Public Administration in America

737 Pages·2010·4.02 MB·English

by  Michael E. Milakovich

Public
Administration
in America
T E
ENTH DITION
This page intentionally left blank
Public
Administration
in America
T E
ENTH DITION
Michael E. Milakovich
University of Miami, Florida
George J. Gordon
Illinois State University
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Printed in the United States of America
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 12 11 10 09 08
To
Cindy, Nicole, Tiffany, Beth,
and
Eli Milakovich
—M.E.M.
To the memory of
my parents,
Theodore H. Gordon
and
Beryl B. Gordon;
Roscoe C. Martin
and
Hibbert R. Roberts;
and
to Myra, Dan,
and Rachel
—G.J.G.
Preface
The close of the George W. Bush presidency and the election of Barack Obama
and Joe Biden as our 44th president and vice president marked a significant
transition in recent U.S. history. The period 2001–2008 saw changes in the col-
lective life of the United States that in many respects were unprecedented—and
largely unanticipated by most of us. When Bush assumed office in January of
2001, the twin towers of the World Trade Center still stood, and few thought
about that fact—or paid much attention to a foreign organization known as “al
Qaeda.” There were no federal g overnment agencies known as the Department
of Homeland Security, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, or the
Transportation Security Administration (and no long lines at airport s ecurity).
The price of gasoline was roughly one-half of the levels reached during 2008.
The phrase “faith-based initiatives” was hardly heard. The national debt—
always a matter of some concern—stood at $5 billion (it has since doubled to
$10 billion!). The powers of the federal executive branch—while larger than in
the past—had not yet expanded to their present scope. And the responsibilities
of federal, state, and local a dministrators had not yet begun to grow at what has
become the most rapid pace since the New Deal era of Franklin Roosevelt in
the 1930s and 1940s. All these events have set the stage for new c hallenges—and
perhaps new opportunities—for our governments generally, and for the new
Obama administration in particular.
When the first edition of this book was published a generation ago, the
role of government and public administration in America was even then rap-
idly changing in response to complex and often uncertain national and global
political environments. Then as now, the United States faced difficult domestic
and international challenges and relied on its appointed and elected officials,
especially chief executives, for leadership. We have been led by six different
presidents, three Democrats and three Republicans, each with vastly different
challenges, ideologies and visions of the nation’s current and future needs, each
with sharply divergent policy priorities. President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat,
who ran on a platform of making government smaller, was enmeshed in Middle
East conflicts and tried unsuccessfully to use military force to free American
citizens who were being held hostage in Iran. After a failed military rescue
vi
Preface vii
mission in 1980, Carter lost the White House to Ronald Reagan, a Republican,
who negotiated freedom for the hostages and later received credit for ending
the Cold War with the Soviet Union. The liberation of the hostages, how-
ever, was tainted during President Reagan’s second term by the infamous Iran–
Contra scandal in 1987, connecting officials of the Reagan Administration to
illegal arms shipments to anti-Communist contra rebels in El Salvador, and
using profits from these illegal activities to bribe Iranian officials to release the
hostages (detailed in Chapter 6). The Soviet Union collapsed soon after the
fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the United States entered a new phase of
nuclear disarmament and (seeming) peaceful coexistence with Russia.
The federal government became more actively involved in enforcing civil
rights and voting rights laws in southern U.S. states, where there was considerable
resistance to federally mandated changes in prevailing cultural and social values
(or, at least, behavior). Bolstered by Supreme Court rulings, Congress approved
increased appropriations to accomplish these policy goals, as well as many others.
Concurrently, presidential powers expanded with the need to respond to natural
disasters, cope with economic downturns, reduce federal deficit spending, and
respond to military crises. Congressional cooperation with chief executives var-
ied, and their policy initiatives were promoted or resisted by the mass media,
organized lobbies, or various public interest groups; the image and prestige of
individual chief executives such as Carter, Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill
Clinton, and George W. Bush were damaged or enhanced by how well policies
were implemented or crises averted. Then as now, presidential decision-making
procedures and the advisory roles played by high-level appointed officials in the
new Obama administration are vital to success or failure of public policies.
The theme that ties all these actions, events, and policies together is
the need to anticipate and effectively respond to change, with clear lines of
command-and-control authority and with necessary resources. Our capacity
to respond to unanticipated change is even more important today than it was
in 1980, when the federal government spent less than one-fifth of the over
$3 trillion appropriated today. The Soviet Union presented a unified and
identifiable threat to our national security—as opposed to the diverse and
fragmented threats presented today by rogue states and terrorist groups. Yet,
despite the heightened danger of international terrorism, the total percentage
of revenue collected by all governments in America has not changed—it is
still about one-third of all the goods and services produced by our economy,
leaving two-thirds in the hands of the private sector (Chapter 8). Nonetheless,
programs and regulatory actions funded by federal taxes, and similar policies
supported by revenue collected by states and local governments, can have
major consequences for individuals, institutions, and local communities.
If anything, the challenges facing administrators accountable for implement-
ing public programs today have become even more daunting— requiring more
effective expenditures of scarce public resources and increased c ommitment from
all public servants. In addition to the World Trade Center and Pentagon terrorist
viii Preface
strikes on September 11, 2001, similar attacks have occurred in Bali, Indonesia,
on October 13, 2001; Madrid on March 11, 2004; Moscow on August 31, 2004; in
London on July 7, 2005—and unsuccessful car bombings targeted London again
on June 29, 2007, and attacks were made on the American Consulate in Istanbul
on July 9, and the U.S. Embassy in Yemen on September 16, 2008. Natural disas-
ters such as the Asian tsunami, the earthquakes in Western China, and numerous
damaging hurricanes, require massive mobilization of scarce global and national
resources to assist victims in recovery efforts. Public administration provides
most of the critical resources—and the management capability—to respond to,
recover from, and prevent the worst effects of such disasters.
This book is written for undergraduate and graduate students, interested
citizens, government officials, and all others seeking to better understand how
domestic and global changes are impacting the applied practice and the academic
field of public administration. The subject reflects multiple perspectives and has
complex roots in many different academic disciplines and “real world” fields of
endeavor. That by itself should alert the reader to one of the essential features of
public administration: There are many sides to it, with a wide variety of complex
issues, questions, practices, and themes that have commanded attention (both in
and out of the field) for well over a century. Public administration is both a sub-
ject for academic study and an increasingly challenging aspect of public service.
In the following pages, we discuss many themes and controversies of con-
temporary public policy and administration. One recurring focus is on the
distinction between the political and managerial aspects of the field, and the
need to understand the importance of each. We also describe the continu-
ing efforts of federal, state, and local governments to realign, reorganize, and
strengthen public-sector resources to maintain current services, combat con-
tinuing threats of domestic and international terrorism, respond to economic
crises and natural disasters, secure our borders, and protect homeland security.
We emphasize the need for more creative and innovative thinking; eliminat-
ing “unnecessary” internal regulations to enable public employees to do their
best work; achieving results more effectively with fewer resources; and serving
government’s “customers” efficiently and well. The need to sustain services
and, at the same time, devote greater resources to protect Americans from
serious economic downturns, natural disasters and terrorist acts has resulted
in substantial changes in the ways governments operate, and the results of
those changes are visible throughout all aspects of American society.
Another related theme is the increased concern with competence, e thics,
and integrity in both the selection of appointed and elected public o fficials and
in decisions made by governmental institutions and agencies. This concern has
intensified recently in both the private and public sectors, focusing on various
types of ethical considerations that enter into c orporate, political, and admin-
istrative decisions, as well as examining ways to p romote more responsiveness
and accountability on the part of public a dministrators. Numerous chal-
lenges face leaders and managers in public, faith-based, and nonprofit service
Preface ix
organizations. These include dealing with complex and s ensitive p ersonnel
issues, coping with budgetary and legal constraints, managing massive human-
itarian relief efforts both here and abroad, applying the latest communication
systems and information technologies, maintaining a professional and
respected workforce, delivering quality education and health care services, and
ensuring high levels of measurable performance in government programs.
A final and interconnected theme is the exponential growth of informa-
tion technology and performance management systems such as electronic
government (e-gov) to enhance public knowledge, improve access, and f acilitate
communication among citizens, elected officials, and p ublic a dministrators.
Today, previously unavailable interactive technologies are transforming the
delivery of public services in ways not dreamt of just a few years ago. The
Internet, World Wide Web, and teleconferencing offer the potential for all
citizens to participate responsibly in a much wider range of electoral and
public policy decision making. New technologies are being applied worldwide
to achieve greater access to decision makers, debate public issues, influence
public opinion and voting, improve efficiency in government, and influence
the outcomes of many important decisions.
We also devote considerable attention to more specific m anagement-related
topics in the field. These include, among others, continuity and change in com-
plex relationships among national, state, and local governments (Chapter 3);
management challenges, organizational design changes, and leadership
responsibilities in public organizations (Chapters 4, 5, 6); both old and new per-
sonnel management concerns (Chapter 7); ongoing tensions in the budgetary
process, including continuing attention to budget deficits and government
spending (Chapter 8); implementation of various types of federal, state, and local
government policies (Chapter 9); the emergence of g overnment p roductivity,
performance management, and customer service standards in the public s ector
(Chapter 10); and government regulation, privatization, and deregulation
(Chapter 11). In the concluding chapter (Chapter 12), we look back at the field,
and attempt to integrate the various themes and subject matters covered in this
text, as well as look ahead to future emerging issues and concerns.
Twenty-First-Century Public Administration
There have been significant changes in the academic field of public
administration, as well as in the practical world of government service, since
the first edition of this book was published in 1978. What characterizes public
administration in the twenty-first century is the scope and rapidity of change
affecting virtually all aspects of governmental activity. The rapid integration
and increasing use of technology is but one element of this transformation.
Other considerations include the need to devote greater resources to combat
terrorism, secure our borders, and protect citizens from the d evastation