In a newly published article in Governance, Ted Svensson (together with Agnes Cornell) explores whether the inspiration to reform the British Civil Service, along the lines suggested in the 1854 Northcote-Trevelyan Report, was drawn from the introduction of meritocratic practices in British-ruled India. Contrary to standard depictions, the article rejects the portrayal of British merit reforms as caused by a policy transfer or diffusion from the Indian Civil Service to the Home Civil Service.
Authors: Agnes Cornell and Ted Svensson
Title: Colonial Origins of Modern Bureaucracy? India and the Professionalization of the British Civil Service