We explain what a public servant is and what their relationship is with governments. Furthermore, public servants par excellence.
What is public servant?
A public servant is that person who is responsible for carrying out a task in order to generate well-being among society. With this we do not affirm that their work is ad honorem, but rather that regardless of the salary received, its main characteristic is that its task is not intended for private activity but at the service of society.
public servants They are working at the service of the Stategenerally in public administration. As we see, civil servants are a variant of public servants but not every public servant is a civil servant. For example, a firefighter is a public servant, since his work implies a great contribution to the well-being of society.
One of the traits that should stand out the most in a public servant is his ethics, since the consequences of his actions usually reach a larger group of society. Added to this is the social prestige they have, since In many cases they usually manage state economic funds (therefore they are the result of the contribution of all citizens), in addition to the fact that they usually represent institutions with a long tradition.
The regulation of public servants is a state matter, generally contained within the constitution of each country, accompanied by other smaller legislation.
See also: Public law
Your relationship with governments
The size and quality of public services is not something that is defined in advance, but rather It will depend on the size of the state apparatus and the available funds. Countries that defend the policies of a welfare state, typical of European countries during the 70s, and taken up by some Latin American countries, tend to have a large number of services and public servants, since a good part of the services social is monopolized by the State.
The public education and public hospitalsfor example, are bastions of the welfare state. With this we are not stating that a doctor from a private clinic is not a public servant, but there are differences. For example, between a private security service and the state police. Although both can be considered public servants, the level of responsibility that it has a police force is much larger.
One of the problems that neoliberal governments have is the reduction of funds allocated to public servantsmainly to the administrative and bureaucratic sector. This “reduction of the State”, understood as a necessary process to eliminate unnecessary expenses, entails the relegation of public functions to private sectors. This is one of the strong criticisms of the sectors most in defense of the welfare state, arguing that it is nothing more than a way to favor the richest sectors of society.
The public servants par excellence: politicians
Politics has historically been considered one of the main ways of serving society. In fact, it is the end in itself of politics. This finds its maximum point of expression in democracies and not in other political systems, since during monarchical and totalitarian governments the rulers did not have any explicit responsibility with those they represented, but vice versa.
Every person dedicated to politics must have as their goal develop your task to achieve a common goodbeyond prestige and personal ambitions. The need for impeccable conduct and rigorous ethics is usually demanded of the political class, since they are the representatives of the popular will. However, we all know that this rarely happens.
Different professionals from the most diverse areas have addressed the issue of politicians as public servants, such as Machiavelli or Max Weber. While the first of these authors have insisted on the need to make the concept of political vocation more complex, Max Weber specialized in the influence of Western rationalization on politics. These are just two examples of a large number of intellectuals who have addressed this problem.
