Good Administration and Performance of Local Public Administration

Abstract

At first glance, defining good administration seems easy to be done, but it is not always like that. As a quite new concept, promoted by the supporters of the new public management, good administration is a fundamental right of the European Union and, at the same time, a principle established by the European Court of Justice or a concept used in the administrative sciences. To characterize the way an administration works, good administration is an indicator of performance in public administration. For this reason, as a concept, it was developed by the doctrine. As a concept, good administration is a model of administration. As a principle, good administration outlines the boundaries inside which the public administration activity should take place, by establishing, on the one hand, a set of ethical rules of behaviour, and on the other hand, standards to be taken into account by the public administration activity. Thus, the public administration activity should be developed efficiently, effectively and economically. This article aims to analyse all the three aspects, which the good administration is found in - concept, principle, and right. In analysing the good administration, we shall use the experience of the European countries - Sweden, Great Britain, and other countries in the European Community. At the end, we shall present the results from a study developed in the Brasov City about the way the citizens of Brasov perceive the proper administration of their community.