Political transitions: Opportunities to renegotiate the public service bargain

Adopting a public service perspective of transitions in Westminster systems and connecting literature on transitions with public service bargains (PSBs), this research note proposes that transitions not only increase existing tensions between politicians and the public service, but also provide opportunities to forge new PSBs to defuse these tensions. It argues that public service institutions should move beyond individually negotiated transition responses towards corporately driven PSB negotiations across the political-public service interface on a rolling basis in order to promote the cause of democratic governance. It also invites others to take up this perspective and develop research to probe these ideas further.