Resilience of public administration in the Bucharest Nine Countries and Ukraine

Ensuring the resilience of public administration is a critical challenge in the face of external shocks and internal transformations. Despite numerous studies on governance resilience, no unified quantitative approach exists, thus limiting cross-country comparisons. This study addresses this gap by developing and applying a Public Administration Resilience Index (PARI) - an integrative composite indicator that combines the Institutional Resilience Index and the Functional & Digital Resilience Index. The proposed framework captures both the structural integrity of governance institutions and their adaptive digital capacities, allowing for a multidimensional evaluation of public administration performance under stress. Using cross-country data for the Bucharest Nine countries and Ukraine in 2024, the analysis reveals high resilience levels in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Czechia, sufficient resilience in Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria, and a medium level in Ukraine, driven by digital progress but weakened institutional foundations. Methodologically, the PARI index advances resilience research by offering a transparent, scalable, and comparable tool for cross-national assessment. From a policy perspective, the results highlight Ukraine's need to prioritize institutional reform, anti-corruption measures, and human capital development alongside continued digitalization to enhance its governance resilience and align with Euro-Atlantic standards.