Nature Of Public Administration Research Articles

A szabadságért való küzdelem egyik lehetséges előzményéről: forradalmak a közigazgatás szolgálatában : Bibó István és Polányi Mihály kritikus szemléletéről

Modern public administration was formed in the crossfire of revolutions. István Bibó and Mihály Polányi interpreted the modern-day revolutions and their consequences starting from original problem statements, which had a decisive influence on the thinking about the nature of public administration and the development of public administration models that had an impact on entire generations. How can the ethos of the revolution be kept under the yoke of public administration? How can the interaction between the revolution and public administration be described? The analysis of the revolutionary theoretical writings of István Bibó and Mihály Polányi seeks answers to these questions.

How to approach state capture in post-communist Europe. A new research agenda

ABSTRACT Recent empirical evidence from post-communist Southeast Europe suggests that state capture is no longer limited to opportunities for rent extraction and the economic gain of businesspersons, oligarchs, tycoons, and individual politicians. Rather, it offers political parties a potent means of survival, allowing them to win the next elections and maintain political office. In this article, I look into what kind of research these developments, which have been seen across Southeast Europe, demand. I revisit the three issues that have remained understudied from the perspective of party state capture since the publication of initial research on the topic by O’Dwyer and Grzymała-Busse in the mid-2000s. These are the organization of political parties, the nature of public administration, and the measurement of state capture. I claim that party patronage has become the regional political parties’ main activity, with parties being transformed into a pool for the recruitment of future party-loyal public officials tasked to extract public funds. As a consequence, the public administration sees a radical re-politicization, the elimination of professional standards, and the large-scale abuse of public funds. These changes enable a more objective measurement of the cost of state capture.

The practitioners guide to a digital index: Unearthing design-principles of an abstract artefact

Based on the perspective of e-government practitioners at a government agency in Sweden, this article analyses the design-process with the aim of unearthing the design-principles of a Digital Index (DI). The DI is developed to address challenges of how to: understand; appraise; learn from and develop e-government – by combining digital technologies with the context of public administration. This study applies a design-science research method and analyses the initial steps of the design-process: awareness of the problem, suggestion, and development. The results show how the abstract artefact – the DI – is constructed and how it is based on three main design-principles. Firstly e-government should be contextualised with the nature of public administration – which means relating digital technologies vis-a-vis core-businesses of a public authority. Secondly: digital technologies support administrative processes and must be premised on the classification of information and law. Thirdly, apply a process view of e-government that highlights the relationship between internal administrative procedures, the interaction with citizens/companies and the sharing of government data. The discussion highlights how the DI is relevant for research on e-government by offering some concrete as well as general perspectives on how to combine e-government and public administration.

E-GOVERNMENT: FROM SERVICE TECHNOLOGIES TO A NEW MANAGEMENT PARADIGM

The article analyzes conceptual approaches to the development of e-government. The factors that contribute to its successful development are identified. Two examples (Estonia and Germany) show the influence of a different combination of these factors. The successful development of e-government requires a combination of a number of various factors, including characteristics of political institutions, political actors, and political culture. The development of e-government entails changes in these aspects of political life and, more broadly, changes in the nature of public administration and participation. In turn, the specifics and pace of these changes also depend on the unique combination of factors. The authors show that significant economic resources and strategic planning at the state level are not sufficient explanatory factors for the successful development of e-government. Important circumstances may include the relatively small size of the state, the perspective vision of political actors, the coincidence of the interests of public and private structures, readiness to reform the management system, the creation of conditions for institutional cooperation, and coordination of interested actors. The authors conclude that prospects for further research in the field of e-government development are related to the study of unique national sets of factors that explain features of e-government models and their evolution.

Организационно-правовые аспекты применения цифровых технологий в противодействии коррупции: зарубежный опыт правоприменительной практики

В статье рассматриваются опыт зарубежных стран в сфере применения цифровых технологий в противодействии коррупции. Определено, что в ряде иностранных государств наряду с уже апробированными технологиями (электронное правительство, информационные и краудсорсинговые платформы) активно внедряются современные информационные технологии такие как: технологии обработки больших объемов данных (Big Data), распределенной книги (DLT), блокчейн, интеллектуального анализа данных (Data Mining), интеллектуального анализа в сфере противодействия коррупции при проведении государственных закупок, аналитические инструменты для аудиторов (Forensic Tools), электронные системы верификации деклараций о доходах, расходах, активах и интересах государственных служащих, электронные технологии противодействия коррупции при осуществлении электорального процесса и др.
 Определено, что преимущества цифровизации могут осуществляться только при наличии соответствующих инфраструктур, положений, финансовых ресурсов и персонала, подготовленного по вопросам ИКТ.
 Обосновано, что процессы цифровизации правоохранительной деятельности способствуют повышению эффективности проводимой антикоррупционной политики, обеспечивают ее эффективность, объективность, позволяют снижению расходов на поддержание правопорядка, минимизируют влияние человеческого фактора в указанной сфере.
 Отмечено, что технологии, основанные на нейронных сетях и децентрализованных, синхронизированных базах данных фундаментально изменят характер государственного управления и способны значительно снизить риски коррупционных правонарушений в будущем

Publicness: The Basis of Constructing a Public Administration Discipline in China

The legitimacy crisis of public administration has a long history. From a historical perspective, an analysis of five Western pathways in the discipline of public administration shows that the roots of this crisis lie in the lack of a public nature. From a theoretical perspective, the “publicness” of public administration should be defined along the dimensions of public administration powers, actors, targets, methods and values. In terms of practice, the uniqueness of China’s public power framework, the influence of traditional political culture on the public nature of Chinese public administration and the provisions governing this public nature at different stages of China’s development constitute the unique public nature of the construction of Chinese public administration. The discipline construction of Chinese public administration should be rebuilt so that its public nature forms the basis of its legitimacy, in accord with historical logic, theoretical logic and practical logic. We should construct a publicness discourse system of Chinese public administration that adheres to the value guidance of publicness and should frame research topics on the basis of publicness. This will ultimately form a research paradigm for the public nature of public administration that will consolidate the foundation of the legitimacy of the discipline construction of public administration.

RIGHT TO EDUCATION AS A FACTOR OF EDUCATION PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICE

The relevance of the issue under study is stipulated by the importance of compliance of the education public administration with the right to education in modern conditions. purpose of the article is to elucidate the right to education as a phenomenon that determines the direction and limits of public administration in the educational sphere. A leading research approach is the systematic analysis of the right to education as a factor in the content and nature of public administration in the educational field. The empirical basis of the study is the European Court of Human Rights practice in the field of the right to education. The article identifies and describes six provisions that characterize the right to education and determine the direction and limits of public administration of education: the obligation of the state to guarantee access to education institutions for persons under the jurisdiction of the state; the state has the discretion to determine the content of education and spread certain philosophical and world outlook ideas through the education. the state is obliged to provide free of charge elementary and general education; the obligation of the state is to ensure equal access of persons to education; the obligation of the state is to develop the school system; to establish the optimal system of scholarships; recognition of a certain degree of autonomy to educational institutions. The material in this article may be useful for scholars exploring the right to education and public administration of education. The main provisions of the study can be used to improve public administration of education, monitor the quality of education, and improve educational legislation.

Internal Audit as a Tool to Improve the Efficiency of Public Service

Purpose: Efficiency and performance measurements in the public sector represent a problematic area considering the nature of public administration’s activities. The authors attempt to define the efficiency metrics for internal audit as exemplified by one of the European Union countries and its contribution in improving the performance of public entities and the efficiency of public spending. Design/Methodology/Approach: A mixed methodology combining the results of qualitative and quantitative research is used to empirically verify the hypotheses related to the research problem presented. Qualitative research is based on descriptive analysis, and the quantitative research will include the method of statistical information systemization, based on statistical source data analysis. Findings: Empirical research confirmed a positive impact of internal audit efficiency metrics on the completion of public service tasks at an operational level while no impact was recorded on the scale of completion for the areas at the strategic level of the Council of Ministers. Practical Implications: Managers in the public skateboard should decide to increase the performance budget and decide to link it to an internal audit. Originality/value: Internal audit should be more focused on examining the effectiveness of public administration and, to a lesser extent, only hardening the assessment of the decision-making process.

The Evolution of Chinese Administrative Studies: Where Is the Field of Chinese Administrative Science Headed?

Is Public Administration (PA) as a field of study a basic science? If not, could PA generally and Chinese PA (CPA) in particular become a basic science or a design science? To address these questions, this essay reviews pertinent literature to underscore the major problems, basic deficiencies, and critical issues of CPA, and then reviews ongoing CPA research to shed light on its future development. Our review shows that PA lacks an intellectual core that defines the nature of public administration as a professional practice, and in turn, the nature of PA as an academic discipline. Further, while CPA bears the same deficiencies, it also suffers from three maladies, namely, reductionism, traditionalism, and conservatism, which together reinforce mediocrity. In view of all these issues and problems, where CPA is headed? Our literature review reports some ongoing research breakthroughs in CPA, including ontological confirmation of public administration nature and identification of necessary conditions for effective administrative results, which form a basis to suggest that CPA may become a basic science and design science.

Considering (New Public) Civil Servants: Emerging Roles and Contexts

Public organizations In the 21 st century, are increasingly complex in terms of multiple institutional rules, norms, and practices. This complexity constitutes a difficult challenge for civil servants to find and determine appropriate identities, roles and relationships in their everyday work. For this special issue we made a call for scholars to contribute new addressing the roles of civil servants within increasingly complex public sector organizations, focusing on a couple of interrelated research questions: What is the nature of public administration taking into consideration increasing institutional complexity in terms of persistent bureaucratic traditions, new public management solutions, participatory ideals, activist sentiments among officials and so forth? What are the consequences of this institutional complexity for the possibility of preserving a coherent, rule-governed public administration and what does public mean today in public administration? What types of roles are civil servants playing in relation to different institutional rules and norms and various categories of actor (politicians, citizens, organizations) and how do they handle frictions and conflicts? What type of conceptions of civil servants’ roles are developing, including public service ethics? What alternative and contesting role-conceptions and ethics are prevalent and supported? This introduction should be understood as being both a summary of the current state of research in relation to civil service – its predicaments and challenges – as well as being a suggestion for future attention among scholars and practitioners. We have thus written this introduction not only with the purpose of summarizing the main components inherent in the six articles that are included in this special issue but with the hope of also spurring discussions concerning what civil service has been, currently seems to be and might become in the future.

Public Administration as a Dynamic Balance and Integrative Science Across Politics, Management, and Law: Rosenbloom’s Framework and Chinese Experiences

An identity crisis has plagued public administration for over a century. The core of the crisis is how to address the relationship between public administration and the three major related disciplines—political science, management, and law; especially the first two—and whether public administration is an independent scientific subject. By studying the discipline identity problem of public administration using the three-perspective framework of politics, management, and law developed by Rosenbloom, this article argues that the developmental history of Chinese public administration is also a history of the relationship between public administration and the three major related disciplines. Furthermore, after comparing United States and Chinese public administration, the article suggests that we can define public administration as a dynamic balance and integrative science across the three major related disciplines by placing greater emphasis on administration, public management, and the laws and rules of administration and public management. This new definition suggests that seeking dynamic balance and synthesis is the nature of public administration, differentiates public administration from other disciplines, and stresses its status as an independent discipline. Thus, we do not need to be frightened of this feature of public administration or reframe it but must instead admit that this unique feature represents a specific advantage of public administration. Furthermore, this view provides a new way to dismiss the nightmare-like identity crisis faced by public administration.

Positivism, Evolutionism, and Public Administration: The Work of Valentín Letelier (1886–1917)

This article analyzes the administrative theory developed by Valentín Letelier (1852–1919), a prominent lawyer, intellectual, and public figure of the second half of nineteenth-century Chile. The focus is on how a Latin American public administration scholar moved from positivism to evolutionism, and answers key questions about the nature of public administration, such as what is characteristic of government bureaucracy and how it may differ from politics; how bureaucratic administration relates to the environment, and how this issue should be considered when developing institutional designs; and what the origin of public administration is, or, in other words, how it arises and develops.

E-learning as a backbone for e-government in Czech Republic in 2015

The paper introduces e-learning support for the e-government implementation in public administration services in the Czech Republic in 2015. There are many contemporary approaches in studying public administration courses in Czech universities. One of them, and maybe the most successful, is e-learning in the form of learning management system. E-learning enables students and employees to study online courses with many advantages. The nature of public administration (e-government) naturally calls for an online form of study. First, the paper describes the e-government state in 2015, and Czech Point platform and the requirements, which a modern learning platform should fulfil to satisfy potential users of e-government services. Second, the paper outlines the advantages and the downsides of e-learning. Last, it suggests a vision, the advantages and a solution for a successful education portal for serving public administration employees, students and citizens.

Reflections on the Science of Public Administration

This paper is an exercise in reflection on public administration as a social science from three different approaches: epistemology, theory and research. There are many “ups and downs” that public administration has has to undergo and confront while building a structure of systematic knowledge and turning into a full-fledged science. In the same way, it is based on present-day epistemological reasoning regarding this field of knowledge, which highlights the nature of public administration and the importance of approaching it as an important theoretical problem.

Public Administration and Interdependence

In this article, we begin by reviewing the literature regarding the interaction between national bureaucratic systems and international actors and institutions. In particular, we find Keohane and Nye's notion of “complex interdependence” to be useful in understanding the emerging interactions and multifaceted nature of public administration. This is demonstrated by a case study of the successful partnership between Fiat and Chrysler, in which several public bureaucracies were essential. We conclude with our observations about public administration in an increasingly interdependent and globalizing world and offer an agenda for future research in the field.

Faculty-Librarian Collaboration: Meeting the Information Technology Challenges of Distance Education

Information technology and distance learning are growing dramatically in the new millennium. Given the multidisciplinary nature of public administration and the constant growth of electronic information, the value of forming faculty-librarian partnerships is amplified for distance education courses in public affairs. This article describes just such a partnership between a faculty member and a librarian in developing course-specific library research tutorials for online courses. It begins by identifying and summarizing a variety of online resources that are useful for public administration research and provides a general description of how librarians can provide support. This is followed by a discussion of the collaborative effort, including the decision points, the content of the modules, and the mechanics of online collaboration. To offer a complete picture of the collaboration process, the article concludes with the perceptions of a graduate student who completed the program, survey data from students taking the courses with the library tutorials, and the lessons learned from this experience at the University of Central Florida.

Drowning by numbers: standard setting in risk regulation and the pursuit of accountable public administration

Recently, there have been a number of government proposals and reforms seeking to ensure that standard setting in risk regulation is carried out in a more accountable and transparent manner. These proposals were a direct and indirect response to distrust in government both in relation to risk regulation and across government more widely. The problem, however, is that few of these proposals and reforms have been grounded in an understanding of the nature of standard setting in risk regulation. Such standard setting has three significant features. It is directly concerned with normative issues about risk acceptability, is carried out in cir cumstances of scientific uncertainty, and requires some form of expert judgment. Rather, these proposals were based on a presumption that standard setting is primarily an analytical process which is verifiable and objective. There are a number of likely consequences of the disjunction between the nature of standard setting and these developments which include problems of ossification, the submersion of normative debate, and a fundamental shift in the nature of public administration. These

Administrative and Management Cultures in the Australian Public Service

This paper examines the management culture of the Australian Public Service (APS). I show that the APS has historically exhibited what Keeling calls an ‘administrative’ culture, or one that is procedural rather than result-oriented. The source of this culture lies in the distinctive requirements of public management which stem from the non-market environment, the political nature of public administration and consequent requirements for accountability, equity, consistency, legality and co-ordination. The paper also seeks to shed some light on the broader question of whether it is possible to replace the administrative culture of the public sector with a management one. This paper will show that, after a decade of reform, the culture of the APS as of 1992 remained predominantly procedural. I conclude that the administrative culture of the APS is unlikely to be replaced by a management one.

Understanding the Local Government Review: A Retrospective Analysis

Reorganizations have provided fertile ground for researchers and practitioners seeking to draw lessons about the nature of public administration. The review leading to the reorganization of British local government in 1991‐96 sustains the tradition. In an extraordinary unfolding of events key features of the policy and political system are laid bare. This article provides a background analysis of the review, examines the main turning points in the process, assesses the performance of key players and concludes with a judgement about the sustainability of the settlement that ultimately emerged. A number of lessons are drawn about the nature of the British political system as revealed through the impact of the challenge of a large‐scale structural review of local government.

The Changing Nature of Public Administration in Australia

This article overviews the changing nature of public administration in Australia in the 1980s. It gives details of the reforms introduced or planned and then explores the efforts of public sector managers.