be in practice. Flexibility means moving away from rigid bureaucratic models of decision-making. One useful way is to start decision-making conventionally by deciding on a course of action based on a careful analysis of alternatives and consequences. Then, step away from technical rigor and come to terms with political governance by working with political leaders, combining sound administrative practices and procedures with development agendas, introducing ideas strategically, and delivering on goals. The good news is that any officer can acquire these skills through learning and practice.
