The new paradigm: from development administration to sustainable development administration

In light of changing national and international conditions, the field of public administration is going through an exercise of refounding and reinventing. Globalization, technological advancements, and ecological concerns have diluted the importance of development administration. This study traces the demise of development administration and presents a new paradigm in the form of sustainable development administration. The author argues that the paradigm of sustainable development administration (SDA) is markedly different from the traditional paradigm of development administration (DA) in its emphasis, scope, treatment of politics, view of indigenous cultures, goals, operating mode, decision-making system, use of foreign aid, and performance accountability. The study concludes by declaring that SDA has the potential to emerge as a new field of study in public administration.

The discipline of public administration is at a crossroads: the advent of the “global village” philosophy is challenging its parochial tendencies⁽¹⁾;the “refounding of public administration” is nullifying its separation from politics⁽²⁾; and the “reinvention of government” is questioning the very basic reasons for its existence.⁽³⁾ Faced with new and continuing intellectual challenges, the discipline is in search of a new paradigm.⁽⁴⁾ What will this new paradigm be? What will its emphases and priorities be? The answers are less than clear at this point, however, the questions themselves are receiving attention from scholars. This article attempts to examine one of many alleged elements of the emerging paradigm, and that is the shift from development to sustainable development. The arguments presented here trace the demise of “development” focus in public administration and explore the possibility of sustainable development becoming the new thrust.     

The impending crisis in development administration

Two questions are posed about development administration theory and practice. Does it offer apparent, plausible solutions to the recent and current crises of developing countries? Is it based upon a knowledge of the organizational terms and conditions which are necessary to advance human welfare? Current theory and practice are found to be wanting in both respects. An emphasis on comparative institutional analysis is suggested as one potential remedy for these weaknesses.     

Strengthening administration of the development process

An analysis was made of 33 cases and 34 articles from current literature to examine means for strengthening the development process. Among the problems mentioned in cases and literature were: (1) improving the implementation of development programs, (2) structural and organizational changes, (3) administrative planning, (4) improved leadership and managerial skills, (5) methods improvement, and (6) administrative and political reform. Of these, the strengthening of field implementation of development projects was mentioned by far the most frequently. The implementation gap can be improved by: (1) donors changing from a “compliance approach” to a flexible, decentralized approach to international development projects, and by (2) host governments creating promotion ladders for field personnel and providing them with training in (a) participative management, (b) budgetary management, and (c) project management methods.     

Catastrophe theory as a paradigm for development administration

Catastrophe theory, a field of applied mathematics developed by Rene Thom and others in the 1970s, offers some promise as a paradigm for the study of developmental administration. The dynamic and qualitative nature of this approach can lead to various insights that some current and previous models lacked.

The application of catastrophe theory to the political situation in Malaysia in the early 1960s demonstrates how such a theoretical approach can be fitted to specific political systems and situations.

The author concludes by suggesting other national political settings where catastrophe theory might be fruitfully applied in the study of development and comparative administration.     

Project oasis: A case study in jamaican development administration

This paper is concerned with development administration in practice, at the level of a particular project which was implemented in the Caribbean island of Jamaica in 1979. We are essentially concerned with the problem of the degree of fit between operational project objectives and the management of project resources, including personnel. The intent is to provide empirical evidence of some of the major difficulties encountered in the field by the development administrator, with a focus upon project organization and the managerial sub-system. We found the management of Project OASIS to be characterized by the lack of control mechanisms, weak discipline, and inadequate information flows. These problems were only exacerbated by the nature of the local policy environment. Development is in fact particularly difficult to administer. The conclusion emphasizes the need to involve the target communities directly in both development planning and in the process of implementation. It is also imperative to mobilize and maintain sufficient political concensus to attain the agreed outcomes, on the basis of a congruent ordering of values and utilities.     

A new continuity with colonial administration: Participation in development management

Development management owes an unacknowledged debt to colonial administration, specifically to indirect rule. Development management, as opposed to development administration, has newly adopted a specific set of managerialist participatory methods, to achieve 'ownership' of development interventions. These methods are particularly evident in World Bank/ imf implementation of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers ( prsp s) and Comprehensive Development Frameworks ( cdf s). They have their conceptual foundation in action research, invented, it can justly be argued, by John Collier, Commissioner of the US Bureau of Indian (ie Native American) Affairs 1933-1945. Collier was a self-proclaimed colonial administrator, and remained an advocate of indirect rule as late as 1963. Evidence is presented to show his development of action research was a tool of indirect rule. Achieving 'empowerment' through participation was at its very beginning, therefore, subject to the colonialist's asserted sovereign power; and the limited autonomy it granted was a means of maintaining that power.     

Marketing-oriented planning in public administration: The case of the state development agency

Noting that concepts from marketing are not often found in the public management: literature, the authors present a multi-stage marketing-oriented planning model which can be used in the public sector. the mods1 is applied to the case of industrial development agencies, wit11 emphasis on the use of the model in recruiting foreign direct investment. The model includes the determination of organization mission, goals and objectives, resources, and growth strategies as elements of the management planning process. The marketing planning stage of the model includes opportunity analysis, positioning for target markets, marketing mix selection, and control. The two main stages of the process are mediated by factors in the internal and external environments of the organization.     

Urban development in czecho-slovakia: some background conditions for local level public administration

Concepts and skills from the Public Administration field are in strong demand by local governments in Slovakia and in the Czech Republic. After forty years in which local level initiatives in government and in business were squelched, there now exist extensive opportunities. After discussing the extent of past centralization, population trends and local public spending by city sizes are defined for the Czech Republic. A comparative analysis of a single Czech city with a German city of similar size points out some special limitations in land use employment and tax base facing local public policy makes. In conclusion, the need for attention to institution-building and for local area information as part of technical assistance efforts is discussed.     

Traditional rulers and development administration: Chieftaincy in Niger,Nigeria, and Vanuatu

Although the paramountcy of chiefs was undone by colonial rule, traditional rulers have served as important adjuncts in the administration of post-colonial government in both Africa and Oceania. This paper examines the evolution of the chieftaincy, particularly as an agent of administration, in West Africa (Niger and Nigeria) and Melanesia (Vanuatu). Although French and British colonial regimes had distinctive policies regarding the use of “their” chiefs, post-colonial Nigérien, Nigerian, and ni-Vanuatu governments have all come to rely on traditional rulers to aid in development activities. The degree of autonomy retained by traditional rulers varies, however: it is highest in Vanuatu, lowest in Niger. Differing conceptions and uses of tradition and “custom” help explain these variations. Five modern functions of traditional rulers are identified as contributing to development administration: 1) linkage or “brokering” between grassroots and capital; 2) extension of national identity through the conferral of traditional titles; 3) low-level conflict resolution and judicial gate-keeping; 4) ombudsmanship; and 5) institutional safety-valve for overloaded and subapportioned bureaucracies. Creating educated chieftaincies significantly enhances the effectiveness of traditional rulers' contributions to development and administration. William F.S. Miles is chair of the Development Administration Concentration (Public Administration Program) and associate professor of political science at Northeastern University in Boston. Some of his recent articles have appeared inAfrican Studies Review, theAmerican Political Science Review, andComparative Politics. Professor Miles's two forthcoming books areImperial Burdens: Countercolonialism in Former French India (Lynne Rienner Publishers) andHausaland Divided: Colonialism and Independence in Nigeria and Niger (Cornell University Press). Please address correspondence     

The development of public administration from a global perspective: the case of italy

What is the impact of globalization on the Italian state and the development of the Italian public administration? Italy is one of those countries where the forces of globalization are challenging the strong state tradition and the predominance of the legal model of public administration. Globalization and the European regional integration push toward a diminished role of the state and a managerial public administration with an increased emphasis on efficiency and better quality of government activities.     

The state and rural development in Tanzania: The village administration as a political field

The Village Administrations (VAs) created by the Tanzanian state in the 1970s have been regarded as new state apparatuses intended to facilitate control over a recalcitrant peasantry. Field research in Dodoma revealed two kinds of factions competing for their control: Christians, who co‐operated with higher level state apparatuses in establishing working institutional structures, and Traditionalists, who sought to reconstruct the VA as an entity performing predominantly ritual functions and, by tactful non‐compliance, to insulate households from the demands of the state. If the VA is to be regarded as a state apparatus then it must be recognised that it has substantial autonomy, conditioned by its internal constitution as a political field.     

The road to minnowbrook: development of the new public administration in the United States

The decade of the 1960s was a time of political upheaval and turbulence; American society witnessed many changes. The decade was one of hope and at the same time one of despair. It was one in which there were great expectations of the national government, and one that would lead some to conclude that the national giovernment was incapable of solving the complex problems of modern society. Public administrators, like other members of the population, were deeply affected by the events of the decade. Some of them began to question their discpline and profession, and a movement developed within the discipline in search of a new public administration; one sensitive to and capable of solving societal problems that had gone unresolved in the decade of the sixties.

The present study presents an historical explication of the new public administration. The new public administration movement is viewed as a product of numerous conferences, works, and events, four of which appear as major landmarks: 1) the Honey Report on Higher Education for Public Service, (1967); 2) the Conference on the Theory and Practive of Public Administration, (1967); 3) the Minnowbrook Conference; (1968); and 4) the publication of two works in 1971: Toward a New Public Administration in a Time of Turbulence edited by Dwight Waldo. Each of the above is examined in terms of contributions to the development of the new public administration.     

Nature and administration

Marshall Dimock's considerable intellectual contribution rested on naturalistic foundations. The character of these foundations can be illustrated by considering his personal commitment to living in harmony with nature and his affinity for naturalistic philosophy. This foundation led him to challenge dominant organizational theory and conventional professional norms. His later scholarship emphasized naturalistic principles as a corrective for the crisis of the American state. This scholarship outlined a minimal administrative state that relied on the virtues and creativity of the citizenry and counseled against the heavy-handed administrative professionalism inherent in a service state.     

Dimock's philosophy of administration

Marshall E. Dimock was a self-confessed non-conformist who valued individualism and individual self-development above all other values. For him a philosophy of administration is more than a science or art and “must deal with institutional goals and objectives, with social values and individual growth, as well as with the paraphernalia of organizing and running things, which are only “incidental.^”(1) He warned that “over specialization of the individual makes him dull and lacking capacities for administrative growth^”(2)and decried the parochialism of behaviorists, logical positivists and other methodologists. At the core of his thinking about problems of administration, management and organization was what he regarded as the fundamental importance of “moral philosophy” although he recognized that “the political economist who epitomizes moral philosophy is regarded as a regrettably nonconformist and excessively individualistic relic of a past age.^”(3)     

Reform: economic policy administration

Beginning in 1992, Italy has undergone a dramatic process of fiscal consolidation. Within that framework, the policy strategy has covered a broad range of objectives and addressed the main structural imbalances of the Italian economy. This paper describes how the new policy course has been reshaping the role of the State within the Italian economy, with a view of reducing the State's weight and direct involvement in the management of businesses. This has also implied a profound transformation at the decisional and administrative levels, as testified by the ongoing merge of two separate administrations, the former Ministry of the Treasury and Ministry of the Budget, into a single entity.     

Character ethics and public administration

Character ethics addresses the conditions, values, and ideas that give shape to our ways of life - to our character as a people. It has formed an integral part of political life and thought throughout history. It has, however, fallen to neglect during much of this century. We ignore it at our peril. A growing communitarian movement has renewed attention to character or “virtue” ethics in recent years, much of it focused on local, grassroots initiatives. This essay introduces the reader to some basic aspects of character ethics, and then presents an argument for its relevance to public administration. The argument focuses on the application of character ethics to organizational-economic arrangements and conditions which form a great part of the public administration's responsibilities. The organizational economy constitutes a vital foundation for shaping civic character. Since public administration influences the organizational economy, our ethical responsibilities should include continually examining practices in this arena for their general effects on our habits and dispositions as a people.

Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks, no form of government, can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people is a chimerical idea.

James Madison⁽¹⁾     

Reform: international affairs administration

In Italy, the role of the State and the procedures and techniques adopted by government and the civil service are coming under close scrutiny, and major changes are being introduced. The fall of the Iron Curtain, coupled with the globalization of the economy and information, is extending opportunities for medium range powers with long cultural and commercial traditions, like Italy, while demanding renewed structures and know-how in order to successfully meet the new challenges and seize the new opportunities. The Foreign Ministry is therefore set for internal reorganization, empowering posts in Rome and abroad by freeing them of many of their administrative burdens, so that they can act and react more effectively in this new environment.