Abstract

Where do European administrative elites stand now? The 2008 financial crisis as well as new public management reform policies questioned the professional and social status of senior civil servants in the different European countries. Comparative analysis shows that there is a certain number of focal points in most, if not all, European countries. Legal training is going backward compared to economics and management training. Within the senior civil service a line has been drawn between senior executive and day to day management staff. However, no major change occurred in the social structure of the senior civil service. The institutional resilience is strong. The crisis did not produce a new technocratic model of senior civil servant. Rather, it has strengthened the influence of politics.