UpDate - Vol. 16, No. 12
November 21, 1996
Profs honored by CHOICE for 'outstanding academic book'

     The Higher Civil Service in the United States: Quest for
Reform by Mark Huddleston, political science and international
relations, and William W. Boyer, Charles P. Messick Professor
Emeritus of Public Administration, has been selected by CHOICE as
an "outstanding academic book for 1996."
     CHOICE is a publication of the Association of College and
Research Libraries, a division of the American Library
Association, and provides current reviews of works for academic
libraries. This is the 33rd year this recognition has been given
to selected academic works. The listings will appear in the
January issue of CHOICE.
     Published by the University of Pittsburgh Press, the book
compares the U.S. politicized system of government, where higher
civil service servants are appointed by an incoming president,
versus other systems in advanced democracies where government is
managed by permanent professionals.
     As the authors state in the introduction, the book is the
"story of America's efforts-largely frustrated-to develop a
higher civil service," and the book explores different
administrations' approaches to some of these problems. The
authors write that the "U.S. system of higher administration has
not worked. It has failed presidents. And more important, it has
failed the American people."
     The book concludes with four proposals to improve the civil
service system, including:
        Elimination of all political appointments below that of
   assistant secretary,
        Establishment of clear career tracks for senior
   executives;
        Putting specialists and generalists in separate tracks;
   and
        Treating senior administrators as public officials as
   well as public servants.