A taste for government employment also rests on its political flavor.

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Title: A taste for government employment also rests on its political flavor.
Authors: Gilad, Sharon1 (AUTHOR) sharon.gilad@mail.huji.ac.il, Sulitzeanu‐Kenan, Raanan2 (AUTHOR), Levi‐Faur, David1 (AUTHOR)
Source: Public Administration Review. Sep/Oct2025, Vol. 85 Issue 5, p1412-1425. 14p.
Subject Terms: *Civil service, Polarization (Social sciences), Political attitudes, Democracy, Political reform, Public opinion polls
Abstract: The global experience of political polarization, and politicians' attacks on democratic institutions, render individuals' identification with the governing coalition, or with its opposition, a likely antecedent of their attraction to work in government. This article examines to what extent individuals' partisan alignment with the governing coalition, and perceptions of its actions as a threat to democracy, shapes attraction to government jobs. Findings are based on a two‐stage survey with 1861 Israeli panel respondents, aged 21–30, carried out during the government's attempt to undermine the legal system (hereafter: the Judicial Overhaul), and a follow‐up survey experiment with 1211 of the respondents. Against the politically neutral explanations of previous research, we show that partisan alignment affects the propensity to choose a job in a government ministry versus other sectors. We find mixed evidence in support of the proposition that perceptions of the Judicial Overhaul as a threat to democracy underlie this effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Abstract:The global experience of political polarization, and politicians' attacks on democratic institutions, render individuals' identification with the governing coalition, or with its opposition, a likely antecedent of their attraction to work in government. This article examines to what extent individuals' partisan alignment with the governing coalition, and perceptions of its actions as a threat to democracy, shapes attraction to government jobs. Findings are based on a two‐stage survey with 1861 Israeli panel respondents, aged 21–30, carried out during the government's attempt to undermine the legal system (hereafter: the Judicial Overhaul), and a follow‐up survey experiment with 1211 of the respondents. Against the politically neutral explanations of previous research, we show that partisan alignment affects the propensity to choose a job in a government ministry versus other sectors. We find mixed evidence in support of the proposition that perceptions of the Judicial Overhaul as a threat to democracy underlie this effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:00333352
DOI:10.1111/puar.13889