Public administration, also known as public policy and administration or public management, is the implementation of public policies, which are sets of proposed or decided actions to solve problems and address relevant social and economic issues. It is closely related to public policy and political science.
This implementation generally occurs through the administration of government programs in the public sector, but also through the management of non-profit organizations in the community sector, and/or businesses in the private sector that provide goods and services to the government through public-private partnerships and government procurement.Robert and Janet Denhardt, Public Administration: An Action Orientation. 6th Ed. 2009: Thomson Wadsworth, Belmont, CA. It has also been characterized as the "translation of politics into the reality that citizens experience every day."Kettl, Donald, and James Fessler. 2009. The Politics of the Administrative Process. Washington D.C.: CQ Press
In an academic context, public administration has been described as the study of government decision-making; the analysis of policies and the inputs that have produced them, as well as those necessary to produce alternative policies.Jerome B. McKinney and Lawrence C. Howard. Public Administration: Balancing Power and Accountability. 2nd Ed. 1998: Praeger Publishing, Westport, CT. p. 62 It is also a subfield of political science taught in public policy schools where studies of policy processes and the structures, functions, and behavior of public institutions and their relationships with broader society take place. The study and application of public administration is founded on the principle that the proper functioning of an organization or institution relies on effective management. In contemporary literature, it is also recognized as applicable to private businesses and nonprofit organizations.
The mid-twentieth century saw the rise of German sociologist Max Weber's theory of bureaucracy, bringing about a substantive interest in the theoretical aspects of public administration.
Definitions
In 1947, Paul H. Appleby defined public administration as the "public leadership of public affairs directly responsible for executive action." In democracies, it usually has to do with leadership and executive action that respect and contribute to the dignity, worth, and potential of the citizen.Appleby, Paul 1947. "Toward Better Public Administration", Public Administration Review Vol. 7, No. 2 pp. 93–99. One year later, Gordon Clapp, then Chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority, defined public administration "as a public instrument whereby democratic society may be more completely realized." This implies that it must relate itself to concepts of justice, liberty, and fuller economic opportunity for human beings and is thus concerned with "people, with ideas, and with things".Clapp, Gordon. 1948. "Public Administration in an Advancing South", Public Administration Review Vol. 8. No. 2 pp. 169–75. Clapp attributed part of this definition to Charles Beard. James D. Carroll and Alfred M. Zuck called Woodrow Wilson's publication of his essay, "The Study of Administration", "the beginning of public administration as a specific and influential field of study."Carroll, J.D. & Zuck, A.M. (1983). "The Study of Public Administration Revisited". A Report of the Centennial Agendas project of the American Society for Public Administration. Washington, DC; American Society for Public Administration.
More recently, scholars claim that "public administration has no generally accepted definition" because the "scope of the subject is so great and so debatable that it is easier to explain than define." Public administration is a field of study (i.e., a discipline) and an occupation. There is much disagreement about whether the study of public administration can properly be called a discipline, largely because of the debate over whether it is a subfield of political science or of administrative science, the latter an outgrowth of its roots in policy analysis and evaluation research. Scholar Donald F. Kettl is among those who view public administration "as a sub-field within political science." According to Lalor, a society with a public authority that provides at least one public good can be said to have a public administration. In contrast, the absence of either (or a fortiori both) a public authority or the provision of at least one public good implies the absence of a public administration. He argues that public administration is the public provision of public goods, in which the demand function is satisfied more or less effectively by politics, whose primary tool is rhetoric. The supply function is more or less efficiently satisfied by public management, whose primary tools are speech acts and the production of public goods. The moral purpose of public administration, implicit in its acceptance of its role, is the maximization of the opportunities of the public to satisfy its wants.
The North American Industry Classification System definition of the Public Administration sector (NAICS 91) states that public administration "... comprises establishments primarily engaged in activities of a governmental nature, that is, the enactment and judicial interpretation of laws and their pursuant regulations, and the administration of programs based on them." This includes "legislative activities, taxation, national defense, public order and safety, immigration services, foreign affairs and international assistance, and the administration of government programs are activities that are purely governmental in nature."
History
Antiquity Dating back to antiquity, states have required officials like pages, treasurers, and tax collectors to administer the practical business of government. Before the 19th century, the staffing of most public administrations was rife with nepotism, favoritism, and political patronage, which was often referred to as a "spoils system".
Ancient India
The Harappa and Mohenjo-daro civilizations had organized bodies of public servants, suggesting the presence of some form of public administration. Numerous references exist to Brihaspati's contributions to laws and governance. An excerpt from Ain-i-Akbari [vol.III, tr. by H. S. Barrett, p. 217–218], written by Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, mentions a symposium of philosophers from various faiths held in 1578 at Akbar's instance. It is believed that some Charvaka thinkers may have participated in the symposium. In "Naastika", Fazl refers to the Charvaka law-makers, emphasizing "good work, judicious administration, and welfare schemes". Somadeva also describes the Charvaka method of defeating the nation's enemies, referring to thirteen disguised enemies in the kingdom with selfish interests who should not be spared. Kautilya presents a detailed scheme to remove the enemies in the guise of friends. The Charvaka stalwart, Brihaspati, is more ancient than Kautilya and Somadeva. He appears to have been contemporaneous with the Harappa and Mohenjo-daro cultures.
Archaeological evidence regarding kings, priests, and palaces in the Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro excavations is limited. However, the presence of complex civilization and public facilities such as granaries and bathhouses, along with the existence of large cities, indicates the likelihood of centralized governance. The uniformity of the artifacts and brick sizes suggests some form of centralized governance. Although speculation regarding social hierarchies and class structures is plausible, the absence of discernible elite burial sites also suggests that most citizens were almost equal in status.
Ancient China The field of management may have originated in ancient China,Ewan Ferlie, Laurence E. Lynn, Christopher Pollitt (2005) The Oxford Handbook of Public Management, p.30. including, possibly, the first highly centralized bureaucratic state and the earliest (by the second century BC) example of a meritocracy based on civil service tests.Kazin, Edwards, and Rothman (2010), 142. One of the oldest examples of a merit-based civil service system existed in the imperial bureaucracy of China.
In regards to public administration, China was considered to be "advanced" compared to the rest of the world up until the end of the 18th century.
Though Chinese administration cannot be traced to any one individual, figures of the Fa-Jia emphasizing a merit system, like Shen Buhai (400–337 BCE), may have had the most influence, and could be considered its founders, if they are not valuable as rare pre-modern examples of the abstract theory of administration. Creel writes that, in Shen Buhai, there are the "seeds of the civil service examination", and that, if one wishes to exaggerate, it would "no doubt be possible to translate Shen Buhai's term Shu, or technique, as 'science'", and argue that he was the first political scientist, though Creel does "not care to go this far".Creel, What Is Taoism?, 94 Creel, 1974, p.4, 119 Shen Pu-hai: A Chinese Political Philosopher of the Fourth Century B.C. Creel 1964: 155–6 Herrlee G. Creel, 1974, p.119. Shen Pu-Hai: A Secular Philosopher of Administration, Journal of Chinese Philosophy Volume 1. Paul R. Goldin, p.16, Persistent Misconceptions about Chinese Legalism. https://www.academia.edu/24999390/Persistent_Misconceptions_about_Chinese_Legalism_
Medieval to 19th-century Public administrators have long been the "eyes and ears" of rulers. In medieval times, the ability to read and write, as well as to add and subtract, was as dominated by the educated elite as public employment was. Consequently, the need for expert civil servants whose ability to read and write formed the basis for developing expertise in such necessary activities as legal record-keeping, paying and feeding armies, and levying taxes. As the European imperialist age progressed and the military powers extended their hold over other continents and people, the need for a sophisticated public administration grew.
In the 18th century, Frederick William I of Prussia established professorates in Cameralism to train a new class of public administrators. The universities of Frankfurt an der Oder and the University of Halle were Prussian institutions emphasizing economic and social disciplines, with the goal of societal reform. Johann Heinrich Gottlob Justi was a well-known professor of Cameralism.
The development of French bureaucracy, like that of the British, was influenced by the Chinese system. Voltaire claimed that the Chinese had "perfected moral science" and François Quesnay advocated an economic and political system modeled after that of the Chinese. French civil service examinations adopted in the late 19th century were also heavily based on general cultural studies. These features have been likened to the earlier Chinese model.
Thomas Taylor Meadows, the British consul in Guangzhou, argued in his Desultory Notes on the Government and People of China (1847) that "the long duration of the Chinese empire is solely and altogether owing to the good government which consists in the advancement of men of talent and merit only". Influenced by the ancient Chinese imperial examination, the Northcote–Trevelyan Report of 1854 recommended that recruitment should be based on merit determined through competitive examination, candidates should have a solid general education to enable inter-departmental transfers, and promotion should be through achievement rather than "preferment, patronage, or purchase".Full text of the Northcote-Trevelyan Report This led to implementation of Her Majesty's Civil Service as a systematic, meritocratic civil service bureaucracy.