Cadre (Menghe): Difference between revisions
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In Menghean government, a cadre is any government official in the executive branch who is subject to the state's organized merit-based promotion system, ranging from white-collar civil servants to provincial governors and the heads of central ministries. Individuals appointed to certain posts in the government are assigned a cadre identification card as proof of their status and are monitored by the Directorate for Cadre Evaluation, which sets centrally recommended promotion standards. This contrasts them with staff-grade personnel, who work in lower-ranked government jobs and are subject to different standards for promotion and evaluation.
Since 2002, any individuals wishing to enter cadre-grade positions need to take the National Administration Examination, a highly competitive test designed to measure their logical and emotional intelligence. For that reason, the NAE is sometimes referred to as the "Cadre Application Test," and cadres are compared to technocrats. Individuals who entered cadre-grade posts before 2002, however, generally did not take the exam.
Types
Cadres in the Menghean political system are further subdivided into three categories based on their type of work. Generally, cadres who are hired into one track tend to stay within that track; for example, those who begin their political careers as county heads move on to become prefecture heads and provincial governors. Nevertheless, movement between tracks is possible for cadres who show sufficient leadership skill, and except in "outstanding cases" managing cadres must first have experience as clerical cadres in the same area of expertise.
- Leading cadres (령도 간부 / 領導幹部, ryŏngdo ganbu) are cadres who hold chief executive posts in local government, such as mayors, county heads, and governors.
- Managing cadres (관리 간부 / 管理幹部, gwanri ganbu) are cadres who hold leadership positions in agencies, rather than in the government itself. At the top, this would include not only ministers, but also the directors, secretaries, and agency chiefs subordinate to them. This also applies to the heads of local-government agencies, such as police chiefs, and to mid-level managers in national agencies. More recently, it has been applied to upper-level staff in some state-owned enterprises. Generally, managing cadres have subordinates who report to them, while clerical cadres do not.
- Clerical cadres (사무직 간부 / 事務職幹部, samujik ganbu), also translated as white-collar cadres, encompass the remainder of the cadre body. Most are civil servants in roles that require a high degree of technical competence, such as demographic analysts and economic planners. The distinction between cadre-grade posts and staff-grade posts is sometimes arbitrary depending on the agency in question.
Cadre evaluation system
Once they have been hired into their initial posts through the National Administration Examination, cadres are promoted based on standardized assessments of their job performance. The Directorate for Cadre Evaluation (간부 평가 사무실 / 幹部評價事務室, Ganbu Pyŏngga Samusil) sets recommended standards for job assessment, both in terms of overall desirable characteristics and specific qualifications for specialized fields. The actual process of evaluation, however, is conducted by the agency or branch in which a cadre is employed, and combines objective performance measures with anonymous recommendations from peers, superiors, and subordinates.
Leading cadres have the most sophisticated promotion system, which consists of a "scorecard" listing different measures of government performance in the area under their jurisdiction. During the 1990s and 2000s, leading cadre scorecards were dominated by "hard" measures of economic output, such GDP growth, primary school enrollment, agricultural productivity, and whether central reforms had been implemented. This often resulted in a forceful implementation of unpopular or environmentally damaging policies. To correct for this problem, many localities expanded scorecards to be more holistic, adding measures of air and water quality or shifting to more subjective assessments. A few localities have experimented with adding popular approval rating to scorecards, though this remains just one factor among many.
In order to counteract regionalism and break personal connections, administrative officials are often transferred to different jurisdictions when promoted, or assigned to jurisdictions other than the one where they were born. The main exception to this rule is in the southwestern Semi-Autonomous Provinces, where the Governor is always a member of the majority ethnic group (though the province's First Secretary of the Party is not). Rules against nepotism also forbid relatives closer than second cousin from serving as direct peers or direct subordinates.
Managing cadres and clerical cadres also have cadre scorecards, though the content is different. Clerical cadres are judged based on clearer measures of job performance, including superiors' assessment of their suitability for a higher post, much like promotion procedures in a large private corporation. Managing cadres are assessed in a similar manner, but also based on the quality and efficiency of their subordinate unit. In contrast to leading cadres, the main complaint about this system was that it favored technocrats who sometimes had poor social skills; to counteract this, the Directorate for Cadre Evaluation suggested that government agencies account for cadres' interpersonal skills when making promotion decisions, using anonymous evaluations from peers, subordinates, and superiors.
Ideological reliability played a major role in cadre promotion from the late 1980s through the 1990s, as the ruling regime had come to power in a military coup and needed to rebuild a politically reliable bureaucracy in order to prevent Communist hardliners from returning to power. From the 2000s onward, however, ideological reliability declined in importance, out of a concern that it was interfering in meritocratic promotion. Today, ideological reliability functions mainly as a "veto item" on scorecards: cadres who openly oppose the Menghe Socialist Party or call for democratization will be turned down for promotion or stripped of their posts, but cadres who voice excessive loyalty to Socialist ideology are no more likely to move up the ladder independent of their other qualifications.
Contrast with staff-grade posts
Cadres, especially clerical cadres, are best understood in contrast with staff-grade personnel (직원 / 職員, jigwŏn). Staff-grade personnel usually have fewer qualifications and handle simpler tasks, and they do not need to pass the National Administration Examination in order to begin work. Their promotion prospects are also more limited, and they are unable to move upward into cadre-grade posts unless they first take the National Administration Examination. Postal workers and receptionists, for example, are usually classified as staff-grade personnel, while economic analysts are clerical cadres, though at the local level the distinction often breaks down.
A military metaphor common in Menghean government compares cadres to commissioned officers and staff to enlisted personnel - the former group undergoes more extensive training and can be promoted to the highest posts, while the latter group handles much of the day-to-day work in a given unit.
As the share of civil service posts requiring clerical cadre qualifications increased, however, this metaphor began to break down. Today, many central government agencies, especially those related to economic policy, rely almost entirely on clerical cadres to fill civil service posts; at most, staff-grade personnel might be employed as janitors or temporary interns. By contrast, staff-grade personnel make up a much larger share of employees in the lowest levels of government, especially in the inland areas. In villages, blocks, and gacha (but not towns), even the highest executive official does not need to hold cadre status. The ratio of cadre to staff personnel also depends on a given administrative division's population density and wealth, with wealthy, urban, coastal areas requiring cadre status for a wider range of positions.
Relationship with the Socialist Party
Unlike in some other single-party regimes, "cadres" in Menghe are not necessarily members of the Menghe Socialist Party, though most gain Party membership as they climb in the ranks. Rather, cadre status is linked to one's position in a cadre-grade post.
In the course of their work, cadres are expected to show a strong degree of commitment to the country and its people, and by extension to the ruling party and central leadership. This is especially true of leading cadres and cadres who are Party members. Training activities stress the importance of "self-sacrifice and correct action in the Decembrist spirit," and emphasize that cadres have a special duty to serve both the people and the state. In emergency situations, such as natural disasters, the state often mobilizes government officials to work extra hours and appear among the people to distribute aid and oversee relief efforts on the ground. This form of indoctrination serves two purposes: it ensures that cadres are public-spirited enough to take on extra work in order to serve constituents well, and it ensures that they will not attempt to challenge the one-party system.