Essays In Public Administration

The contributors to this volume trace the evolution of public administration institutions and explore issues such as the protection and improvement of the public service, recent innovations in the area of service delivery, and how this has created increased legitimacy and recognition from citizens.

A seminal collection of essays, addressing such questions as the evolving roles of civil servants, the education and training of civil servants, and the ways to balance civil servants’ expertise with respect for democratic governance This collection of essays highlights the “peculiarly American” issues of public administration ranging from 1870 to 1974, when they were first published. Every contributor was assigned a period of American history and given the opportunity to write on what he or she deemed the most important or relevant concern of that period. This method, employed for this book and the connected National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration conference, resulted in a wide-reaching, if eclectic, collection. Supplanted by Mosher’s impressive summarization of the field throughout the years, the book still holds prominence as a source for scholars, workers, and students alike in public administration. The essays raise such issues as the education of civil servants, the changes necessitated by crises, the growth of social sciences in governmental concerns, and primarily, the role of public administrators in America. Each author is a distinguished expert in his own right, and each essay can stand alone as a remarkable insight into the changing world of public administration within American society. Frederick Mosher’s expertise and supervision shapes this work into a remarkable and holistic perspective on public administration over time.

In the course of the last century, fundamental changes occurred in the relationship between public administration and politics. This book describes in which ways and to what extent the public administration discipline aims to shape this fundamental relation by analyzing the paradigmatic foundations of the discipline. The various paradigms adopted by different groups in the public administration discipline at different points in time determine for a large part the nature of problems to be tackled and the solution procedures that may be considered. Therefore, as discussed in the book, a clear insight into the foundations underlying the relationship between public administration and politics not only facilitates the study of the public administration discipline and political science, but also contributes to a better understanding of the practice of public administration.Contents include: paradigms in public administration * public administration as a submissive instrument of politics * public administration as an 'out-sourceable' policy production system * the demand and supply paradigm of public administration * the modernist paradigm: public administration as scientification of politics * public administration in a multi-rational perspective: a postmodern paradigm.

A collection of eleven essays and one editorial that are grouped topically under: risk and trust; information management and privacy; information, innovation, and risk; and risk to Internet governance.

• Choice 1997 Outstanding Academic Book • Winner of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists 1997 Outstanding Book Award Through thoughtful essays linking historical concepts, current issues, and areas for future research, Matthew Holden, Jr., argues that the study of public administration is indispensable to understanding politics. Essentially, public administration consists of making decisions about information, money, and force-three crucial sources of power: politics and administration cannot be separated, and no political system can be sustained when its administrative core collapses. Holden explores issues in administration as reflected in political theory and discusses the specifics of organization, bureaucratic, and management theory. He considers such concepts as executive leadership and the emergence of administrative law and turns an unblinking eye on the practice of public administration today, buffeted by changes in communications technology and by ethnic diversity.

First published in 1976, From Policy to Administration is not the conventional Festschrift written by many hands on many unrelated subjects- rather it is a tight collection of essays conceived and written around a unified theme. From one point of view, policy and administration are at two opposite ends of the governmental spectrum; but at the same time both are aspects of almost every single government activity and the essays in this book set out to reflect this apparent paradox. Dr Jones finds symptoms of it at the administrative heart of the policy making machine while Professor Friedrich looks at the nature of that machine and its relation to democratic forms. Four central essays by Professors Bernard Crick, Peter Self, John Mackintosh and Mr Sharpe, link policy making and administration to the controversies about participation, decentralisation, and devolution. Mr Foster considers the public corporation as a dynamic instrument concerned with the problem of efficiency. The book concludes with essays by Professors Mitchell and Griffith on the involvement of legal processes in the structure and functioning of policy and administration. The book does not attempt to cover all of William Robson's interests. It is a mark of the versatility of his genius that no book could do that and remain unified. This book will be of interest to scholars and researchers of public administration and political studies.

Global developments over the past half-century have transformed public administration and brought it to maturity as an autonomous discipline at the intersection of many important fields of study. The trends and challenges which confront this discipline are analyzed in this festschrift, which honors Gerald E. Caiden and his numerous inputs to the field since his graduation in 1957. During five decades of research and teaching, Dr. Caiden's professional life has spread across four continents, contributing greatly to the development of scholars and professional practitioners throughout the world. Their advancement of our knowledge of the public sphere worldwide and support of enhanced practices, combined with Caiden's scholarship, continue to define vital aspects of contemporary public administration and its future prospects, both locally and globally. The administrative state, which peaked in the 1950s and 1960s, gave way to neoliberalism and the new public management during the 1980s and 1990s. Already this is changing, as new ideas and visions surface on the horizon. Likewise, priorities shifted, as this volume shows. Concerns with central planning, with control, command and direction, gave way to greater emphasis on decentralization, de-bureaucratization, and human resources development but also, lately, ethics and anti-corruption strategies. Due process, rule of law, defense against arbitrariness, and protection and promotion of human and citizens' rights have also re-emerged as fields of growing concern, precisely on account of government's visible deficit in these regards. We are constantly on the move, but whether our direction will lead to the 'garrison state' or to a democratic 'facilitative state', as one contributor argues, remains a central issue, which calls for exploration and debate. In paying Gerald Caiden the tribute he so richly deserves, this festschrift, put together by scholars from around the world, traces and accounts for developments and bring us up-to-date. It is a fifty-year perspective on a field in rapid change, a rich and varied compendium, which represents a valuable addition to the literature on public administration, a necessary tool for training and research, as well as a useful companion for students and practitioners of public service globally.