Empowering public service to promote sustainable human development through implementation of foreign innovations

Abstract

An important component of the thirty-year bilateral relations between Ukraine and the Federal Republic of Brazil is the development of cooperation in the field of science and technology. However, for the first time in both the international and national literature, a study is presented with a comparative analysis of the state and political evolution, legislation, and practice of the Brazilian Federal Public Service and the Civil Service of Ukraine in terms of the relevance of experience in this area for both countries. Despite territorial, political, historical, cultural, and social differences, the states are united in their commitment to viable and sustainable human development, which requires addressing similar challenges to create efficient, accountable, and inclusive institutions, in particular the public service. The article emphasizes that the two countries demonstrate certain ‘best practices’ in public service capacity building that deserve special attention, some of which have been recognized by international organizations as achievements that inspire other states. Through a historical analysis, the author highlights the strategic role of the public service in human development processes, identifies the positive and negative impact of the main trends in the state and political evolution of the countries on the institution of the public service, indicating specifically its profound political dependence. The article also points out the key organizational and legal changes in the national public services and emphasizes, in particular, the possibility of using a hybrid of elements of the dominant hierarchical-bureaucratic and horizontal (networking) structures, since the introduced innovations failed to overcome the dominance of negative trends in management, as evidenced by international ratings. The author argues that the countries under research have similar problems, namely in the fields of: meritocratic personnel selection; personalization of the reward system; inclusive lifelong learning; talent management in the public service; digitalization of HR-service, etc. The author puts a stress on a critical role of values in an effective performance of civil servants, the manifestation of which is associated with the countries’ socio-economic and cultural development. The author focuses on the priority of integrity in the value principles of civil servants’ activities, which is practically implemented in codes of ethical behavior aimed mainly at preventing corruption. The author concludes that both in Brazil and Ukraine, there is a need for an integrated approach and further classification of the concept of ‘public service values’ as an independent legal category, as is done in many progressive countries. Promising areas of research are outlined: innovation and inclusiveness of service provision; formation of productive creativity in civil servants; modernization of working conditions and protection of employees of public authorities.