In this episode of Kickback, host Elizabeth David-Barrett is joined by Marina Nistotskaya, Professor at the Department of Political Science and researcher at the Quality of Government Institute, University of Gothenburg.

The conversation explores the role of merit-based recruitment in shaping effective and impartial bureaucracies. Marina discusses how hiring processes influence both competence and independence, and why this distinction is critical for resisting political interference and corruption.

The discussion also considers the appropriate balance between political appointments and bureaucratic autonomy, highlighting current debates and trends across different countries. Finally, the episode looks at newer areas of research, including how ambiguity in laws and the outsourcing of state functions can affect decision-making and public service outcomes.

Links to Marina's research:

Futures for the Public Sector. Leuven University Press, 2025. Project MUSE

https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/258/oa_edited_volume/chapter/4135540/pdf

Legal Clarity and Impartiality: A Global Experimental Study of Consistency in Bureaucratic Decision Making, Joakim Nilsson and Marina Nistotskaya, 2025:

https://gupea.ub.gu.se/items/fcf9aa18-e71f-4831-abbe-a89e3576bd1a

To the Short-Sighted Victor Belong the Spoils: Politics and Merit Adoption in Comparative Perspective, Victor Lapuente and Marina Nistotskaya, 2009:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1468-0491.2009.01446.x

On mechanisms of meritocratic recruitment: competence and impartiality, Palina Kolvani and Marina Nistotskaya, 2025:

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-institutional-economics/article/on-mechanisms-of-meritocratic-recruitment-competence-and-impartiality/B1DA105768AA5083DFF61F79E640AB39

Outsourcing, bureaucratic personnel quality and citizen satisfaction with public services,

Carl Dahlström, Marina Nistotskaya, and Maria Tyrberg, 2018:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/padm.12387