Foundations of public administration : a comparative approach

219 Pages·1990·11.45 MB·English

by  Peter Harris

Foundations of Public Administration
A Comparative Approach
Peter Harris
Foundations of Public Administration: A Comparative Approach
Other books by the same author:
Studies in African Politics, Hutchinson, London, 1970.
The Commonwealth: Political Realities, Longman, London, 1975.
Foundations of Political Science, Hutchinson, London, 1976. Second Edition
1986.
Hong Kong: A Study in Bureaucratic Politics, Heinemann Asia, Hong Kong,
1978.
Political China Observed, Croom Helm, London, 1980.
Reflections on Hong Kong: Life, Work and Politics, Heinemann Asia, Hong
Kong, 1981.
Public Affairs and Public Administration in Hong Kong, Heinemann Asia,
Hong Kong, 1983.
Hong Kong: A Study in Bureaucracy and Politics, Macmillan, 1988.
Foundations of Public
Administration: A Comparative
Approach
Peter Harris
Professor of Political Science Emeritus, University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong University Press
© Hong Kong University Press, 1990
ISBN 962 209 243 8
Typeset in Linotronic 300 by
Bothwin Promotion Limited, Hong Kong
Printed in Hong Kong by Elite Printing Company Limited
Contents
Foreword
The role of administration in developed and developing states. The search for
the foundations of public administration. ix
FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS
Chapter 1 The Scope and Characteristics of Public Administration
Public and Private organization, similarities and differences. The Four Estates
of Administration. Politics and Administration: academic and non-academic
approaches. Perspectives on administration. Public administration and the
problem of communications. 3
Chapter 2 The Size and Scope of Government
Big and small government. The concept of government growth. Why
governments grow. The problem of size. Small is beautiful. The 'surge' of
welfare and its impact on government. Prospects for rolling back big
government. The case for privatization and its drawbacks. 21
Chapter 3 Allocation of Functions
An examination of the principles for the allocation of administrative tasks
and duties. The merits and demerits of a scientific appraisal of tasks.
Grouping of tasks according to clients served, function performed,
geographical area and process. Optimum size of departments. The concept
of 'hiving-off'. Strengths and weaknesses. 36
Chapter 4 Administration and Culture
The 'Western science' of administration. Its applicability to non-Western
regions. The relevance of traditional Asian methods of administration, e.g.,
founded on Islamic, Confucian and other cultures. Western 'tools' and
Chinese 'essence'. The importance of the colonial tradition of
administration. The modern world of developing states and the place of
development administration. Administrators and policy-making in 'poor'
states. Socialist administration and Marxist culture. The applicability of
Western techniques without/with 'Westernization'. 49
Contents
THE PROFESSION OF GOVERNMENT
Chapter S The Administrative Profession
The 'value-free' idea of 'bureaucracy'. The 'ideal' and the 'real' and the
'conflict' between 'democracy' and 'bureaucracy'. Traditional hostility to
officials, Western and non-Western. The public servant and his political
master. Specialists and Generalists. 69
Chapter 6 Internal Problems of Administration
The balance between expansion and efficiency. The case of Parkinson's Law
and the problem of the measurement of administrative time in organizations.
The Peter principle and hierarchology. Administrative self-interest and the
public good. Downs, Tulloch and Buchanan. Ethics in public administration,
a brief analysis. Non-Western standards of administrative behaviour. 80
Chapter 7 The Problem of Bureaucratic Corruption
The temptations of discretionary power and the meaning of discretion.
Specific cases of abuse of discretion. Cases in the Developing World.
Africa, China, India, Indonesia. Schemes of control and anti-corruption
agencies. 95
COMPARATIVE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
Chapter 8 Comparative Administration: Developed Countries — Some
Approaches, Styles and Methods
The country-by-country approach. The difference of ideology approach. The
different types of system approach. Administration: constant themes and
variations. Structures based on various and varied styles and methods,
recruitment, structure, central-local relations, party politics and the
administrator. 113
Chapter 9 Comparative Administrative Systems: The Developing World
The role of the bureaucracy as a vehicle of development in selected countries
in Africa, Latin America and South-East Asia. The African example. Natural
disasters, drought, famine and administrative difficulties. Successes and
failures. Military bureaucrats. 129
Chapter 10 Public Administration in Socialist States
Socialists and administration, historical antecedents. Democratic centralism.
The idea of administrative levers and the economy. How socialist
administrators behave. Socialism and corruption. 143
Contents
POLICY AND POLICY PROBLEMS
Chapter 11 The Meaning of Policy
Policy: the need for policy-making. The rational, incremental and related
forms of policy-making. Constraints on policy-making. Interest groups and
policy. The making of policy in new states. Comparative analysis. Policy
making in non-democratic states. The 'Night Watchman' state and policy.
The 'Welfare' state. The 'Nanny' state and its implications for policy
making. 161
Chapter 12 Policy-making in the Developing World
Particular policy problems in Third World states. Policy and poverty.
Particular problems of politics and policy in developing states. Case studies
from Africa, Asia and Latin America. 183
Chapter 13 Conclusion
The methods of Western public administration are suitable, in large measure,
to developing states. However, there are important cultural and historical
differences between the developed and developing world. New approaches to
public administration, especially new techniques appear to have much
promise for new and developing states. 193
Index 203
Vll

Foreword
This short book seeks to explore some of the foundations of the subject
known as public administration, and to consider these from a comparative
perspective. In particular, the analysis includes a number of new and devel
oping countries in an attempt to see where the principles of public admin
istration worked out in the West may be applicable.
The book follows in part the approach used by the author in Foundations
of Political Science. A brief account of present Western knowledge in the field
of public administration is given with examples drawn from Western, as well
as non-Western, states. Some attempt will be made to see where countries can
assist each other in public service organization. The approach is comparative
with a bias towards new and developing countries.
A difficult and serious question asks how can non-Western states benefit
from Western studies in public administration. There are perhaps a number
of ways. Firstly, Western studies in public administration have unearthed
several issues, if not pitfalls, which newer states would do well to consider.
For example, administrators need training to avoid practising the art of
administration according to a set of 'proverbs' or ill-considered rules-of-
thumb. Though there is much debate as to how 'rational' or 'scientific' it is
possible to be in public administration, there is at least some scope for
improvement almost everywhere on more rational lines. A second possible
benefit lies in the utilization of a comparative approach. To put this crudely,
we have much to learn in seeing what other states do as a guide to action or
inaction.
In all states too, both developed and developing, policy-making is a subject
requiring constant thought and attention. Nowhere in the world do policy
makers find it an easy matter to make, sustain and then change a policy. Even
so-called 'totalitarian' states face formidable difficulties with regard to public
policy, its formulation and execution.
Many comments made about public sector administrators are hostile. Even
the term 'civil service' is not without its detractors. The novelist Charles
Dickens described a civil servant as a 'faceless mortal riding like a flea on the
back of the dog — legislation'. A whole literature has grown up attacking
the role of civil servants some of which will be considered in this book. Much
of the criticism, though not all, is ill-informed.
This book is largely about the bureaucracy so-called, but there will be
relatively little use of the term 'bureaucracy'. The word 'bureaucracy' is a
very useful word, but it is unfortunately also a term of abuse. The term
'bureaucracy' — literally 'rule by officials' — was taken from the French