Conclusions : public administration under the rule of democratic backsliders

Abstract

The complex relationship between populist governments and their bureaucratic apparatus constituted the center of the theoretical and empirical analyses of this book. The concluding chapter synthesises the comparative insights form the chapters and assesses the validity of the theoretical claims of the introduction. It warns that populists in government are not condemned to fail. Populism may well get entrenched in individual political systems. Public administration has a warden role: namely, identifying threats to liberal society and our democratic systems.