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While state culpability in compounding disasters is nothing new, in the aftermath of the recent earthquake in Turkey the extent of state dysfunction characterized by paralysis of the administrative institutions was unprecedented. Autocratization does not mesh well with effective disaster and crisis management, neither in theory nor in practice. Over the last two decades, rising competitive authoritarianism in the country has undermined accountability, participation, predictability, and transparency in Turkish governance structures, all of which are key factors that support risk reduction and disaster management. Relying on a conceptual and theoretical inquiry informed by the concepts of autocratic legalism and tailor-made laws, this case study argues that countries characterized by competitive authoritarianism are less effective in managing disasters, because they abuse state institutions for partisan goals, create disparities in access to public resources, and diminish accountability mechanisms. The elimination of democracy as a guiding principle in public-sector management is proving ever more disastrous as details concerning the response to the earthquake emerge. This analysis offers lessons and insights regarding the strategies that were used to sideline the bureaucracy and oversight processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has shown that individuals with greater public service motivation (PSM) values are more likely to work for government, because government jobs offer more public service opportunities; the question then arises of whether they are also drawn into other activities that offer service opportunities, such as participation in voluntary organizations. This study examined the volunteering behavior of government employees in different domains. Using the Americans’ Changing Lives survey, logistic regression models were estimated to examine the relationship between employment in the government sector and self-reported volunteering in five different types of organization. The results indicated that government employees engage in significantly more volunteering than their private-sector counterparts. When separate models were run for volunteering in each organization type, controlling for several other factors, the results showed that these initial big differences were driven primarily by their volunteering in two specific types of organization: Educational institutions and political groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]