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Abstract The public bureaucracies of Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain may be set apart from the rest of West European bureaucracies. Until the mid-1990s, the former were distinguished from the latter by certain interrelated structural characteristics. These characteristics were extended politicisation of the top administrative ranks; enduring patronage patterns in recruitment to the public sector; uneven distribution of human resources; formalism and legalism; and, with the exception of Spain, absence of a typical European administrative elite. The characteristics were related to the type of capitalism and political development in Southern Europe. South European bureaucracies have started evolving towards decentralisation and privatisation. However, convergence with the bureaucracies of other EU member-states is an open question. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This paper was presented in seminars of the Hellenic Observatory at the London School of Economics and Political Science in February 2003 and of ELIAMEP (Athens), in November 2003. The author would like to thank Chris Binns, Sabino Cassese, P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, Pavlos Eleftheriades, Kevin Featherstone, Romolo Gandolfo, Richard Gunther, Abby Innes, Louis Klarevas, Dimitra Kondyli, George Pagoulatos, Dimitris Papadimitriou, Takis S. Pappas, Christos J. Paraskevopoulos, Maria Petmesidou, Monica Threlfall and anomymous reviewers for their criticisms.
Dimitri A. Sotiropoulos (Sat,) studied this question.