Administrative Structure in Times of Changes: The Development of Estonian Ministries and Government Agencies 1990–2010

Abstract

The article addresses the change in administrative structure at the center of the Estonian government during the twenty years of post-communist development. The focus is on three issues of theoretical relevance—the rate of change in the core parts of public administration, the aspired retrenchment of administrative structures, and the combination of national and international forces behind structural change. In analyzing the factors behind Estonian administrative formation, the initial deinstitutionalization of the politico-administrative system appears to be a critical factor for understanding the direction and content of the reforms undertaken.

Keywords:

• institutionalization
• downsizing
• post-communist transition
• small states
• Estonia

Acknowledgments

The study was supported by the Estonian Science Foundation grant no. 9435. It has benefited greatly from the COST Action IS0601 “Comparative Research Into Current Trends in Public Sector Organization—CRIPO.” The author wishes to thank the anonymous reviewer, Muiris MacCarthaigh, Paul G. Roness, Tiina Randma-Liiv, and other colleagues who have provided valuable comments on earlier versions of this article.

Notes

¹In the context of this article, Central and Eastern Europe is considered to cover the ten CEE countries that have joined the European Union.

²The inspectorates are supposed to be more limited in their tasks, concentrating on the surveillance and law enforcement, whereas boards can also have a role in policy making (a “steering function” according to the GRA).

³ Lieven (1993, 100) has even termed it a “Year Zero” for the three Baltic States.

⁴This was also reflected in the high proportion of full-text laws adopted in the Parliament Riigikogu (42.5% in the period 1992–1995; Pettai & Madise, 2006).

⁵In 2001, the Ministry of Education was relocated to the second biggest town of Estonia, Tartu, 185 km from the capital, Tallinn.

⁶The change of form from a “board” to an “inspectorate” was coded as a vertical despecialization because it entailed the movement of functions from the agencies to their parent ministries.

⁷It is estimated that there were 10,000 small and approximately 500 medium to large state-owned enterprises in Estonia in the Fall of 1991 (Gillies, Leimann, & Peterson, 2002). The most active years of privatization were 1993–1997. By the end of 1997, 472 medium- to large-scale privatizations had taken place (Gillies et al., 2002).

⁸Because of the inconsistency of civil service statistics over the years, the number of civil servants also includes people employed in a few other agencies not covered in this study.

⁹The former was leading the coalition governments of 1992–1994 (Prime Minister Mart Laar) and 1999–2002 (Prime Minister Mart Laar) and has been in the ruling coalition since the spring of 2007. The latter has been holding the position of prime minister since 2005 (Prime Minister Andrus Ansip) and has persisted in government since 1999 (twelve years in a row).