Competing motives in the formation of american public administration

The intellectual study of public administration was developed by two separate groups with two distinctive orientations to the field, called here the “Public Service” and the “Public Management” orientations. Both orientations have coexisted in public administration despite their differences largely because they each addresses some of the weaknesses of the other. The continuing tug of war between the orientations provides much of public administration's confusion over its sense of purpose and identity, but also much of its dynamic nature.     

The ethical foundations of american public administration

From the founding of the Republic to the age of Jackson, Federalist administrators dominated the federal public service, infusing it not only with a high level of ethics, but also with an active religious covenant that gave the new Republic a fundamental political purpose. That convenant was eventually lost, but has been restored a few times in our history. By comparison, the modern respect for the privateness of political power is poorly suited to support an ethical and committed public service.     

Modernizing the public service in latin america: faradoxes of latin american public administration

This article presents impediments to the moderization of the public bureacracy in the Latin American region. These impediments are presented as paradoxes in order to emphasize both the contradications found in, and the America. The article presents examples from various cases it central and South America in order to show the lack of a public service tradition, the obstacles of patronage and corruption, the Opportunity costs of bureacratic development, the difficulty of reform, and the drawbacks of professionalization. It concludes with some suggestions, groped under the general strategies of insulation and fortification, about how to evercome these impeciments.     

Negative democracy and the distortion of american character

The managerial role in our society has done more to erode the development of American character than assist it. For public administration, a more appropriate role is based in the idea of governance. Governance puts the development of character as the first priority of public administration. Adopting this role does not necessarily require structural reform in public institutions or a dismantling of the market, but instead calls for a commitment to a changed disposition among public officials regarding the purposes of government and the potentialities of human relationship. The administrative role must move away from instrumental conceptions of management that focus our minds upon discrete decisions and achievements, to one that embraces life as an ongoing process of maturation in democratic community.

In such condition, there is no place for industry; because the fruit thereof is uncertain; and consequently no culture on earth; no navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by sea; no commodious building, no instruments of moving, and removing, such things as require much force; no knowledge of the face of the earth; no account of time; no art; not letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.

Thomas Hobbes

The Leviathan

To many great civilizations past and present, the unity of nature is a fact of immediate experience that needs no special pleading. In the West, however, much of the history of science is concerned with separating and reducing this unity into ever smaller and smaller fragments out of which nature has somehow to be glued back together.

Mae-Wan Ho

We have two kinds of politics in this country...the politics of greed and the politics of guilt. We have to create the politics of convergence.

Sen. William Bradley D-New Jersey April, 1992     

Challenges to american public administration: complexity,bureaucratization, and the culture of distrust

In the United States, the development of public administration has depended on its different historic challenges. There have been periods characterized by much contemplation of “why things don’t work,” when one hears more about the problems of the field than about solutions. In contrast, solutions become the center of discussions during periods of optimism. Public Administration in the United States has seemingly entered an era of reform over the past decade. Such an era is characterized by a major change in attitute, particuarly towards two challenges, those of complexity and bureaucratization. The treatment of these challenges has gone from pessimistic views of the mid-1970s to the current more proactive approaches. Public administration in the United States has always had to contend with its low level of legitimacy, but every so often the level of distrust would decrease enough for the nation's leaders to carry out needed reforms. Such a time is approaching as public administrators in the United States prepare to take on the challenges of complexity and bureaucratization. To do so effectivelly, however, requires a greater level degree of trust than is now forthcoming from the public. Until the cultural challenge is confronted, all other efforts are likely to fail. Looking at how the other challenges have been transformed can help us underestand what it takes to transform a challenge from an obstacle into a target for change. Less optimistically, it may be necessary to wait until the culture evolves on its own.     

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.     

Exploring agency as a basis for ethical theory in American public administration

This articale argues that agency, the normative theory associated with the “acting for” relationship in society, has had a profound, but often unrecognized affect on ethics in public administration. Accordingly, it seeks to provide a brief review of agency theory as it applies to contemporary American public adminis- tration. The review provides an overview of agency theory, gives an example of how deeply it influences American public administration, shows how it facilitates ethical action in administration and reviews some of the major obstacles to employing agency theory in the modern American administrative state.     

Public administration implications of the north american free trade agreement

The emerging North American trade bloc presents both challenges and opportunities for Mexico, Canada, and the United States. Free trade among disparate partners is a complex undertaking. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) will bring important benefits to all three countries, but it will also raise many important issues. The sharp differences in wage rates, worker productivity, and education levels among the partners has fueled fears of job losses on both sides of the border. Disparity among NAFTA nations on labor practices, health and occupational safety laws and regulations are also sources of conflict. Effective dispute resolution mechanisms must exist for both the trade and non-trade issues. Practical guidance, in this regard, can come from the experience of the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) and the European Economic Community (EEC; European Union since 1993). New political and administration mechanisms will be required to deal with each of these challenging issues.     

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 growing role of computers in american federal tax compliance and administration

Computers have had a significant impact on reducing both compliance and administrative costs under the American Federal Internal Revenue Code. Computer assisted legal research systems have vastly facilitated legal research for both taxpayer and tax collecting officials. Tax evasion and under-reporting have been brought under better control with the assistance of computers. At present successful experiments are being conducted under which returns prepared by the taxpayer with the assistance of computers are being filed in electronic format so as to allow for virtual instant processing by tax collecting officials. Taxpayers have also found computers to be of considerable assistance in preparing tax returns and developing tax saving strategies.     

Trends in teaching public administration: a view from the proceedings of the national conferences on teaching public administration

This article identifies trends in research on teaching public administration. Topics receiving substantial amounts of attention within years, within multiple years, and across time are identified. Cumulation of research on certain topics is identified. This study is based on data from the Proceedings of the National Conferences on Teaching Public Administration between 1978 and 1989.     

Roward a public philosophy of public administration: a civic perspective of the public

The thesis of this article is that a publicphilosophy of public administration needs to be formulated. It must not be based upon romantic and technocratic approaches as past efforts have been. It must rest instead upon a revitalized concept of the public that stresses the importance of public interdependency, public learning, public language, and a critical evaluation of the relationship between the role of the state and public administration. This emphasis has important implications for the respective responsibilities of both academicians and practicing administrators.     

Disinvesting in the administrative capacity for public action

Recurring cutbacks in the public sector have received extensiveattention. Most of the emphasis has been on how to adjust to declinein support for public programs. Cutback Management andcon-tracting-out are examples of this approach. This article focuseson the negative consequence of cutbacks. It suggests that inadequateattention is being given to the decrease in the capacity of agenciesto act. An administrative disinvestment is occurring in much the sameway as it has for roads, bridges and other parts of our public infrastructure. Now, we are disinvesting in another critical social asset--our public bureau-cracies. The nature and implictions ofadminis-trative disinvestment are explord.     

Deregulation and the decline of public administration teaching in the UK

In 1991 eight polytechnics offered a BA in public administration while five universities provided the degree with either public or social policy. Currently, no higher education institution in Britain offers a BA degree solely entitled 'public administration'. The subject area is, however, offered in 16 higher education institutions under a variety of names that include, in any order, the words 'public', 'management', 'policy' and 'administration'. This paper analyses the reasons for the transformation during the 1990s in undergraduate courses for the public sector. It is argued that these changes do not so much derive from academics, employers or students taking on board an enthusiasm for new public management but are as much the consequences of deregulation of student choice and an expansion in student numbers that has not been matched in financial terms. The consequence has been to increasingly move this sector towards business and management teaching geared to private sector interests and away from its more political and social science roots.     

Privatization -- a major strategy of public service provision in china: a case study of urban housing policy and management

Challenged by its economic liberalization and financial constraints, the Chinese government has used privatization as its major strategy to manage service programs since China opened its door a decade and a half ago. Based on the commercial nature of housing, selling the national housing stock, vouchers and co-financing are the major ways for the government to withdraw from the provision of housing for urban Chinese. The government has been prudent about the process and has taken incremental steps. Privatization is a mixed blessing. It has brought some problems such as fraud, inequality in availability and price inflation. The Chinese government must build its institutional and managerial capacities to deal with these problems.     

Moral education and the teaching of public administration ethics

This article discusses two major objections to moral education and argues that a professional education in public administration cannot avoid some intrusions upon the personal freedom of its students nor can it avoid a certain degree of indoctrination. It is suggested that the benefits of a morally educated but civic-minded professional outweigh the costs of an autonomous professional.     

Foundations of public administration: Introduction to the symposium

The nature of retrospectives on the literature of public administration has taken a turn in recent years away from polite respect for our heritage, and toward a belief that the older literature can solve some of our most pressing current problems in administration. Specifically, modern works often bemoan a lack of fundamental purpose or moral direction for administration, and these were among the strongpoints of more dated literature. The articles of this symposium largely seek to find current answers in the investigations of long ago.     

Information technology and organizational structure of the greek public administration

It is widely accepted in the management literature that Information Technology can greatly contribute to the administrative modernization and especially to the improvement of organizational productivity. This is of great interest for the Greek Public Administration, which faces long term problems of low productivity. The main objective of this work is to analyse the impact of Information Technology on the organizational structure of Greek Public Administration, that is one of the main determinants of its productivity. Initially the theoretical background is presented on which the present work is based. Using data compiled from the whole Central Government, firstly the study is focused on the hardware and software technologies which are employed. At a second stage the impact of the use of Information Technology on a set of dimensions of the organizational structure,which are of critical importance for the productivity of the Greek Public Administration, is examined. The conclusions of the study provide the basis for the development of strategic guidelines for maximizing the benefits from using Information Technology in Greek Public Administration.     

Purpose and practice in public administration education: The place of substantive public policy areas

Public administration's early identification with the concept of a strong executive has resulted in an emphasis on staff functions in its graduate education programs. In the practicing world, staff functions are viewed as tools employed in the actual practice of public administrators, namely the delivery of substantive public services. Although public administration is characterized as an applied field, it does not focus its theory building and educative efforts on that which practicing public administrators actually do. The field necessarily imports other disciplines, but it does not provide the unique focus that would justify this borrowing; its current research agenda and training curricula are available in other disciplines. Public administration graduate students should concentrate in individual substantive policy areas, and the field should focus on optimizing organizational arrangments for delivering societal knowledge as public services. Interorganizational theory can provide the common theoretical framework necessary to mitigate the centrifugal effects of a variety of “administrations” within the field. The approach developed by J. Kenneth Benson is outlined; it provides a unique theoretical niche for public administration, yields a framework for comparative analysis, and defines the field's relationship to political science.