The nature of present-day public administration theory

Résumé du document

"A state without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation". This quote from Edmond Burke can be applied not only to the state but also, to some extent, to the field of public administration. Indeed, a book such as The Public Administration Theory Primer (2003), intending to gather main theories of public administration, shows how modern theories or concepts prevent the discipline from becoming irrelevant. For instance, the so-called New Public Management or the concept of governance is first of all based on case-studies, they sometimes borrow theoretical developments from other fields and they even can be based on rhetoric. This change in methodology is blatant in H. George Frederickson's article on public administrative conjunction. The latter will be analyzing in this paper, but instead of asking if this theory is accurate or useful, we will see how it is based on empirical facts, making it a "modern" theory (I).

Extraits

[...] Recent research in the field of public administration had indeed brought values back, especially the works on ethics. In addition, many modern theories have chosen a new methodological approach, more based on common sense (e.g. New Public Management) and case-studies. We have seen that the theory of administrative conjunction have been developed on the basis of a case-study, in the Kansas City metropolitan areas. However, we should not believe that the new direction of public administration is synonymous of a total disinterest in previous theories. [...]

[...] Indeed, the author explains that administrative conjunction as such is non- hierarchical, i.e. there is no hierarchy of jurisdictions or professionals since the associations are voluntary and not coming from strict orders. Nevertheless, Frederickson believes that hierarchy is still needed to build and maintain the conjunction (709). Hierarchy is necessary within a jurisdiction because it makes it a “solid grounding”, enabling then to have some sorts of “light-weight bridges” in other words cooperation, between various jurisdictions. Even though Frederickson does not really explain the kind of hierarchy[2] he as in mind and how exactly it helps conjunction, what is important here is that an old concept of public management such as hierarchy, subject of theoretical and managerial criticism” and “usually thought to be something that needs to be scrapped and replaced with better forms of organizing” (Frederickson and Smith, 2003: remains accurate. [...]

[...] However the second part of the paper proved that the field is not renewed from scratch, instead well-established theories (hierarchy) or challenges (democratic bureaucracy) appear to be still useful and accurate. We could conclude then that a book such as The Public Administration Theory Primer is essential to the comprehension of public administration as a whole since it gathers both classical and contemporary theories, which are, as we have seen, interconnected. Bibliography Frederickson, H. G. (1999), repositioning of American public administration”, PS: Political Science and Politics, 701-711. Frederickson, H. G. and Smith, K. (2003). [...]

[...] Frederickson starts his argument by listing four new features seen in the world of public management affecting public administration's basic ideas: 1. The existence of a “declining relationship between jurisdictions and public management” (702). As further explained by Thurmaier and Wood (2002), “public policies addressing complex issues require transjuridictional solutions” 2. The disarticulation of the state, i.e. the decreased capacity of the state to face certain intricate issues (international crime can be an example, being a transnational phenomenon that is not controllable by the state); 3. [...]

[...] Available at: http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=int erlocal_coop Thurmaier, K. and Wood, C. (2002) “Interlocal Agreements as Overlapping Social Networks: Picket-fence regionalism in Metropolitan Kansas Public Administration Review, 585-598. Wood, C. (2003) Metropolitan Governance in the Kansas City Region, Paper presented at the annual Association for Budgetary and Financial Management (ABFM) conference held in Washington D.C. September 10- Available at: http://www.fsu.edu/~localgov/readings_papers/regional%20governance/Wood_Metr o_Governance_in_KC.pdf?p3216634 Namely Basel, Bern, Geneva, and Lausanne In the chapter 4 of The Public Administration Theory Primer, page 78, Frederickson and Smith list different categories of hierarchies. [...]