Papua New Guinea's Public Services Commission since independence: Sidelined or strengthened?

Abstract This paper investigates reforms to the Public Services Commission (PSC) in Papua New Guinea (PNG) since independence in 1975. It looks at the original role of the PSC and then the various reforms it has been subject to: in 1986, 2003, and 2013, by constitutional and legislative change, and in 2019, by court ruling. We argue that since independence, PNG's PSC has been at different times made both less and more powerful. We explain these conflicting trajectories by reference to conflicting reform objectives: at times to make the civil service more flexible and responsive and at times to protect the civil service from corruption and political interference. Beyond PNG, the paper speaks to the different reform trajectories of PSCs in developing countries compared to developed ones; to possible limitations of the punctuated equilibrium approach to policy change; and to the civil service reform failure literature. Points for practitioners The reforms to Papua New Guinea's (PNG) civil service over the years reflect a tension between making the civil service more flexible and responsive and protecting it from corruption and political interference. This case study shows the importance of being aware of the trade‐off between the two goals. Efforts to improve civil service should also focus on changing political behaviour rather than exclusively on structural reform. In many countries, such as Australia, central bodies such as the Public Services Commission (PSC) have lost nearly all their power: indeed, this has been a central component of the New Public Management (NPM) reforms that were popular in the 1990s. The PNG case, however, is one of a number that shows that this trend is far from universal when developing countries are considered.