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Lecture 1 Introduction Public

Administration
drs Chris Palm
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What is Public Administration? (1)
PA is the scientific study concerning public admini-
stration but it doesnt cover the governance concept
for its broad perspective, concerning not only
government.

It also concerns the network of (a) government + (b)
semi- and non-governmental organizations + (c) off-
shore governance located in powerful international
and regional organizations. See: Bonaire.

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What is PA (2)?
Also PA is not the legal and political study, but also a
the multidisciplinary study from different disciplines
such as:

social sciences, law, politics, economy, philosophy
(ethics);
organization and administrative studies (like
financial studies, human resource studies, ICT and
policy studies)
This makes PA also multi-functional
What is PA (3)?
So PA is being transformed in a Public Management
(PM) or Public Governance (PG) study that doesnt
stop anymore at its legal and administration study.

PM is multi- and inter-disciplined, but goes also
further than only government and is network
governance oriented.

So we see here a confusion of thoughts. Please
explain this.
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How does PM work? (1)
PM investigates public affairs in governmental,
semi- and non-governmental organizations, regional
and international organizations

It provides know-how to come to PM-products (like
recommendations or implementation of public
services)

It also provides training in public management

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How does PA works? (2)
PM produces two sort of broad knowledge fields:

empirical knowledge (to analyze and explain facts in
the public domain)
normative knowledge (to judge governmental reality)

These knowledge fields can be used in two ways:

1. Descriptive knowledge (= describing the field)
2. Prescriptive knowledge ( = prescribing for
interventions or optimalization)



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What is public governance? (1)
the institutional level
Nowadays public governance is considered gover-
nance of different governmental and non-
governmental levels:
Regional and international organizations
National government
Local government
Non-governmental organizations
The private sector and local civil society
For instance: child right issues

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What is public governance? (2)
the process
Governance (= steering and coordination) of the
before mentioned complex of organizations and
society

Managing of information, decision making, imple-
mentation, execution and monitoring or supervision

Design and execution of the different steps in the
policy process (like the policy design and
implementation)
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Crucial Applications PA & PM
Agenda setting (the decision to take action)
Policy making (e.g. project plan)
Decision making (e.g. in a Island Council)
Policy analysis (evaluation/monitoring)
Governance or coordination styles
Legislation
Budgeting
National human resource development
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Quality Public Governance (1)
6 crucial areas of PG that reflect quality criteria
but are also conflict areas:
Democracy (like transparency)
Effectiveness (suitable solutions)
Efficiency (economic solutions)
Integrity (fairness) (essential for Trust)
Legitimacy (the lawfulness of decisions)
Mediation capacity between conflicting groups
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Quality Public Governance (2)
Which of these 6 quality areas do you consider
from your point of view problematic in the local
government?

And which one do you consider problematic in the
PM of the islands in the Dutch kingdom?
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Negative factors that determine the
governance quality
Financial and human resources
International and regional forces
Internal and external actors
Political win-loose games
Lack of time
Lack of information or abundant or confusing
information (like in the war against terror)
Diversity of visions and interests

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Historical developments PA (1)
In 19
th
century we had mostly constitutional affairs
and a focus on moral and legal issues
In the 20
th
century, especially after World War II we
see influences of:

- new disciples like economy, social sciences,
and human and financial management;
- the development of more efficiency and more
democratization (like more direct or bottom-
up democracy)
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Historical developments PA (2)
1. Corruption leads to scientific management, 1911
2. Max Weber (1920) introduces the bureaucratic
organization against corruption
3. The bounded or limited rationality of Herbert Simon
(1950) and around 1960 the development of
democratic policy sciences (Lasswell)
4. In the 90s reinventing government as a super
efficient and effective exercise (privatization)
5. In 2000 participatory and direct democracy
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Possible examination subjects (1)
1. Please explain the shift from public administration
towards public governance. What are the
differences and causes of this shift?

2. The study of public administration stands today for
a multidisciplinary study. Of which disciplines does
it consist and what are the advantages of this
combination?
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Possible examination subjects (2)
3. Please mention the 6 crucial areas of public
governance that reflect quality criteria and also
these conflict areas.

4. There are also negative factors that determine
governance quality. Can you explain this?

5. Please mark 5 mayor steps in the historical
development of public administration and their
corresponding dates