Representative Bureaucracy, Time and Making Sense of Territorial Identities in International Organisations

The literature on Representative Bureaucracy studies how representation unfolds within and across countries’ public administrations at one point in time. However, such a synchronic approach leaves aside how time and temporal developments may impact upon bureaucratic representation. In contrast, this article maintains that bureaucratic representation is not time invariant. Combining insights from a Weickian sensemaking perspective and Saurugger’s analysis of increased ‘politicization’ during crisis situations, we argue that the representation of specific identities gains/loses prominence for both public bureaucracies and public officials during crisis periods. The temporal-contextual imperative suggested by these arguments is supported by interview and survey evidence using Seconded National Experts (SNEs) in the European Commission.