Demystifying Non‐Western Administrative Traditions: An Empirical Comparison of Administrative Systems in Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America

This article analyzes public administration systems in 29 non-Western countries. Country-level data is presented for 10 core aspects of administrative systems: managerialism versus legalism, politicization, personnel system, civil society participation, accountability, service orientation, public expenditure share, decentralization, legal system, and central government fragmentation. Results show some clear groupings of countries for some variables, but overlap for others. Aggregated into two dimensions, Citizen orientation and Structural concentration, the data suggests the existence of distinct clusters of administrative systems: a Central European and an Eastern European cluster with gradual distinction in degrees of Citizen orientation, two separate clusters in Latin America with differences especially in Citizen orientation and some in Structural concentration, and an East Asian cluster distinct from a South Asian cluster with marked differences on both dimensions. Findings challenge simplistic labels such as a “Latin American” or “post-communist” administrative tradition, and contribute to more inclusive and evidence-based comparative public administration.