Teaching international comparative public management through a development lens

2022 ◽  
pp. 014473942110428
Author(s):  
Jeffrey D Straussman ◽  
David E Guinn

The article tackles the question, how to provide students with a comparative orientation to public administration. We eschew the older tradition of comparing major systems such British parliamentary system or French bureaucratic approaches to organizations’ structure. Rather, we seek to understand public administration in countries with different cultures, histories, and political regimes by focusing on international development. Our students are drawn from the Master of Public Administration degree program and the Master of International Affairs degree program. What unites them is an interest in international affairs and the desire to work internationally; international students take what they learn and apply it in their home countries. We ground the course on a model of international development with a strong focus on development in governance. We spend the first third of the class creating a development lens for understanding global practices in public management in which they use what they learned in the first part of the course to analyze a range of public management issues within governmental institutions and/or in working in the nongovernmental organizations and intergovernmental organization sectors. We use detailed case studies drawn from several case data banks to apply some of the core concepts of public administration such as leadership, stakeholder analysis, complexity, and implementation to development challenges such as fiscal issues, poverty alleviation, interorganizational collaboration, and human rights. We do this with a range of in-class exercises and assignments that students do out of class. One goal we have is to provide students with knowledge and skills to enhance their ability to work internationally since many have gone on to work for donor and various implementing organizations in international development. We believe that this is a reasonable measure of success of the approach we have taken to comparative public administration.

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quinton Mayne ◽  
Jorrit De Jong ◽  
Fernando Fernandez-Monge

Abstract Governments around the world are increasingly recognizing the power of problem-oriented governance as a way to address complex public problems. As an approach to policy design and implementation, problem-oriented governance radically emphasizes the need for organizations to continuously learn and adapt. Scholars of public management, public administration, policy studies, international development, and political science have made important contributions to this problem-orientation turn; however, little systematic attention has been paid to the question of the state capabilities that underpin problem-oriented governance. In this article, we address this gap in the literature. We argue that three core capabilities are structurally conducive to problem-oriented governance: a reflective-improvement capability, a collaborative capability, and a data-analytic capability. The article presents a conceptual framework for understanding each of these capabilities, including their chief constituent elements. It ends with a discussion of how the framework can advance empirical research as well as public-sector reform.


2011 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-66
Author(s):  
Alfonsas Laurinavičius

The article is prepared according to the same name author’s monographic work. Under economic globalization and economic conditions, there are completely new scientific study subjects – public and private interests as well as their interaction and competition. The article reflects the new social phenomenon: to innovatively develop and reform the twenty-first century Public Administration (statutory) bodies. The author reveals the democratic legitimation of market mechanisms and the interoperability issues, creating preconditions for meaningful implementation of the new public administration and public management. The subject matter is wide and presents a study of a more limited objective – to define the managerial (social) public interest, its implementation measures, and recent trends.


Author(s):  
Anna Valeriivna Terentieva

The author has analyzed the problem aspects of public administration of educational change in modern Ukraine. Special frameworks of public administration of educational change in an information society have been determined. The author has analyzed the categories of the implementation process of educational change. The author has explored the key features of external environment of such activity, formed by regulatory acts for settling relations in a particular area. The author has highlighted a set of contradictions of public management of educational change and recommendations for state agencies regarding the organization of an effective process of implementation of educational change as a social and political process with an emphasis on peculiar properties of the educational change. It is determined that the updated legal and regulatory framework of the educational sector, at the same time, extends the scope of professional freedom of teaching and, hence, sets high requirements for the professionalism of teachers. The change in the focus of educational activity by innovations is declared in terms of practice, interactivity and functionality. The teacher will now create educational and training programs tailored to the needs of students and local communities, will create an open learning environment, taking into account the potential of the school and involving the partners in the educational process. However, it has been proved that the methods of active and problem-searching approach defined in the updated normative provision of education in Ukraine require appropriate conditions for the educational process. An active student becomes an active citizen; school, school environment and class become a micro-society. Like the society itself, the school environment is not devoid of conflicts or problem situations. It is in these conditions that students have the opportunity to learn to consciously identify their own interests and gain experience in civic activity.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 13-25
Author(s):  
E.V. Burdina ◽  
◽  
N.A. Petukhov ◽  

The digital transformation of the judiciary actualizes scientific problems of a managerial nature related to the search for more effective organizational forms of judicial activity in modern conditions. The purpose of the study is to justify the scientific concept of the organization of judicial activity, the content of which would make it possible to improve the processes of intrasystem management of the activities of the courts to achieve the goals of the formation of the information society and digital economy. The worldview and methodological basis were the work of scientists and the methods used by them in the analysis of the general theory of public management and public administration. The modern scientifically grounded concept of the organization of judicial activity is a system of guiding ideas that define, for a clearly defined perspective, the tasks, principles, directions and organizational and legal forms of public administration in the judicial sphere to achieve national goals. The content of this concept is an intra-system organizational and management activity, considered in two aspects: functional (goals, objectives, principles, directions, forms and means) and institutional (legal statuses, structure of the judicial organization, judicial self-government bodies, public service). It is argued that the intrasystem judicial management reveals the content of the analyzed concept. The authors, analyzing the terms «judicial management» and «judicial administration», consider them close, but not identical, the criterion for distinguishing them is the professionalization of subjects of organizational and managerial activity. The work defines the strategic goals of the judicial management, its main directions. The conclusion is substantiated that a new type of judicial organization will reflect its technological effectiveness and will result from the modification of its model: from the organization of judges and judicial personnel to the model of a unified organization of judges, court administrations and information systems. This organizational regularity will need to be taken into account in judicial reform plans.


Author(s):  
Stanisław Mazur

In the early 1990s, the Central and Eastern European countries (CEE countries) saw the collapse of communist regimes and an unprecedented political and economic transformation that resulted in the establishment of democratic, law-governed states and market economies. Administrative reforms, which became an important milestone in this transformation, were considerably influenced both by administrative legacies predominant in the countries and by the Europeanization processes associated with their accession to the European Union. The administrative legacies, which combine elements of various traditions (e.g., German, Napoleonic, and Anglo-American) are still strongly affected by what is left of the communist era. Conversely, the impact of Europeanization processes on public administrations in CEE countries has proved to be much weaker than initially expected. The process of building a professional and apolitical civil service in CEE countries has been plagued by discontinuity and inconsistency, owing to the specific administrative culture of the region, the weakening pressure to modernize EU institutions, and the consequences of the 2008 financial crisis, as well as growing populist tendencies in the region. All these factors encouraged the belief that political control over public administration needs to be tightened in order for the effectiveness and quality of governance mechanisms to be improved. The quality of governance and public management varies widely across the CEE countries. What they have in common—at least to some extent—is the fairly high dynamics of change, including the reversal of the effects of previously implemented reforms. The latter factor may be interpreted as a search for country-specific reform paths, partly due to disappointment with the values and models prevailing in Western Europe, and somewhat as a consequence of growing populist tendencies in the region.


Author(s):  
Andriy Stoyka ◽  

The article discusses the features of the introduction and use of modern information technologies in the management activities of state institutions. The role of the state in the regulation of information activities in the context of reforming the territorial organization of power has been clarified. The content and scope of the concept of "public management of information flows" has been determined, as well as the main tasks of ensuring information activities of public authorities. The classification of national interests in the information sphere according to their subjects has been carried out. The concept of information support in various scientific sources covering its purpose has been determined. Provided, the classification of management information according to certain categories. Tasks are proposed to overcome the negative influence of factors and ensure the effective work of state authorities of Ukraine in the field of information activities. Mechanisms for regulating the use of information potential in order to ensure the effective functioning of information policy in the field of public administration are given.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 2451-2464
Author(s):  
Bahati Keranga ◽  
Martin Ogutu ◽  
Zachary Awino ◽  
Winnie Njeru

In keeping with the New Public Management dispensation, state corporations in Kenya have taken up strategic planning with a view to effect reforms for improved service delivery. New Public Management particularly advances a customer-centric approach to public administration for improved service delivery, with the public, who are the recipients of public service, as key stakeholders in public administration. Despite this, service delivery in the Agribusiness sub-sector in the country is riddled with inadequacies highlighted by among other complaints, unpaid produce supplies, dwindling finances, slumped agricultural extension services and low produce prices. Against this backdrop, the study set out to establish the effect of strategic planning on service delivery and assess how stakeholder involvement influences the relationship between strategic planning and service delivery among agribusiness state corporations in Kenya. Grounded on the New Public Management and Stakeholder theories, the study adopted the positivism paradigm and the descriptive cross-sectional research design. Targeting 73 state corporations pertinent to agribusiness in the country, primary data was collected by use of a structured questionnaire with institutional heads as the units of observation. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were then employed in data analysis. It was established that strategic planning has a significant positive influence on service delivery. Stakeholder involvement was however found to not have a significant moderating effect on the relationship between strategic planning and service delivery. This was attributed to the technocratic approach in the formulation of the strategic plans among state corporations and the numerically limited nature of most stakeholders in state corporations represented in the boards of directors. Following a significant direct effect of stakeholder involvement on service delivery among Agribusiness state corporations in the country, state corporations are implored to involve stakeholders in strategic planning and observe meaningful participation, communication and dispute resolution in the engagement.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14(63) (1) ◽  
pp. 71-84
Author(s):  
Maria Popescu ◽  
Lidia Mândru

"The paper addresses to the Public Administration (PA) from the management perspective. The first part of the study defines the conceptual framework of the two management doctrines, generically called the New Public Management and New Public Government. The second part of the paper reviews the transformation movement in PA management and governance in Romania in the last two decades. The methodology of the study consists in the analysis of the recent theoretic studies on PA modern approach, and official documents, national and European reports, and other publications related to the PA reform in Romania. "


2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 263-285
Author(s):  
Claudia Petrescu ◽  
Flavis Mihalache

Public services represent an important dimension of quality of society, as they create the contextual conditions for people to further their quality of life. Romanian public administration reform has brought about a constant institutional transformation, which has influenced both the specific features and the quality of the services. This article aims to analyse trends regarding the perceived quality of public services in Romania, in European comparative perspective, using the data of the European Quality of Life Survey (2003–2016). The article aims to understand the low satisfaction with public services in Romania against the background of the public service reform measures taken by government in this period. The article describes the context of Romanian public administration and public service reform, the most important public policy measures adopted and the most important challenges. The lack of vision in the public service reform, the partial introduction of reform elements, the permanent and, sometimes, conflicting changes are issues that may have influenced the way in which the population perceives the quality of public services. The decentralisation process of public services and the insufficient allocation of public funds for delivering such services at local level might have an impact on their quality and quantity perceived by the population. Keywords: public services; public administration reform; citizens’ satisfaction; New Public Management; New Weberianism.


Author(s):  
Alasdair Roberts

With the fields of public administration and public management suffering a crisis of relevance, this book offers a provocative assessment of their shortfalls. The two fields, it finds, no longer address urgent questions of governance in a turbulent and dangerous world. The book offers a new path forward for research, teaching, and practice. Leaders of states are constantly reinventing strategies for governing. Experts in public administration must give advice on the design as well as execution of strategies that is effective, robust, and principled. The book challenges us to reinvigorate public administration and public management, preparing the fields for the challenges of the twenty-first century.


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