UNIT-1 PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION - MEANING,

NATURE, SCOPE AND IMPORTANCE

Structure

1.0 Learning Outcome

1.1 Introduction
1.2 What is Administration?
1.3 Administration, Organisation and Management
1.4 Defining Public Administration
1.5 Nature of Public Administration
1.6 Scope of Public Administration
1.6.1 Scope of Public Administration as an Activity
1.6.2 Scope of Public Administration as a Discipline
1.7 Public and Private Administration
1.7.1 Distinction between Public and Private Administration
1.7.2 Similarities between Public and Private Administration
1.8 Importance of Public Administration
1.8.1 Importance of Public Administration as Specialised
Subject of Study
1.8.2 Importance of Public Administration as an Activity
1.9 Role of Public Administration under Liberalisation, Privatisation
and Globalisation (LPG)
1.10 Conclusion
1.11 Key Concepts
1.12 References and Further Reading
1.13 Activities

1.0 LEARNING OUTCOMES

After going through this Unit, you should be able to:

• define Administration and Public Administration
• describe the nature of Public Administration
• explain the scope of Public Administration
• distinguish between Private and Public Administration
• analyse the Role of Public Administration vis-à-vis
Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation (LPG)

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Administration as an activity is as old as society itself. But as an area of

study it originated, with the publication of Wilson’s essay on study of
Administration in 1887. As a process, administration occurs in both
public and private organisations. It occurs in such diverse institution as
settings as a business firm, labour unions, religious or charitable
organisations, educational institutions, etc. Its nature is affected by the

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sphere with which it is concerned. Administration is commonly divided
into two types, Public and Private Administration. As an aspect of
government activity it has existed since the emergence of political
system(s). While public administration relates to the activities carried
out by government, private administration refers to the management of
private business enterprises.

It is important to understand the functioning of administration for on

this lies the understanding of the government. In this Unit an effort has
been made to bring the concept of administration, public administration
in particular, closer to you. This understanding will take you through the
entire course of Public Administration. In what follows, we will
examine the meaning, nature and scope of public administration.

1.2 WHAT IS ADMINISTRATION?

The word ‘administer’ is derived from the Latin word administere,

which means to care for or to look after people, to manage affairs.
Administration may be defined as “group activity which involves
cooperation and coordination for the purpose of achieving desired goals
or objectives”.

Broadly speaking, the term administration appears to bear at least four

different meanings or different senses depending upon the context in
which it is used:

(1) As a Discipline: The name of a branch of learning or intellectual

discipline as taught and studied in colleges and universities.

(2) As a Vocation: Type of work/trade or profession/occupation,

especially one that involves knowledge and training in a branch
of advance learning.

(3) As a Process: The sum total of activities undertaken to

implement Public Policy or policies to produce some services or
goods.

(4) As a Synonym for 'word' Executive or Government: Such other

body of persons in supreme charge of affairs, for example,
Manmohan Singh Administration, Bush Administration, etc.

Noted below are definitions by a few famous writers.

E.N. Gladden

“Administration is a long and slightly pompous word, but it has a

humble meaning, for it means to care for or look after people, to

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manage affairs…. is determined action taken in pursuit of conscious
purpose”.

Brooks Adams

“Administration is the capacity of coordinating many, and often

conflicting, social energies in a single organism, so adroitly that they
shall operate as a unity.

Felix A. Nigro

“Administration is the organisation and use of men and materials to

accomplish a purpose”.

J.M. Pfiffner and R. Presthus

“Administration is the organisation and direction of human and material

resources to achieve desired ends”.

L.D. White

“The art of administration is the direction, co-ordination and control of

many persons to achieve some purpose or objective”.

Luther Gullick

“Administration has to do with getting things done, with the

accomplishment of defined objectives”.

F.M. Marx

“Administration is determined action taken in pursuit of a conscious

purpose. It is the systematic ordering of affairs and the calculated use
of resources, aimed at making those things happen which one wants to
happen and foretelling everything to the country”.

Herbert Simon, D.W. Smithburg and V.A. Thompson

“In its broadest sense, the administration can be defined as the activities
of group cooperating to accomplish common goals.”

A brief analysis of the definitions listed above reveals that

administration comprises two essentials, namely (1) cooperative effort,
and (2) pursuit of common objectives. One does not find any
administration if there is only a common purpose without a collective
effort or vice-versa. Administration is also called a ‘technology of
social relationships’. Thus, administration is a process common to all

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group effort, public or private, civil or military, large scale or small
scale. It is process at work in a department store, a bank, a university, a
high school, a railroad, a hospital, a hotel or a local government.

1.3 ADMINISTRATION, ORGANISATION AND

MANAGEMENT

Before we discuss about the meaning, definition, nature, scope and

importance of public administration we will try to know what is
administration, organisation and management. As these terms are often
used interchangeably and synonymously, it is pertinent to know the
differences and distinctions between these three terms.

According to William Schulze Administration is the force, which lays

down the object for which an organisation and its management are to
strive and the broad policies under which they are to operate.

An Organisation is a combination of the necessary human beings,

materials, tools, equipment and working space, appurtenances brought
together in systematic and effective co-relation to accomplish some
desired object.

Management is that which leads guides and directs an organisation for

the accomplishment of pre-determined object.

To put the above in simple terms, administration sets the goal,

management strives to attain it and organisation is the machine of the
management for the attainment of the ends determined by the
administration.

Some scholars have a different view about the administration and

management. According to Peter Drucker management is associated
with the business activity, which has to show economic performance,
whereas administration is associated with the non business activities
like activities of the Government.

The other view is that administration is associated with performing

routine things in known settings in accordance with certain procedures,
rules, and regulations. The Management is associated with performing
functions like risk taking, dynamic, creative and innovative functions.

Some scholars of Public Administration are closely associated with the

first view that is, administration is a determinative function.
Management, on other hand is an executive function that is primarily
concerned with carrying out the broad policies laid down by the
administration. Organisation is the machinery through which
coordination is established between administration and management.

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1.4 DEFINING PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

L.D. White observes that although public administration varies in form

and objects, and although the administration of public and private
affairs differs at many points, there is an underlying similarity, if not
identity. As an integral aspect of such generic concept, public
administration could be related to that type of administration, which
operates within a specific ecological setting. It is a means to carry out
the policy decisions made by political executive.

To be seen along with it is the ‘Public’ aspect of Public administration,

which attributes a special character and focus to it. ‘Public’ can be
looked at formally to mean ‘government’. So, public administration is
government administration, government in action, or a socio-economic
and politico-administrative confluence, the focus being especially on
public bureaucracy. Encyclopaedia Britannica defines public
administration as ‘the application of a policy of a state through its
government.’

Public Administration, therefore, refers to that part of administration,

which pertains to the administrative activities of the government.

Now we will try to look into the definitions of Public Administration

provided by various scholars.

Woodrow Wilson

Public administration is the detailed and systematic application of law.

Every particular application of law is an act of administration.

L.D. White

“Public administration consists of all those operations having for their

purpose the fulfilment or enforcement of public policy”. As per White,
this definition covers a multitude of particular operations in many fields
the delivery of a letter, the sale of public land, the negotiation of a
treaty, the award of compensation to an injured workman, the
quarantine of a sick child, the removal of litter from a park,
manufacturing uranium 235, and licensing the use of atomic energy. It
includes military as well as civil affairs, much of the work of courts, and
all the special fields of government activity-police, education, health,
construction of public works, conservation, social security, and many
others. The conduct of public affairs in advanced civilisations requires
the employment of almost every profession and skill-engineering, law,
medicine, and teaching; the crafts, the technical specialties, the office
skills, and many others.

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Percy Mc Queen

Public administration is related to the operations of government whether

local or central.

Luther Gulick

Public administration is that part of the science of administration, which

has to do with the government; it concerns itself primarily with the
executive branch where the work of the government is done; though
there are obviously problems also in connection with the legislative and
judicial branches.

J.M Pfiffner

“Administration consists of getting the work of government done by

coordinating the efforts of people so that they can work together to
accomplish their set tasks”.

M. Ruthanaswami

“When administration has to do with the affairs of a state or minor

political institutions like the municipal or country council (district
board), it is called public administration. All the acts of the officials of
a government, from the peon in a remote office to the head of a state in
the capital, constitute public administration.”

H.A. Simon, D.W. Smithburg and V.A. Thompson

“By Public Administration is meant, in common usage, the activities of

the executive branches of national, state and local governments,
government corporations and certain other agencies of a specialised
character. Specifically excluded are judicial and legislative agencies
within the government and non-governmental administration.”

Corson and Harris

“Public administration … is the action part of government, the means

by which the purposes and goals of government are realised.”

Dwight Waldo

“Public administration is the art and science of management as applied

to the affairs of State.”

M.E. Dimock

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“Public Administration is concerned with ‘what’ and ‘how’ of the
government. The ‘what’ is the subject matter, the technical knowledge
of a field, which enables the administrator to perform his tasks. The
‘how’ is the technique of management, the principles according to
which co-operative programmes are carried through to success. Each is
indispensable, together they form the synthesis called administration”.

Nicholas Henry

“Public Administration is a broad-ranging and amorphous combination

of theory and practice; its purpose is to promote a superior
understanding of government and its relationship with the society, it
governs, as well as to encourage public policies more responsive to
social needs and to institute managerial practices attuned to
effectiveness, efficiency and the deeper human requisites of the
citizenry”.

The traditional definitions of Public Administration, which are given

above reflect the view that the Public Administration is only involved in
carrying out the policies and programmes of the government. It reflect
that it has no role in policy making and also locates the administration
in the executive branch but today the term public administration is used
in a broader sense that it is not only involved in carrying out the
programmes of the government, but it also plays an important role in
policy formulation and covers the three branches of the government. In
this context, we may reflected on the definition offered by F.A. Nigro
and L.G. Nigro. According to them Public Administration:

In this context we can reflect the definition offered by F.A. Nigro and
L.G. Nigro. According to them Public Administration:

• is co-operative group effort in a public setting;

• covers all three branches-executive, legislative, and judicial, and
their inter-relationships;
• has an important role in the formulation of public policy and is
thus a part of the political process;
• is different in significant ways from private administration; and
• is closely associated with numerous private groups and
individuals in providing services to the community”.

In sum, public administration:

• is the non-political public bureaucracy operating in a political

system;
• deals with the ends of the State, the sovereign will, the public
interests and laws;

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 • is the business side of government and as such concerned with
policy execution, but it is also concerned with policy-making;
• covers all three branches of government, although it tends to be
concentrated in the executive branch;
• provides regulatory and service functions to the people in order
to attain good life;
• differs significantly from private administration, especially in its
emphasis on the public; and
• is interdisciplinary in nature as it draws upon other social
sciences like political science, economics and sociology.

1.5 NATURE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

There are two views regarding the Nature of Public Administration, that
is, Integral and Managerial.

According to the integral view, ‘administration’ is the sum total of all

the activities – manual, clerical, managerial, etc., which are undertaken
to realise the objectives of the organisation. In this view all the acts of
officials of the government from the Attendant to the Secretaries to the
government and Head of the State constitute Public Administration.
Henri Fayol and L.D. White are the supporters of this view.

According to the managerial view of administration, the managerial

activities of people who are involved in planning, organising,
commanding, coordinating and controlling constitute Public
Administration. This view regards administration as getting things done
and not doing things. Luther Gullick, Herbert Simon, Smithburg and
Thompson are the supporters of this view. The managerial view
excludes Public Administration from non-managerial activities such as
manual, clerical and technical activities.

The two views differs from each other in many ways. According to
Prof. M.P. Sharma the difference between the two views is
fundamental. The integral view includes the activities of all the persons
engaged in administration whereas the managerial view restricts itself
only to the activities of the few persons at the top. The integral view
depicts all types of activities from manual to managerial, from non-
technical to technical whereas the managerial view takes into account
only the managerial activities in an organisation. Furthermore,
administration, according to the integral view would differ from one
sphere to another depending upon the subject matter, but whereas that
will not be the case according to the managerial point of view because
the managerial view is identified with the managerial techniques
common to all the fields of administration.

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The difference between the two views relates to the difference between
management and operation or we may say between getting things done
and doing things. The correct meaning of the term administration
would however, depend upon the context in which it is used. Dimock,
Dimock and Koening sum up in the following words:

“As a study public administration examines every aspect of

government’s efforts to discharge the laws and to give effect to public
policy; as a process, it is all the steps taken between the time an
enforcement agency assumes jurisdiction and the last break is placed
(but includes also that agency’s participation, if any, in the formulation
of the programme in the first place); and as a vocation, it is organising
and directing the activities of others in a public agency.”

1.6 SCOPE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

By the scope of Public Administration, we mean the major concerns of

Public Administration as an activity and as a discipline.

1.6.1 Scope of Public Administration as an activity

Broadly speaking, Public Administration embraces all the activities of

the government. Hence as an activity the scope of public administration
is no less than the scope of state activity. In the modern welfare state
people expect many things – a wide variety of services and protection
from the government. In this context public administration provides a
number of welfare and social security services to the people. Besides, it
has to manage government owned industries and regulate private
industries. Public administration covers every area and activity within
the ambit public policy. Thus, the scope of public administration is
very wide in modern state.

1.6.2 Scope of Public Administration as a Discipline

The scope of public administration as a discipline, that is subject of

studies, comprises of the following:

The POSDCoRB view

Several writers have defined the scope of public administration in

varying terms. Gullick sums up the scope of the subject by the letters of
the word POSDCoRB which denote: Planning, Organisation, Staffing,
Directing, Co-ordinating reporting the Budgeting. Planning means the
working out in broad outline the things to be done, the methods to be
adopted to accomplish the purpose.

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Organisation means the establishment of the formal structure of
authority through which the work is sub-divided, arranged, defined and
coordinated.

Staffing means the recruitment and training of the personnel and their
conditions of work.

Directing means making decisions and issuing orders and instructions.

Coordinating means inter-relating the work of various divisions,

sections and other parts of the organisation.

Reporting means informing the superiors within the agency to whom

the executive is responsible about what is going on.

Budgeting means fiscal planning, control and accounting.

According to Gullick the POSDCoRB activities are common to all

organisations. They are the common problems of management which
are found in different agencies regardless of the nature of the work they
do.

POSDCoRB gives unity, certainty, and definiteness and makes the

study more systematic. The critics pointed out that the POSDCoRB
activities were neither the whole of administration, nor even the most
important part of it. The POSDCoRB view over looks the fact that
deferent agencies are faced with different administrative problems,
which are peculiar to the nature of the services, they render and the
functions they performed. The POSDCoRB view takes into
consideration only the common techniques of the administration and
ignores the study of the ‘subject matter’ with which the agency is
concerned. A major defect is that the POSDCoRB view does not
contain any reference to the formulation and implementation of the
policy. Therefore, the scope of administration is defined very narrowly,
being too inward looking and too conscious of the top management.

The Subject Matter View

We all know that public administration deals not only with the
processes but also with the substantive matters of administration, such
as Defence, Law and Order, Education, Public Health, Agriculture,
Public Works, Social Security, Justice, Welfare, etc. These services
require not only POSDCoRB techniques but also have important
specialised techniques of their own which are not covered by
POSDCoRB techniques. For example, if you take Police
Administration it has its own techniques in crime detection,
maintenance of Law and Order, etc., which are much and more vital to

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efficient police work, than the formal principles of organisation,
personnel management, coordination or finance and it is the same with
other services too. Therefore, the study of public administration should
deal with both the processes (that is POSDCoRB techniques and the
substantive concerns). We conclude the scope of public administration
with the statement of Lewis Meriam: “Public administration is an
instrument with two blades like a pair of scissors. One blade may be
knowledge of the field covered by POSDCoRB, the other blade is
knowledge of the subject matter in which these techniques are applied.
Both blades must be good to make an effective tool”.

We may conclude the discussion with the observation of Herbert Simon

who says that Public administration has two important aspects, namely
deciding and doing things. The first provides the basis for the second.
One cannot conceive of any discipline without thinking or deciding.
Thus Public administration is a broad-ranging and an amorphous
combination of theory and practice.

1.7 PUBLIC AND PRIVATE ADMINISTRATION

The major concern of administration is to properly organise men and

material for achieving desired ends. As a co-operative group activity,
administration is truly universal and operates in all types of public and
private organisations. In other words, administration occurs in both
public and private institutional settings. Its nature depends upon the
nature of the setting and goals with which it is concerned. On the basis
of the nature of the institutional setting, public administration can be
roughly distinguished from private administration. Public
administration is governmental administration concerned with achieving
state purposes, determined by the state. Private administration, on the
other hand is, concerned with administration of private business
organisation and is distinct from public administration. Let us elaborate
this

1.7.1 Distinction between public and private administration

John Gaus, Ludivig Von Mises, Paul H. Appleby, Sir Josia Stamp,
Herbert A. Simon, Peter Drucker, etc., in their writings, have made
distinction between public and private administration.

According to Simon, the distinction between public and private

administration relates mainly to three points:

• Public administration is bureaucratic whereas private

administration is business like;

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• Public administration is political where as private administration
is non-political; and

• Public administration is characterised by red-tape where as

private administration is free from it.

Felix A. Nigro has pointed out that government is also different from
private organisation, as no private company can equal to it in size and
diversity of activities.

According to Sir Josiah Stamp, the four principles, which differentiate

public from private administration, are:

• Principle of Uniformity: Common and uniform laws and

regulations mostly regulate public Administration.

• Principle of External Financial Control: the representatives of the

people through a legislative body control Government revenues and
heads of expenditure.

• Principle of Ministerial Responsibility: Public administration is

accountable to its political masters and through them to the people.

• Principle of marginal Return: The main objective of a business

venture is profit, however small it may be. However, most of the
objectives of public administration can neither be measured in
money terms nor checked by accountancy methods.

According to Paul H. Appleby public administration is different from

private administration. He remark, “In broad terms the governmental
function and attitude have at least three complementary aspects that go
to differentiate government from all other institutions and activities:
breadth of scope, impact and consideration; public accountability;
political character. No non-governmental institution has the breadth
of government.

Appleby notes that the political character of Public Administration

differentiates it from private administration. Public Administration is
subject to political direction and control. This is the primary distinction
between the two. He further argues, “Administration is politics since it
must be responsive to the public interest. It is necessary to emphasise
the fact that popular political processes, which are the essence of
democracy, can only work through governmental organisation, and that
all governmental organisations are not merely administrative entities,
they are and must be political organisms.”

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Appleby reflects further on the distinction between public and private
administration in the context of public accountability “Government
administration differs from all other administrative work to a degree not
even faintly realised outside, by virtue of its public nature, the way in
which it is subject to public scrutiny and outcry. This interest often runs
to details of administrative action that in private business would never
be of concern other then inside the organisation.

According to Appleby private administration cannot claim the breadth

of scope, impact and consideration of the public administration. He
observes, “The organised government impinges upon and is affected by
practically everything that exists or moves in our society. It involves
policies and actions of immense complexity. Its fullest possible
understanding requires the wisdom of many specialists as will as the
key participants in public and private life.

The more important distinguishing features of Public administration

may be described under the following sub-heads:

Political Direction: Public administration is political, while private

administration is non-political, public administration takes place in a
political context.

Absence of profit motive: The absence of profit motive from the

Public administration is another feature, which distinguishes it from the
private administration. The primary purpose of governmental
organisation is to provide services to the people and promote social
good.

Prestige: Public administrators who serve in the Government enjoy

high status and prestige in comparison to their counterparts in private
enterprises especially developing countries.

Public Gaze: All the actions of public administration are exposed to

wide public gaze because the public closely watches it. This does not
happen in private administration.

Service and Cost: Most governments spend more money than their
income or revenues. That is the reason for finding generally a deficit
budget that is, expenditure exceeding income. Conversely, private
administration income often exceeds expenditure without which they
cannot survive.

Legal framework: Public administration operates within a legal

framework. It is rule oriented. The responsibilities of public
administrators are fixed by a set of constitutional practices, laws and

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regulations. Government officials are obliged to act within their legal
powers and not outside the law.

Consistency of treatment: A government official is required by law to

maintain a high degree of consistency in his dealings with the public.
He has to observe the principle of equality of treatment in serving the
people. It is a legal obligation to not to discriminate against any person.

Public accountability: Public accountability is the hallmark of

Public administration in a democracy. Public administration is
responsible to the public, though not directly but indirectly through
political executive, legislature, judiciary, etc.

Large-scale administration: Public administration is large-scale

administration. It is said that almost anything under the sun is directly
or indirectly under the domain of public administration. It is by all
means larger than any big private concern in terms of size., complexity
and diversity of activities.

Monopolistic and Essential Services: In the field of public

administration, there is generally a monopoly of the government and it
does not generally allow private parties to compete with it. For
example, no person or bodies of persons are allowed to establish or
perform functions related to public services like national security,
foreign relations, law and order, mint and currency, as these are the
exclusive fields of the government and thoroughly important for the
community and polity to prosper.

Officials remain Anonymous: In public administration, even the most

senior officials remain anonymous and their identity is not disclosed.
This is so because whatever they do, they do in the name of the
government and not in their own name.

Financial meticulousness: Public administration has to be very careful

in financial matters because it is working as custodian of people’s
money.

Lower level of Efficiency: Efficiency is said to be the cornerstone of

any organisation. However, due to varied responsibilities, lack of
effective control, less accountability, involvement of a large number of
levels and job security of employees, efficiency has not been there in
public organisations to the effect desired. When compared to private
administration, one finds that the degree of efficiency in public
organisations is at a lower level. With profit as the major motive
coupled with excessive control and flexibility in personnel
administration the level of efficiency in private organisations is much
higher.

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1.7.2 Similarities between Public and Private Administration

Scholars like Henry Fayol, Mary P. Follet and L. Urwick do not make
a distinction between public and private administration. The classical
writers held the view that public and private administrations are the
undifferentiated members of the genus administration. Henri Foyal, for
example, says that there is only one administrative science, which can
be applied equally well to public and private sectors. In his address in
the Second International Congress of Administrative Science, Fayol
remarked, “The meaning which I have given to the word administration
and which has been generally adopted, broadens considerably the field
of administrative sciences. It embraces not only the public service but
also enterprises of every size and description, of every form and every
purpose. All undertakings require planning, organisation, command,
co-ordination and control and in order to function properly, all must
observe the same general principles. We are no longer confronted with
several administrative sciences but with one which can be applied
equally well to public and to private affairs”.

The following similarities between the two types of administration may

be noted:

1. Both public and business administration rely on common skills,

techniques and procedures.

2. In modern times the principle of profit motive is not peculiar to

private administration, because it is now accepted as a laudable
objective for public sector enterprises also.

3. In personnel management, the private organisations have been

influenced greatly by the practices of public organisations.

4. The private concerns are also subjected to many legal

constraints. Government is exercising much control over
business firms through regulatory legislation such as taxation,
monetary and licensing policies, etc. Consequently, they are not
as free as they once used to be.

5. There is a similar type of hierarchy and management systems,

both in public and private sectors. Both have same kind of
organisation structure, superior – subordinate relationships, etc.

6. Both Pubic and private administration carries on continuous

efforts to improve their internal working and also for efficient
delivery of services to people or customers.

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7. Public and private administration serves the people, whether
being called clients or customers. Both have to maintain close
contact with people to inform about their services and also to get
feedback about services and product. In both the cases, public
relations help them to inform and improve their services to the
people.

The preceding discussion shows that the distinction between public and
private administration is not absolute. In fact, they are becoming more
and more alike in many respects. However, it does not mean that there
are no significant differences between these two types of administration.
Waldo observes that Public administration is distinct because it reflects
the peculiar characteristics of government activity and the public setting
in which it functions.

Given the wide acceptance of the ideas of liberalisation, privatisation

and globalisation, both public and private administrations have to
compete in the same area to provide services to people. Here both are
dealing with customers, who pay for their services, in such a situation it
narrows down the differences between the public and private
administration. New Public Management, which has come into
prominence, recently, puts emphasis on managerial techniques, which
are to be adopted by public administration for the efficient delivery of
public services. But in providing pubic services in the field of social and
welfare areas their exists a difference between public and private
administration

With this brief characterisation, it could be stated that both public and
private administration are placed in different environments. But this
difference is more apparent than real. According to Waldo, The
generalisation which distinguish public administration from private
administration by special care for equality of treatment, legal
authorisation of, and responsibility of action, public justification of
decisions, financial probity and meticulousness, etc. are of very limited
applicability,” In fact public and private administrations are the “two
species of the same genus, but they have special values and techniques
of their own which give to each its distinctive character.

1.8 IMPORTANCE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

We will be discussing the importance of public administration as a

specialised subject of study and later the role and importance of public
administration in the modern society.

1.8.1 Importance of Public Administration as Specialised Subject

of Study

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The study of administration assumed significance, according to
Woodrow Wilson, as a consequence to the increasing complexities of
society, growing functions of state and growth of governments on
democratic lines. This exhaustive list of functions made to think as to
‘how’ and in what ‘directions’ these functions should be effectively
performed. To this Wilson suggested that there was a need to reform
the government in the administrative field. As per Wilson, the object of
administrative study is to discover what government can properly and
successfully does and how it can do these things with utmost efficiency
and the least possible cost either of money or of energy.

The importance of public administration as a specialised subject can be

attributed to the following reasons:

• One of the important reasons is the practical concern that the

government today has to work towards the public interest. The
first and foremost objective of public administration is to
efficiently deliver public services. In this context, Wilsonian
definition of the subject as efficiency promoting and pragmatic
field was the first explicitly articulated statement on the
importance of a separate discipline of public administration.
During the first half of the preceding century, a numbers of
countries have appointed committees to look into the problems
of administration and recommended suitable administrative
machinery to respond to diverse public needs. The Haldane
Committee Report (1919) in Britain; the President’s Committee
on Administrative Management (1937) in the United States;
A.D. Gorwala Committee’s and Paul H. Appleby’s Reports in
India are some of the examples of the efforts by various
countries to make changes in public administration. During the
last four decades also, a number of reports, produced by
committees/commissions appointed by governments in various
countries or multilateral agencies, and books published by
scholars have enriched the discipline and provided new
perspectives to public administration to tune it to the changing
needs of the times. They include: Report of the Committee on
the Civil Services (Fulton Committee Report, U.K., 1968);
various reports of the Administrative Reforms Commission
(India, 1967-72); Reinventing Government (U.S.A., look by
David Orborne and Ted Gabler, 1992), Governance and
sustainable Development (UNDP, 1997) and World
Development Report: Building Institutions for Markets (The
World Bank, 2002).

• Administration is looked at, in the social science perspective, as

a cooperative and social activity. Hence the concern of
academic inquiry would be to understand the impact of

17
 government policies and operations on society. What kind of
society do the policies envisage?; To what extent administrative
action is non-discriminatory?; How is public administration
functioning and what are the immediate and long term effects of
governmental action on the social structure, the economy and
polity?; etc. are questions requiring careful analysis. From the
social science perspective, public administration, as a discipline,
has to draw on a variety of sister disciplines such as History,
Sociology, Economics, Geography, Philosophy, Psychology,
etc., with the objective to explain and not just to prescribe.

• Public administration has a special status in the developing

countries. Many of these countries, after independence from the
colonial rule have stressed upon speedy socio – economic
development. Obviously, these countries have to relay on
government for speedy development. The latter requires a
public administration to be organised and effectively operated
for increasing productivity quickly. Likewise, social welfare
activities have to be effectively executed. These aspects have
given birth to the new sub-discipline of development
administration. The emergence of development administration
is indicative of a felt need for a body of knowledge about how to
study the third world administration and at the same time to
bring about speedy socio-economic development with
government’s intervention. Development administration has
therefore, emerged as a sub-discipline to serve the cause of
development.

• Public administration, as witnessed holds a place of significance

in the lives of people. It touches them at every step. For most of
their needs, the citizens depend upon public administration. In
view of the important role of public administration in the lives of
people, the citizens of a country cannot ignore. Therefore, its
teaching should become a part of the curriculum of educational
institutions. People must get to know about the structure of
government, the activities it undertakes and the manner in which
these are actually performed. The study of public administration
will contribute to the realisation of the values of citizenship.

1.8.2 Importance of Public Administration as an Activity

The contemporary age, which has witnessed the emergence of

‘Administrative State’, public administration has become an essential
part of society and a dominant factor. The functions it is called upon to
perform, have expanded in scope and nature, and what is more, are
continually increasing. Many of them are more positive in nature
because they care for the essential requirements of human life, be it

18
health, education, recreation, sanitation, social security or others. It is,
therefore, a creative factor, with its motto being ‘human welfare’.
These functions are over and above its regulatory functions. The view
points of eminent scholars, as referred to below, amply reflect the
significance of public administration.

Woodrow Wilson: “Administration is the most obvious part of

government; it is government in action, it is the executive, the operative
and the most visible side of the government.

Brooke Adams: “Administration is an important human faculty

because its chief function is to facilitate social change and to cushion
the stock of social revolution”.

W.B. Donham, ‘If our civilization fails, it will be mainly because of

breakdown of administration’.

Paul H. Appleby: ‘Administration is the basis of government. No

government can exist without administration. Without administration
government would be a discussion club, if indeed, it could exist at all’.

The role of public administration in various facets is noted below:

• Basis of the Government: A Government can exist without a

legislature or an independent judiciary. But no Government can
exist without administration.

• An instrument for providing services: Public administration is

mainly concerned with the performance of various activities
performed by government in the public interest. Felix A. Nigro
aptly remarks, “The real core of administration is the basic
service which is performed for the public”.

• An instrument for implementing policies: Modern

governments go a long way in formulating and adopting sound
policies laws and regulations. It should not be forgotten that
such policies, laws, etc. are not merely printed papers. Such
paper declarations of intent are translated into reality by public
administration thus converting words into action and form into
substance.

• A stabilising force in society: Public administration is a major

force for bringing stability in society. It has been observed that
though government often changes, but violent change is seldom
experienced by administration. An element of continuity
between the old and the new orders is provided by public
administration. It does not hold true only of constitutional

19
 changes of government in democratic countries, but is also
reflected when there are revolutionary changes in the form and
character of government.

• An instrument of social change and economic development:

Public administration’s role as a change agent is particularly
crucial in developing nations. It is expected of the state at
present to work for accelerating socio-economic change and not
to be a passive agency to maintain the status quo.

• Technical Character: The present day government is expected

to provide various services to its population. The increase in the
number of functions undertaken by the government require
highly specialised, professional and technical, services. Modern
public administration usually represents a galaxy of all of a
nation’s occupations.

According Gerald Caiden public administration has assumed the

following crucial roles in contemporary modern society:

• Preservation of polity;
• Maintenance of stability and order;
• Institutionalisation of Socio-Economic changes;
• Management of large scale commercial services;
• Ensuring growth and economic development;
• Protection of the weaker sections of society;
• Formation of public opinion; and
• Influencing Public policies.

The points mentioned below summarise the reasons for the growing
importance of public administration:

• Emergence of Welfare and Democratic state

Emergence of welfare and democratic state has led to an
increase in the activities of public administration compared to
that of the laissez-faire state. The state has to now serve all
sections of people in the society. This amount to enhanced
responsibilities of public administration. Public administration
is also to regulate and control private economic enterprises to
meet the objectives of the state.

• Industrial Revolution
The industrial revolution gave rise to socio-economic problems
making the government to assume new roles and responsibilities
such as protection and promotion of the rights of workers in
industrial establishments, etc. Consequently, the state has

20
 enacted a number of Industrial and Labour laws and it is
imperative for public administration to implement such laws in
order to meet the requirements of labour welfare.

• Scientific and Technological Development

Scientific and technological developments have brought about
welcome additions in infrastructure such as power, transport and
communication system. The invention of telephone, telegraph
and other mechanical devices such as typewriter, tele-printer,
and calculators, photocopying machines, computers, fax and the
electronic mail has brought revolutionary changes in office
administration. All these have made possible ‘big government’
and ‘large scale administration’. Besides changing the ethos and
character of public administration, the revolution in information
and communication technologies have contributed to improved
delivery of services to people.

• Economic Planning
Centralised economic planning has been pursued in many
developing countries as a method for socio-economic
development. It requires a large number of experts and
elaborate administrative machinery for plan formulation,
implementation, monitoring, and evaluation.

Apart from the reasons cited the rapid growth of population, modern
warfare, increase in natural and manmade disasters, decline in social
harmony, increase in violence due to conflicts, communal riots, ethnic
wars, terrorism, etc. have increased the importance of public
administration.

It goes without saying that public administration is not only the

operative but also the most obvious part of the government. It is
government in action and occupies a significant place not merely as an
instrument of governance but also as an important mechanism for
preserving and promoting the welfare of community. It has substantive
impact upon the life of the people. It is a vital process charged with
implementation of pre-determined, welfare oriented, and developmental
objectives.

1.9 ROLE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION UNDER

LIBERALISATION, PRIVATISATION AND
GLOBALISATION (LPG)

Since the 1980s a number of countries, have been influenced by the

concept of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation. In the 1980s
India has also started the process of liberalisation, privatisation and
globalisation (LPG). One form of LPG has entrusted the management

21
of public sector enterprises partially or fully to private companies.
Another form of LPG is disinvestment in public sector enterprises,
which is followed in India. As a result of this the public sector
enterprises find themselves in a competitive and challenging
environment. However, the role of public administration under LPG
continues to quite significant. It requires dismantling of a regime of
regulations, controls, restrictions, licences, secrecy and delay. The
bureaucracy has to play an investor friendly, responsive, transparent,
open and competitive role. So, this requires necessary administrative
reform, which should aim at elimination of redundant practices,
procedures, administrative laws and corruption. Thus, the policy of
LPG affects the role, values and skills of public bureaucracy. It also
decreases the scope of the functions of the state, resulting in minimum
of state interference in the lives of the individuals. The state is called
upon to oversee the operational side of the enterprises. This gives the
state a new role as regulator.

Today, the role of public administration is towards more of governance,

then of direct involvement. The public administration has to play
enabling, collaborative, cooperative, partnership and regulatory roles.
Coming to the core areas such as defence, atomic energy, law and order,
foreign policy it has a direct role to play. In certain other areas such as
telecommunications, airlines, insurance, etc., it has to compete with the
private sector, for which there should be regulatory commissions to
provide for equal level playing fields for both the sectors. There are
other areas which it can have partnership with the citizens for efficient
delivery of services, for example, maintenance of schools, hospitals,
irrigation water and civic amenities. An example we can give is the
‘Bhagidari Scheme’ adopted by the Delhi Government. In certain areas
like electricity, water and transport it can have partnership with the
private sector. A number of states have partnership with the private
sector in providing these services. Other such areas are protection of
forests, empowerment of women, micro credit, health schemes, and
awareness programmes, it can have partnership with the Non
Governmental (NGO) and Voluntary Organisations.

In analysing the emerging role of public administration in the new

millennium, we are dealing with governance. And governance implies
that public administration ahs to operate in a wider context and
coordinate ebborts and activities of the governmental agencies at
various levels with that of the market/the private sector, civil society
groups, NGOs and contextual participant or elected local government
bodies, self-help groups, etc. The role and character of public
administration had seen a major transformation. Although it appears
that its directly handled operations have declined in some of the non-
traditional areas, public administration has to provide synergy and
direction for many collaborative, cooperative and regulatory activities

22
with other segments of the society. The accent is also on promotion of
greater public participation. Yet, it is still accountable for the outcomes
of all the activities in which it participates directly or indirectly.

1.10 CONCLUSION

In the preceding text, the importance of Public Administration as a

discipline and as an activity has been discussed. Subsequent
developments in the discipline in response to both practical problems
and academic questions have further enhanced its importance as a
vibrant and meaningful field. In the contemporary world, the burden of
public duties on government has been steadily increasing. It seems that
public administration is indispensable because contemporary
civilisation cannot progress without a sound administrative system.
According to Gerald, E. Caiden “The positivistic-interventionist role of
government would automatically find reactions in academic inquiry.
And as history has shown, the importance of Public Administration as a
discipline has been closely associated with the increasing activist role of
government everywhere. In the context of the newer and the wider
duties and responsibilities thrown on the state, the role of public
administration is more vital and important than of almost any other
branch of government. As a growing field of knowledge and practice,
Public Administration has attempted to meet this challenge”.

1.11 KEY CONCEPTS

Equality: The idea that all persons have an equal claim to life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness.
Globalisation: The process of globalisation not only includes opening
up of world trade, development of advanced means of communication,
internationalisation of financial markets and services, growing
importance of multinational corporations, population movements and,
more generally, increased mobility of persons, goods, capital data and
ideas, but also of infectious diseases and environmental problems like
pollution.
Liberalisation: A process of freeing the economy, from various
Governmental regulations such as industrial licensing, controls on
pricing and distribution of products and services, imports and exports
and foreign exchange regulations; control of capital issues by
companies; credit controls, restriction on investment, etc., so that the
development and operation of the economy is increasingly guided by
freely operating market forces. Thus liberalisation is essentially a
process of withdrawal of all direct controls on the economy.
Privatisation: It means transfer, from the public to the private sector, of
ownership or control over assets or activities. Privatisation fosters

23
efficiency, encourages investment – and thus new growth and
employment – and frees public resources for development of
infrastructure and social programmes.
Red Tape: The ribbon that was once used to bind government
documents; the term now stands as the symbol of excessive official
formality and over attention to prescribed routines.
Regulation: The totality of government controls on the social and
economic activities of its citizens; the rulemaking process of those
administrative agencies charged with the official interpretation of laws.
Synergy: The enhanced result of two or more people, groups or
organisation working together. In other worlds one of one equals three!
it comes from the Greek “Synergia”, which means joint work and
cooperative action. The word is used quite often to mean that
combining forces produces a better product.

1.11 References and Further Reading

Baker, R.J.S., 1972, Administrative Theory and Public Administration,

Hutchinson University Library, London.
Bhattacharya, Mohit, 1998, New Horizons of Public Administration,
Jawahar Publishers & Distributors, New Delhi.
Bertram, M. Gross, 1964, The Managing of Organisations, The
Administrative Struggle, The Free Press of Glencoe, Collier-
Macmillan., London.
Denhardt, Robert B. and Joseph W. Grubbs, 2003, Public
Administration: An action Orientation, Fourth Edition, Thomson
(Wadsworth), Canada.
Prasad, D. Ravindra, V.S. Prasad and P. Satyanarayan, 2004,
Administrative Thinkers (Ed), Sterling Publishers, New Delhi.
Pugh, D.S., 1985, Organisation Theory: Selected Readings (Ed),
Penguin Books, Middlesex, England.
Sharma, M.P. and B.L. Sardana, 1988, Public Administration in Theory
and Practice, Kitab Mahal, New Delhi.
Srivastava, Om Prie, 1991, Public Administration and Management,
The Broadening Horizons, Volume 1, Himalaya Publishing House,
Delhi.

1.12 Activities

24
1. Consider public administrative operations with which you
have recently dwelt or are familiar as a functionary or as a
citizen.

2. The differences between public administration and private

administration are profound. Explain how the two fields
differ and why the two terms are not interchangeable.

25
 UNIT 4 EVOLUTION OF PUBLIC

. Structure
4.0 Objectives
4.1 Invoduction
4.2 Why Study Evolutioh of the Subject?
4.3 Absolutist Traditions
4.4 Liberal Democratic Traditions
-
4.4.1 Politics Administration Dichotomy Approach
4.4.2 Structural Approach
4.4.3 Human Relations Approach
4.4.4 Behaviournl Approach
4.4.5 Development Approach
4.4.6 Public Policy Approach
4.4.7 Political Economy Approach
4.5 A Chart Indicating the Differences between Various Approaches
4.6 Marxian Traditions
4.7 Let Us Sum Up
4.8 Key Words
4.9 Some Useful Books
4.10 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

4.8 OBJECTIVES
This unit aims at explaining the evolution of Public Administration$ss:a significant area of
inquiry. After studying this unit you should be able to:
*.
'0 appreciate and summaribe thc importance of the study of the evqlution of Public
Administration
to distinguish between different traditions of academic inquiry in Public
Administration; and
identify and explain the different phases in the growth of the study of Public
Administration.

In this Unit we shall trace the historical evolution s f Public Adrriinistration as a field of
inquiry and also explain different traditions in the development of Public Administration.
Broadly, we have identified three traditions, viz. Absolutist, Liberal Democratic Bnd
Marxian, in the evolution of Public Administration. The clas~ificationis done for
ducative purposes rather than for the purpose of explaining their empirical implications.
The analytical frkne, we hope, will enable you to have a broad perspective on the
developments in Public Administration considered in' t~:rms of the impulses. ~deologkaior
otherwise behind them. This unit introduces you to diveilse traditions in thepractice
and theory of Public Adniinistration. Such a diversity hiis arisen mainly because of
differences in not only the history, culture and levels of development at various societies
but also the impulses shaping them at different times. Before discussing them in detail, let
Us briefly consider the importance of the study of the evc?lution of Public Administration,

4.2 WHY STUDY EVOLUTION OF T'HE SUBJECT?

\

Them have k x n few studies in the evolution of&ublic Adnrlinistration, although its
importance has been widely recognised. A reason Li the errbnqous impression that
The Nature of Public the past developments are of little consequence to the present ones with which we are most
Administration
actively concerned. But the question is whether the past can be separated fr0.m the present
without rendering our understanding of the present incomplete and inadequate.
I
Evolution refers to sgradual unfolding of development of things in the course of time.
when the past, present and future are considered in terms-of a continuum, the study of the
past or of history becomes all the more significant, The past not only foreshadows the
present but also serves as its matrix. History, in the wordsof [Link]. is an unending
dialogue between the past and the present. J,n this sense, the study of history has a
contemporary relevance. Indeed, it is necessary for the understanding of the contemporary
!
status of the subject and the critical issues therein, the genesis of which may be found'in
tHe past. There is much truth in the saying that 'a phenomenon can be understood only in a
historical context' Again, the study of different phases and traditions in the evolution of
Public Administration may also help in applying the 'lessons' or the indicators of the past
to the consideration of the development of the subject in the present. Broadly, the study of
e~olutionfulfils both theoretical and pragmatic purposes. From the theoretical point of
view, it helps to locate the subject in a broader frame of reference and from the practical
point of view it facilitate$ the use of the knowledge of the past-to further-the qevelopment
of the subject in the pres<n%:' ..
,3.
Check Your ,Progress 1
Note : i) Use thespaceI%IGw'fiIryour answer.
-. ii) Check your answer yith those at the end of the unit.
1) Describe the significance of study of evolution of,Public Administration.

In this section we shall discuss the absolutist tradition which antedates the other two-
Liberal Democratic and Marxian. Absolutist tradition refers to administrative traditions of
absolute monarchical regimes, where all powers areiconcentrated in tha monarchy. The
earliest work concerning it is Kautilya's Arthasastra, the most important,work on Public
Administration in ancient India. We confine our discussion'to the Indian t~adition'mainly .
for two reasons. Firstly,,sufficientinformation is not available on the absolutist
administrative traditions of other Asian societies. Secondly, the students of admidistration
should be acquainted with their own traditions in the field of Public Administration.
According to tradition, Kautilya, also known as Chanakya and Vishnugupta, was the Prime
Minister of Chandragupta ~aur~a,(32%298 B.C.); who founded the Maurya Dynasty of 1
.
Magadha (Bihar). Kautilya's treatise known as Arthasastra may be regarded as an anc~ent
Indian text-book of practical politics. It, according to s_bme,'ranksin importance with,
Manusmriti and Kamasastra and forms a triad with thpm in dealing with the thiee ' ,
imperativq of th8 social ~p@Iosophyof that time-Dharma, Kama, Artha. It, &Is mainly
with the Science Polity, which, according to Kautilya, is a combination of Science 9f
Wealth and Science of Government. I: Vittasastra (Economics) and Dandanjthi
(Statecraft)]. To Kautilya, finances provide the sinews of government and financial
conhiderations are paramount in the government's activities. Thus, his treatise adopts the
political economy approach to [Link] of the problems of governance. H.V.R
Iyengar described Arthasastra "as an exceptionally able dissertation both on the aims of.
'Jhe State as well as on practical means by which these aims can be achieved". Arthasastra
is bpth an analytical and a'perspe~tivedocument revealing amazing perception and
mastery of detail. ' -I
kautilya's #rtha&stya mainly discusses'thrde aspects of the science of Public .
Administration, viz. the principle& Public Administrhtibn, the' machinery of Government
7 *. 1
 and the management of personnel. The principles of administration are not explicitly dealt Evolution g!f Public
with in Arthasastra. They are implied by the functions of the mu~arch,ministers. etc. ah Administratibn
detailed in it. The machinery of Government as described in the Airthasastrla is mainly
related to the monarch. his relations with ministers, etc. The problems of higher level
personnel receive greater Attention than the lower level functionaries in Arthasastra.
Kautilya spelt out the importance of the science of Public Administration. According to
Kautilya, an administrator can adopt the art of Public Administration only if he is
conversant with the science of Public Adm,inistration. So it is necessary for the King, the
Crown Prince, the-High Priest and the ministers to be conversant with the science of
Administration. He emphasised the principles of authority, obedience! and discipline as
being central to the administration of the state. He considered principles like division of
work, hierarchy and. coordination important to the mechanism of internal organisation.
Further, Kautilya is, perhaps, the earliest known thinker to iwecognise the importance of
statistics in administration.
-..

Kautilya made a systerhatic study of the society and did not blindly accept the current
.views based on faith and tradition. Ancient Hindus held that the Vedas constitute the sole
source of law. But Kautilya laid down four distinct sources of law; namely, sacred
scriptures, t k rules laid down in Arthasastra, customs and edicts of kings. Each of these
he considers more authoritative thz$ the one preceding it. He explicitly states that when
the sacred law is in conflict with the corporal law the latter should prevail. Arthasastra is
secular in its tenor and puts politics in command over religion. According to Kautilya,
pligious considerations shoula not outweigh political considerations. The King according
to hi& should strive and mai'ntain the stability of the State and increase his power and
material resources by policy or subterfuge. TO this end he even proposed an elaborate
system of recruiting spies and training them. Some of these propositions of Kautilya are
termed Machiavellian. Here it is interesting to note the observations of H.V.R. Iyengar,
who said that "Kautilya was honest and stated frankly what today is hidden under dnttious
veil of secrecy'!.
Kautilya's 'Ideal State' was sorbething like a modem Welfare State under an all powerful
ruler.'I-Ie clearly required the State to provide for the maintenance of children, women, the
old, the infirm and the disabled. The State was to run agricultural farms, help the anisans,
and exploit the forest wealth and mineral resources for the benefit of the people at large.
Indeed, the basics of 'Welfarisq' can be traced in Kautilya's Arthasastra.
Kautilya advocated a strong centralised authority vested in the monarchy. As pointed out
b j ' ~ .Inamdar,
~. "the principles governing the democratic Pu6lic Administration are in
many respects different from the principles underlying .a monarchical P~blicAdministration
described in Arthasastra, as the sources and the configurations of authority in the two
systems aie different". The administrative system as discussed in Arthasastra centres on
the king. His orders are unquestionable. His interests are supreme. He is the source of
authority for all institutions. The fading away of the monarchical form led to other
'traditions to gxplain and understand the administrative systems in democratic societies.
However, it ihould be noted that the traditions of Public Administration as established by
. ...- .. for its emphasis on the Scifn.c,e of Public ~dmi~istration
~ r t h a s a s t r aare significant and
systematic analysis of the art of governance.
I' '

Check.Y~ur,.Pragf.~w 2.1 .
Note : i) Use the space below for your answer. , '
ii)' Check your &swer wi* th'ose;at the end of thevii-it.

1) Explaid Kautilya's vbws on Public Administration.

 ' I 1
-"
The Nature of Public
Administration 4.4 ~ I B E R A LDEMOCRATIC TRADITIONS .
Traditionally, the origins of Public Administration as a separate area of inquiry are traced
to Woodrow Wilson's essay, The Study of Administration. published in 1887. His
essay marks the beginning of systematic investigation into the field of Public
Administration. Since then the study of the subject passed through va+us phases, each
phase characterised by a particular paradogmatic approach. Broadly, seven phases are
identified for understanding the evolution of the subject in the broad paradigm of liberal
democracy. Let us briefly discuss each one of them. c +
4
4.4.1 Politics-Administration Dichotomy Approach
Woodrow Wilson, the father of modem Public Administration, considered politics and
administration as separate processes and attempted io,conceptually distinguish between the
two areas of study. A similar attempt was made by Frank Godnow, another exponent of
the dichotomy approach who observed that "politics has to do with policies or expressions
. of state while administration has to do yith the execution of these policies". This
distinction is made between policy making a"d policy execution. Policy making is \

regarded as the realm of politics and execution as the realm of Public, Administration.
Further, politics and Public Administration ard,diflerentiatedon the basis of their
institutional locations. The location of politi'cs is identified with therlegislature and the'
higher eqhelons of government where major policy-de~isionswould be made arld the
larger questions of allocation of values decided upon, The location of administration on
the other hand is identified with the executive a m of government-the bureaucracy. The
processes of administration, it was argued, have a certain regularity and concreteness alxtut
them, which can be successfully investigated. Thus it is possible to develop a science of .
Administration. l i,

4.4.2 Structural Approa~h

This apprpach is marked by. the tendency to reinforce the idea of politics-adrjlinistration
dichotom3 and to evolve a value-free 'Science of Management". '. .
The 'Public' aspects of Public Administration was virtually dropped at &is s t a g and the
I
focus was almost wholly on economy and efficiency. The questions of 'value' were not
. considered important to the new science of Administration. Politics as practised by the ,
politicians was considered irrelevant. Scientific Management for the efficient handling of
the 'business' of administratipn became the focus of interest. Principles of nrwagement I
were worked out as readymade aids ta practitioners. The administrative practitioners and.
the business schools joined hands to emphasise the mechanistic a s p c t of managemtf'nt
unaffected by the predilections of politicians and the failings of human"beings, . . I

The approach emphasised the s'tructure of the organisation. Structure is a device through
which human beings working in an organisation are assigned tasks and related tn one
'
another. It is believed that the effective [unctioning'of the organisation depends upon the
stivcture that a group af human beings build and operate. The structural approach was
criticised for the ambiguity of its principles, absence of scientific validity and its
mechanistic approach to human problems.

4.4.3 Human Relations Approach

The Hawthome experiments pioneered a movement which came to be known.& the :
Human Relations Approach to management. Its impact on Public Administrat#m WB$ &It,#
much more widely in the postwar period than before, This approach to organisational
analysis drew attention to the formation and effect of work groups in the orgqisation, the.
\
force of informal organisation in the formal setup, the phenomena of leadership and
conflicts and cooperation among growps in the organisational Betting. In short, ikc human
relations apprpach brought oup the limitations of the machine concept [Link] in 4
'Scientific Management' thought..By drawing attention to the social and psychologicd
factors of work situation, it underlined the importance of the "human side of th$
enterprise".
The k i a l psychologist ha3 extended the concern of human relationists by bringing in . '

additional knowltdge about the sensitivity to human compiinents. It is B i d at bai<ing.

about: (1) greater organisational productivity or effectiveness, and (2) greater hwme ..
 happiness and increased self-realisation. Proniinent writers. advwating this approach Evolution of Public
Administration
include Abraham Maslow, Douglas McGregor, Rensis [Link] Chris Argyris.
The human relations approach has been criticised for its manipulative orientatiog. It is ,
alleged that the aim of the movement is to manipulate the man in organisation td qchieve
higher productivity. It is also criticised for ignoring the institutional and social system
variable in understanding the organisation.
4.4.4 Behavioural Approach
Herbert Simon's '~dministrativeBehavi6ur' is a critique of the older Public Administration.
More impodantly, it sets forth the rigorous,requirements of scientific analysis in Public
Administration. Simon's conclusion abodt some of the classical 'Principles', was that they
were unscientifically derived and were "no mote than proverbs". He rejected the
politics-administrati~ndichotomy: and at the same time brought in the perspective of
logi .id positivism for the study of policy-making and the relation of means and ends.
Reflecting the perspectives and methodology of behaviouralism in psychology and social
psychology, Administrative Behaviour pleaded for the enforcement of scientific rigour
in Public Administration. The substantive focus w s on "decision-making", and as Simon
inhisted, "If any "theory' is involved. i t is that decision-making is the heart of \
administration, and that the vocabularj of administrative theory must be derived from the
logic and psychology of human choice".
Simon's approach provided an alternative detinition of Public Administratjon, and
widene'd the scope of the subject by relating it to Psychology, Sociology, Economics and
Political Science. In the development of the 'discipline' he identified two mutually
supportive streams of thought. One was engaged in the development of a pure science of
administration which called for a good grounding in social psychology; and the other in
the development of a broad range of values and in working out prescriptions for public
policy. 'The second approach was, in Simon's view, analytically far-ranging. It would
imply the assimilation of the whole of Political Science and Economics and Sociology as
well as Public Administration, Thus Public Administration, he feared, might lose its
ideptity in the second approach. But he favoured the co-existence of both the streams of
th&#t for the growth and development of+thediscipline. As lie said, "[Link] not
appear to be any reason why these two dcClelopments in the field of Public ,Arlmrnistration
should not go side by side, for they in no way conflict or contradict. But the workers in this
field must keep clearly in mind in which area, at any given time, they propose to work".

( 4.4.5 Developinent Approach

, The ecolo$ical approach to the study of administration originated in the wake of the
: emergence of the Third World and increasing realisation of irrelevanci of most of the
I wetern organisation theories to the study of administration. To quote Robert Dahl, "The
study of Public Administration inevitably must become a much more broadly based
discipline, resting not on a narrowly defined knowledge of techniques and processes, but
rather extqlding'to the varying historical, sociological, econdmic and other'conditioning
factors,,,.": ' h i s suggestion has been taken up as a challenge and efforts have been,rnade .
in the study of Public Administration in the developing countries in a bid to "establishing
propositioas about administrative behaviour which transcend national boundariesM.'Such
efforts have given rise to Comparative Public Administration and Development
Administration.

4.4.6 Public Policy Approach

The Social -Sciences' general concern for social engineering has resulted in the laying of
emphasis ?n public policy. The study of Public>Administrationhas also been influenced by
the public~policyperspective. The abandonment of politics-administration dichotomy
'
made the public policy approach agreeable to administrative analysis.
1 1

videi ice from the practical world of administration hqs brought out the criteria of a close
nexus between politics and administration. As governments seek to formulate and
implement more and more welfare programmes, the promotion of policy studies in pubtic '

Administrationgathers momentum. At this stage, the study of Public Administration has

been gaining !in m i a l relevance no doubt; but its boundarips as a descripgve study are not
asclearly distinguishable now as ,they used to he in the olden days of politics-
administration dichotomy. The discipline, to many Public Administration analysts, has
, gained in vigour and rigour, but it has suffered,a crisis of identity with diversificatiori and
strength. ' . J 34 .:,
ÿ be Nature of
Public
~dministration 4.4.7,PoIitical Economy Approach he

Another development,in the study of Public Administration is brought about by the

\
adoption of the political ecphorny approach to the analysis of administrative problems.
This is associated witB the moving of Political Science closer to Economics in the interest
of greater theoretical coherence and better policy guidance. Economists like Anthony
Downs and Gordon Tullock have gone over the boundary by experimenting with the
application of economic methods and models to. political problems. Thus Public
Administration as a branch of Political Science and on its own has moved'towards a liaison
with Economics.
Q e liberal democratic tradition in the evolution of Public Administration as described
above shows that, starting, with an assertion of indepkndent identity, it has moved towards
the assimilation of ideas, methods and techniques of different Social Science disciplines.
Thus the scope of the discipline seems to be broadening while the question ot ~hidentity
remains unanswered. ,
Check Your Progress 3
Note :i) use the spabe below for your answer.
ii) Check your answer with those given at the end of the unit.
1) Explain different phases in [Link] of Public'Administration'in Liberal r-
Democratic Traditions.
.......................................................................................................................................

;
\- .
....,.;........;:..; .......................................................................................................
A , ,
....*..
L. - .I

4.51 A CHART INDICATING THE DIFFERENCES ,

BETWEEN VARIOUS APPROACHES

Politics-Administration Structural Human Relations Behavioural
DichotomyApproach Approach Approach Approach

(1) Politics and ad- ( 1)A value-free (I) Emphasis on (1) Deals with the
rpinistration are Sciepce of Manage- the human side "inside" hunian
distinct, rnent. of the enterprise. being with a focus
on his values and
rationality.
* (2) ~diiticsis con- (2) The focus is oh (2) Brings out the (2) Decision-making
cerned with policy economy and limitation of the is considered to be
_ making. adminis- efficiency. machine concept of the heart of the
tration with organisation. adminismion.
execution ofblicy.

, (3)The location of
politics is
- (3) ?Public" aspec$,of
Public Admini+
, (3) Emphasis on the
social and psycho-
(3) Widens the scope
of the subject by
legislature and'khe tration was logical factors of relating it to Psy- .

-.
Cabinet; the dmppe'd. work situations. chology. Sociology
location of etc.
administration
the executive arm
of the' govewrnent.
(yl) A yalue-free I (4) Emphasis on the (4) Deals with the
Science of I structure. relationship
Management. among the people
working in organi-
sation.
Development Approach Public Policy Approach. Political Economy Approrcb
( I ) Emphasis on the study of (1) Emphasis on Public policy. (1) Empharis ~1the applicatim
the developmental aspect of economic methats arid
1 of the administration. models of political problem.
(2) Empl~asison historical, socio- (2TWith the fohulation and im- (2) Emphasis on the h b l i c
j economic, political factors plemeqtatioq of *elfarc pro- Admiiistration's closer inter- ,
wh~chconditi~ndevelopment. grammes, policy study relationship and interaction,
assumes greater significance. with ~ L i t i c ~ ~ pokles.
o m c
 I Evolution of Public
4 6 MARXIAN TRADITIONS I
Admlnlstration

The October Revolution of l9,I7 generated debate among the Marxists on the role of
bureaucracy in Russia. Butt the Marxist interest in the bureaucracy. organisation and
management became pronounced only in the decade following the Second World War and
developed in a number of directions.
We have to go back to Marx, to understand the classical Marxist view of bureaucracy.
Although Marx has not paid much attention to the concept of bureaucracy, hisviews dn
bureaucracy and its relation to the power structure of the society found in his major works
, provide an important clue to the understanding of the later developments in the M xist
thought on bureaucracy. His ideas on bureaucracy figure mainly in his wok. 'The%*
Brurnaire of Louis Bonaparte.? I4is ideas about bureaucracy can be dnderstood &hen
considered within the general framework of his theory of class conflict. the crisis bf .
. capitalism. and the emergence of communisrfi. In the wider context of class struggle Marx
regards bureaucracy as an instrument of the dominant ruling ciass, promoting its particular
interests,'lts existence and development thus have a transient and parasitic character. From
this point of view bureaucracy and further bureaucratisation become unavoidable in a
society divided into classes. Marx envisaged that with the abolition of the classes, the State
and its bureaucracy would 'wither away'. The "withering away" of the bureaucracy would
mean its gradual absorption into the society as a whole. Thus instead of having an
oppressive structure, Marx visualised that in a Communist society, the functions of the
bureaucracy would be taken over by the members of the society themselves. The
administrative tasks shedding their exploitative character, would come to mean
administration df things and not of people. This philosophic stance of Marx has hqd a great
influence on his followers as well as on his critics.
The October Revolution,of 19 17 in Russia and the establishment of socialist government
in many countries of the world in subsequent years led. to experimentation with Marxian
ideas. There has been in the Socialist world a proliferation of bureaucracy and a growing .
, tendency to apply Western management techniques. Lenin viewed the strengthening of the
,centralise'd bureaucracy in Post-Revolutionary Russia as an indication of the immaturity of
socialism and the inadequate development of forces of production. Lenin like Marx
, considered it a transitional phenomenon. In contrast, the critics of the system have put
forward theories regarding the bureaucracy as a "New Class", i.e. a newly emerged class
in Soviet Union and other socialist countries ruling in the name of proletariat. -,
' It is indisputable that Marxinrr siudies of bureaucracy,* its organisation and management
'

'
have added a new dimension of the study of Public Administration and'helped to develop
it. The attempts of Stewart Clegg and David Dunkerly, Nicos Mouzelis, Braveman, and
many others to build a radical organisation theory have led to some significant advances in
the study of Public Organisation. ~ndeed,the Marxian traditions hate placed the study of
Public Administration in the widg.r-perspective of social transformation.
Check Your Progress q
6
Note : i) Use the space [Link]-.-
answer
L..,.* .

ii) Check your answer with those given at the end'ofge unit.
1) Explain Marx's views'on bureaucracy.
 *-
The Nature of P~~hlic
Administration 4.7 LET US SUM UP
The evolution of Public Administration was examined in the framework of absolutist,
liberal den~ocraticand Marxian nraditions. The Stale in the ancient times was dominated by
an abso1utir;t monarchical system for a long time. I<autilya's ArtIaasastra describes the
science of Administration in relation to the authoritarian monarchy. Sornc of the principles
of administration described in 'Arthasastra' have rekvance to the Present time probably
because of the continuation of authoritarian traditions in the modem state. The Industrial
Revolution of the late 18th and 19th Century resulted in the emergence of a liberal
democratic state in many parts of the world. The rnoder~iPublic Administration is a
by product of the liberal democratic state. Different phases in the evolution o f Public
Administration in a liberal democratic state reflect those of the social transformation in
these societies. The events of the October Revolution of 19 17 in Soviet Union resulted in
the study of Public Administration from a Marxian perspective. Thc proponents and critics
of Marxism and socialist practices have enriched the field of inquiry in Public
Administration. The diversity of human experience in respect of governance and the
ideological moorings of the people provide a battle grourld fur the ideas and practices in
Public Administration.

4.8 KEPI WORDS

Corporal law : Law related to punishment.
Dichotomy : Division into two.
Edict : Order proclaimed by authority.
Paradigm : Example.
Proletariat : Class of industrial workers.

4 9 SOME USEFUL BOOKS

Bhattachaqa, Mohit, 1987. Public Adma'[Link]~n;
The World Press Private 1,td.: Calsutva.
Golernbiewski, Robert T., 1977. Pidhlic Ad~ninistrafionos D e v ~ I o ~ ~[Link];
in,~
(2 volumss) Marcel Dekker : New York.
tIall Inc.,
Nicholas Henry, 1980. Pzcblic Administration and C"utvlicsAfibit s; Pre~~oict.
Englewood cliffs: New Jersey.
Nigro, Aex A and Nigro, Lloyd G., 1980, Modern Flthltc Aiz'nlirai.~trarion;Harper and Row:
New York.
Rmd, Rstvindra D.,1989, Adazinistmtivr: Thir~kets;(Ed$),
Sterling Publishers : New Delhi.

Sharkansky, Ira, 1978. Public Admittistmtion-Policy Mubciptg in Conventional Agencies;

Wand McNally College Publishing Company: Chicago.

----
4.418 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROCiWESS
EXERCPSES - -
Check Your fiagrcss 1
1) See Section 4.2
Check YOME Progrw 2
1) See Section 4.3
P 1

Check Your FDpogrw 3

1) See Section 4.4
Check Your Progress 4
1) See Section 4.6
 UNIT 5 COMPARATIVE PUBLIC
ADMINISTRATION

Structure
Objectives
1ntrod:uction
What to Compare?
Levels of Analysis
The Range of Comparative Studies
5.4.1 Inter-institutional Analysis
54.2 Intra-national Analysis
5.4.3 Cross-national Analysis
5.4.4 Cross-cultural Analysis
5.4.5 Cross-temporal ~ n a l ~ s i s
Nature of Comparative Administrative Studies
5.5.1 Normative to Empirical
5.5.2 Ideographic to Nomothetic
5.5.3 Non-ecological 'to Ecological
Scope of Comparative Public Administration
Significance of Comparative Public Adn~inistration
Conceptual Approaches in Comparative Public Administration
5.8.1 Bureaucratic Approach
5.8.2 Behavioural Approach
5.8.3 General Systems Approach
5.8.4 Ecological Approach
5.8.5 Structural Functional Approach
5.8.6 Developme~~t Approach
Let Us Sum Up
Key Words
Some Useful Books
Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

After you have read this unit you should be able to:
9
a explain the significance of Comparative Public Administration

explain the nature and range of comparative studies; and

' describe the conceptual approaches in Comparative Public Administration.

, .
--
.5:1 INTRODUCTION
Dear student, comparisons of administrative'systems has had a long tradition. But a focus
on this aspect of administrative studies is about forty years old. Only after the Second
World War and with the emergence of new nations in Asia and Africa, a vigorous interest
, in wmpar*ve studies of Public Administration has evolved. Comparative Public
Administration, in simple terms, refers to a comparative study of government
administrativesystems hnctioning in different countries of the world. The nature of
Comparative Administration has vast ramifications and ranges From the narrowest of studies
'
to the broadest of analysis. To understand the meaning of Comparative Public
Administration, it would be desirable to look 8t the types of comparative public '
administration studies undertaken by scholars in the field. In this unit we shall examine the '
meaning, scope and nature of Comparative Public Administration. We shall also discuss its
conceptual ap$oaches.
 Contemporary
UNIT 21 CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES Challenges of
Liberalization,
OF LIBERALIZATION, Privatization and
Globalization
PRIVATIZATION AND
GLOBALIZATION

Structure

21.1 Introduction
21.2 Objectives
21.3 Liberalization: Definition, Theoretical approaches and ramifications
21.4 Theoretical approaches to Liberalization
21.5 Ramifications of Liberalization
21.6 Privatization: Definition, Forms and Impact
21.7 Forms of Privatization
21.8 Impact of Privatization in developing countries
21.9 Globalization: Definitions, Dimensions and challenges
21.10 Economic Globalization
21.11 Political Globalization
21.12 Cultural Globalization
21.13 Challenges to Globalization
21.14 Let Us Sum Up
21.15 Unit End Questions
21.16 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercise
21.17 References
21.18 Suggested Readings

21.1 INTRODUCTION
We all know we are in the era of liberalization, Privatization and
Globalization (LPG). In this era, the local market and production Units have
been integrated into international markets. Along with that, digital
technologies integrated people from various walks of life into a single
platform that they can get connected to through digital platforms. We added
this Unit was explicitly to bring the discussion on these issues in a broader
manner. Finally, the Unit talked about the impact of globalization on women
and the marginalized.

365
Gender Issues in
Agrarian Crisis
21.2 OBJECTIVES
After studying this Unit, You should be able to

Define liberalization, privatization and globalization;

Discuss theoretical understanding about the liberalization, Privatization
and Globalization;
Examine the ramifications of Liberalization, Privatization and
Globalization; and
Analyze the Impact of Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization on
women, other Genders and Marginalized.

21.3 LIBERALIZATION: DEFINITION,

THEORETICAL APPROACHES AND
RAMIFICATIONS
Liberalization refers to a relaxation of government regulations typically
concerning social and economic policies. Economic liberalization, thus,
refers to fewer government restrictions in economic matters and a heightened
importance placed on the participation of private companies. Economic
liberalism is a philosophy that supports laissez-faire capitalism, striving for
economic freedom and limited government.

It was developed during the Enlightenment in Western Europe and the

Americas. Often used pejoratively, the word neoliberalism currently is
utilized to refer to economic liberalization. The term neoliberalism was first
used by a German sociologist and economist Alexander Rüstow in the 1930s
but was only widely adopted in the 1960s. Neoliberalism and its predecessor,
classical liberalism, are premised upon the ideology that the state should
provide only limited basic goods and that the economic market can be both
efficient and productive while simultaneously satisfying human needs.
Liberal ideology is characterized by a commitment to Individualism, the
belief in the supreme importance of the human individual, implying strong
support for individual freedom.

Today, international financial institutions such as the International Monetary

Fund (IMF) and the World Bank are some of the greatest proponents of
economic liberalization. The expectations for economic liberalization include
increased efficiency in government along with a stronger economy with
growth and prosperity for all. As economies become more thoroughly
integrated through processes of globalization, trade liberalization is proposed
as an important element in economic growth. Trade liberalization is the
practice of removing or reducing the free flow of goods and services across
national boundaries. This is somet
countries have adopted trade liberalization agreements to ensure that
investing capital and the trading of goods are not hampered by government
366
restrictions. For instance, Canada, the United States, and Mexico Contemporary
Challenges of
implemented the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994, Liberalization,
Privatization and
resulting in the elimination or reduction of barriers to trade and investment
Globalization
between them. Thus, northern countries have pursued economic liberalization
by reducing restrictions on capital, opening markets, and privatizing some
Government institutions. In the global South, liberalization refers to the
above practices, but pressure is put on opening economies to foreign capital
and investments to a greater extent. This implies that the developing
countries are strongly encouraged to make foreign direct investment in their
own economies a priority. One way to promote foreign capital is to eliminate
any policy that could be seen as a barrier to attracting such investments and
similar trade prospects. Supporters of economic liberalization policies
contend that economies are strengthened when they are managed in
accordance with free-market principles. There is tremendous pressure on both
Northern countries and those of the global South to be competitive in the
global economy; proponents of economic liberalization argue that this can
best occur through open markets.

21.4 THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO

LIBERALIZATION
Economists have extensively theorized liberalization of both trade and capital
flows as well as the consequences for countries that have adopted policies to
promote free trade and free flow of capital. The notion that trade free trade,
unencumbered by government restrictions is welfare-enhancing is one of
the most fundamental doctrines in modern economics, dating back at least to
Adam Smith (1776) and David Ricardo (1816). But the subject has always
been marked by controversy because the issue facing most countries is not a
binary choice of autarky (no trade) or free trade, but rather a choice among a
spectrum of trade regimes with varying degrees of liberalization.

Most economists believe that the welfare effects of economic openness are
positive (exceptions include Stiglitz). One central facet of economic openness
is the removal of barriers to trade. According to the neoclassical perspective,
international exchange/trade renders the division of labor between and within
states more efficient. Moreover, generations of economists have embraced
the classical liberal viewpoint advanced by Ricardo (1921 [1817]) that a
unilateral move towards economic openness spurs growth. As international
financial institutions have embraced the neoliberal economic policies in
recent decades, many forms of international capital flows have risen
dramatically. Foreign direct investment, portfolio investment through country
funds, bank loans, bond lending, derivatives, and other financial instruments,
have all grown enormously. Both developed and developing countries have
increasingly opened their capital markets to foreign participation. In 1997,
the IMF endorsed a move toward amending the Articles of Agreement to call
for open capital flows. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development, World Trade Organization (WTO), and Bank for International 367
Gender Issues in Settlements has also increasingly sought international standards for the
Agrarian Crisis
liberalization and supervision of international investment flows.

Traditional economic theory is based on assumptions like perfect

information, perfect risk markets, perfect competition and no innovation. But,
of course, we do not live in such a perfect world. Modern economic theory
has argued that in the imperfect world in which we live, trade liberalization
can actually make everyone worse off. For instance, trade liberalization may
expose individuals and firms to more risk. For instance, the real meaning of
the Mexican banking crisis in the mid-1990s and the East Asian financial
crisis of 1997 is still far from clear, but both experiences have shown that
unfettered financial flows from advanced to emerging markets can create
profound destabilization. The problem, it seems, is that financial markets are
subject to certain key "market failures" that are exacerbated, rather than
limited, by globalization. Such dramatic experiences in many quarters are
leading many to question the pressures for rapid liberalization of international
capital flows. Unlike economists who make references to the advantages of
globalization for trade and capital flows, sociologists' contribution to
considering and understanding liberalization has been deeply connected with
globalization. Immanuel Wallerstein and other world systems theorists use
Marx's emphasis on class conflict to argue that the transnational flows of
capital and labor have created a capitalist world economy which ties together
core, periphery, and semi-periphery states. The capitalist world economy,
according to world-systems theory, leads to the formation of modern nation-
states and conditions all other aspects of social life. The British sociologist
Leslie Sklair, also critical of the "nation-state centrism" approach, postulates
that the transnationalization of the production of goods and services has
united the world into a single global system. In addition, for progressives like
Walden Bello, Martin Khor, David Korten, Jerry Mander, and others, global
economic processes reproduce great and growing inequalities of wealth and
incomes within and across countries.

21.5 RAMIFICATIONS OF LIBERALIZATION

Unfettered liberalization also has consequences for the environment.
Consider for instance environmental distortions, in many developing
countries, in the form of natural resources being subject to open access
coexisting with trade barriers. In the 1950s, many Latin American and some
South Asian and African countries, adopted a strategy of import substitution
of manufactures to encourage industrialization. Only recently have these
countries launched reforms targeted at the reduction of those trade barriers by
removing the import quantitative restrictions and tariffs on manufactures and
agricultural import substitutes and reducing export taxes in traditional, mostly
agricultural exports. The effect of trade liberalization on deforestation has
received much less attention from researchers despite the intense debate that
this issue generates. The elimination of trade barriers should be welcomed
368 according to any "clean" neoclassical trade model, as trade will bring
widespread gains. This position, characteristic of the constituents of free Contemporary
Challenges of
trade, clashes with that held by those who see in trade an engine of Liberalization,
Privatization and
environmental degradation. In particular, critics of free trade argue that trade
Globalization
intensification will lead to unsustainable logging rates in some developing
countries that are already heavy deforesters. When multiple distortions
coexist in an economy, the removal of one type of distortion (trade barriers)
if additional types of distortions (weak property rights) remain is not
necessarily welfare improving.

Joseph Stiglitz (2003), former Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of
the World Bank, asserts that the case for trade liberalization is far weaker
than most economists will admit. Those who are more honest fall back on
political arguments: it is not that trade liberalization is such a good thing; it is
that protectionism is such a bad thing. If more developing countries are to
benefit more from increased trade liberalization, there is a need for a fairer
trade regime; and if more people are to benefit from trade liberalization, there
exists a need to better manage trade liberalization. Countries could push to
move towards a more comprehensive agenda for fairer trade and better-
managed trade liberalization. This agenda will ensure that both the poor and
the rich, in both the developing and developed countries, share the fruits of
trade.

In recent years, the neoliberal economists (for example, Berg and Krueger,
2002; Bhagwati, 1994; Dollar and Kraay, 2001; Edwards, 1998; Henry, 2002;
Hussain, 1996; Krueger, 1997; Krugman, 1994; Vasquez, 2002) have sought
to establish the claim that economic liberalization unfailingly promotes
growth and reduces poverty in the developing countries. The argument goes
that liberalization of markets promotes perfection in economic organization
and management which, in turn, push forward growth and human welfare. An
impetus to and achievement of growth eventually reduce or alleviate poverty,
improve the standard of living, close the gap between the rich and the poor
and bring about convergence between states through faster growth in the
poorer countries. The best way to achieve economic growth, they argue, is to
abandon protectionist policies and seek rapid integration into the global
capitalist economy. They further claim that liberalization of capital accounts,
trade and investment regimes and privatization of national economies, in the
long run, will attract more foreign direct investment as well as portfolio
investment and thus create more employment opportunities for the poor.
Labour is the primary asset of the poor, and the establishment of labour-
intensive industries reduces unemployment, promotes living conditions and
thus breaks down the vicious circle of poverty. Referring to the declining
trend in the incidence of poverty in East Asia and some Latin American
countries, the neoclassical economists claim that the percentage of poor
people under neoliberal economic liberalization is declining as a whole with a
steady downturn on the world poverty curve.

Nuruzzaman (2005), in his article, contrary to the neoliberal claim, argue that
the post-cold war neoliberal regime of liberalization fosters conditions that 369
Gender Issues in instead of alleviating poverty, ensures its continued presence in developing
Agrarian Crisis
countries by shrinking their prospectus of economic growth. The article
further contends that neoliberal claim is an exaggeration of the benefits
global economic liberalization is supposed to sprinkle across the vast swathes
of territories and people in the developing world.

21.6 PRIVATIZATION: DEFINITION, FORMS

AND IMPACT
In the current literature, there is considerable diversity in the interpretations
of privatization owing to varying practical experiences, expert opinions, and
academic views in this regard. Thus, Daintith (1994:43) mentions that

adopted in different countries as a conveniently topical and attractive label

narrower definition of privatization denotes mainly the divestiture of public

assets to the private sector; a broader view of privatization tends to
encompass processes such as denationalization, deregulation, liberalization,
contracting out, competitive tendering, user charges, cuts in public

Parker, 1991:11; Martin, 1993:11; Murie, 1994:105). A simpler definition is

offered by Cowan (1990:6) for whom privatization is a process of
transferring assets, organizations, functions, and activities from the public
sector to the private sector. For others, the direct transfer of public ownership
and control to the private sector represents a more classic mode of
privatization; whereas the leasing and franchising arrangements between the
public and private sectors can be considered as partial privatization; and
reforms in subsidies, tariffs, taxes, and regulations may be viewed as factors
catalytic to privatization rather than privatization as such (De Walle, 1993:4).
However, it should be understood that contemporary privatization in
developing countries has been adopted as one of the main components of the
so-called structural adjustment program that incorporates not only
privatization, but also other complementary policy measures such as the
deregulation of pricing and marketing, liberalization of trade, reduction in
import tariffs, and exemption of foreign investors from taxes and labor codes,
and so on (Martin, 1993:76).

21.7 FORMS OF PRIVATIZATION

An effective mode of analyzing and understanding privatization is to examine
its various forms. For some scholars, privatization may take the following
major forms: (a) divestiture or the transfer of ownership and management to
the private sector; (b) sale of shares through tender or capital markets; (c)
transfer of management to the private sector without change in ownership; (d)
introduction of production contract while retaining procurement and
marketing functions; (e) profit-sharing with employees; (f) outright
370
liquidation; and (g) reduction in bureaucratic control without change in Contemporary
Challenges of
ownership (see Ahmed, 1995:186; De Walle, 1993:7-8). For Daintith Liberalization,
Privatization and
(1994:45), there are six major forms of privatization change in ownership
Globalization
(from the public to private sector), change in public activities or assets (in the
terms of their reduction), change in legal status of public provisions (such as
liquidation), change in economic status of the public sector (from direct
producer to indirect provider), and change in competitive environment (by
withdrawing monopoly rights of public enterprises). Jiyad (1995) offers an
exhaustive list of various forms of privatization under two major categories
the divestiture and non-divestiture options. The divestiture option includes
the direct sale (full or partial) of public assets to private investors, public
share offerings on stock markets, sales to investment or mutual funds, sales to
employees or management teams through ownership plans or employee buy-
outs, public auctions, and liquidation followed by the sale of assets. The non-
divestiture option, on the other hand, covers management contracts, leasing
and operating concessions, commercialization or corporatization, joint
ventures, and contracting out. In various degrees, most of these forms of
privatization were adopted in developing countries during the past two
decades.

Check Your Progress Exercise 1

Note: i. Use this space given below to answer the question.

ii. Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this Unit.
1. What are the forms of Privatization?

21.8 IMPACTS OF PRIVATIZATION IN

DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Among the national and international policy circles, there is not only a
dominant tendency to portray privatization as one of the most desirable
policies and to present its objectives or rationales in favorable terms
(discussed above), there is also an inclination to view its results or outcomes
mostly as beneficial. Due to this current trend of privatization-biased rhetoric,
this section examines more critical implications of privatization for various
social groups and classes with special reference to developing countries.
First, in terms of internal economic implications, the privatization period
hardly saw any significant improvement in the developing world in terms of
eradicating poverty, reducing unemployment, accelerating economic growth,
371
Gender Issues in overcoming trade imbalance, and reducing external debt and dependence.
Agrarian Crisis
Second, with regard to adverse social implications, privatization is likely to
worsen the situation of social inequality in developing countries it is
because when the profit-making state enterprises are privatized, the incomes
usually shift from the public exchequer representing all tax-paying citizens to
few affluent investors, and thus creating adverse distributional effect
(Ramanadham, 1993). Based on the prescriptions of the World Bank and the
IMF, it has become a common trend in various countries to reduce social
benefits and credit facilities for the poor, which has caused an increase in
poverty (discussed above), and expanded the income gaps between have and
have-nots (Huston, 1995:6).

Another critical social

entitlements or rights to basic social services such as education, health,
transport, and housing; and the diversion of resources allocated for these
services to other provisions such as tax reliefs and business subsidies that
benefit the business sector (see Martin, 1993:2). As the contemporary
regimes have reduced or eliminated food subsidies and social welfare
programs under the pressure of international agencies, the living standards of
poorer classes have fallen in many countries in South Asia, Latin America,
and Sub-Saharan Africa (Sarkar, 1991:2308; Smith, 1991:33).

Finally, in terms of critical political implications of privatization, there has

been a concern that this market-biased policy may be antithetical to
democratic institutions due to the diminishing public support for such a
policy that has negative effects on various state-run social programs
(Przeworski, 1993:132).

Another political implication of privatization has been the increased power of

(especially the trade unions) as a political force especially due to the

transfer of resources and decisions from the public sector to the private
sector, and the portrayal of labor unions as the causes of disorder in market
operations (Clements, 1994:90-99; Rentoul, 1987:2). During the postwar and
postcolonial periods, the working class acquired certain political rights to
influence state policies in their favor, which has eroded under privatization
due to the transfer of assets and policy measures to business enterprises.

21.9 GLOBALIZATION: DEFINITION,

DIMENSIONS AND CHALLENGES
Globalization as such and in its current sense first began to attract serious
scholarly attention in the 1990s. Sociologist Roland Robertson is widely
credited with giving the term its current usage in his seminal book on the
subject (Robertson 1992). Robertson makes clear that globalization, in his

372
 Contemporary
Challenges of
that it is concerned with phenomena that are constructed as global, whether or Liberalization,
Privatization and
not in all cases they actually are (Boli 2005).
Globalization

According to David Held, Anthony McGrew et al (1999) Globalization is not

a single process but involves four distinct types of change: i) it stretches
social, political and economic activities across political frontiers, regions and
continents, ii) it intensifies our dependence on each other, as flows of trade,
investment, finance, migration, and culture increase. Iii) it speeds up the
world. New systems of transport and communication mean that ideas, goods,
information, capital and people move more quickly, iv) it means that distant
events have a deeper impact on our lives. Even the most local developments
may come to have enormous global consequences.

Globalization can thus be defined as the intensification of worldwide social

relations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are
shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa (Anthony
Giddens).

The concept of globalization reflects the sense of an immense enlargement of

world communication, as well as of the horizon of a world market, both of
which seem far more tangible and immediate than in earlier stages of
modernity (Fredric Jameson).

Having discussed some of the definitions of globalization, various

dimensions of globalization has been discussed below.

21.10 ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION

Contemporary economic globalization can be traced back to the gradual
emergence of a new international economic order assembled at an economic
conference held towards the end of World War II in the New England town
of Bretton Woods. Under the leadership of the United States of America and
Great Britain, the major economic powers of the global North reversed their
protectionist policies of the interwar period (1918-39). In addition to arriving
at a firm commitment to expand international trade, the participants of the
conference also agreed to establish binding rules on international economic
activities. Moreover, they resolved to create a more stable money exchange
system in which the value of each country's currency was pegged

to a fixed gold value of the US dollar. Within these prescribed limits,

individual nations were free to control the permeability of their borders. This
allowed states to set their own political and economic agendas. Bretton
Woods also set the institutional foundations for the establishment of three
new international economic organizations. The International Monetary Fund
was created to administer the international monetary system. The
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, later known as the
World Bank, was initially designed to provide loans for Europe's post-war
reconstruction. During the 1950s, however, its purpose was expanded to fund 373
Gender Issues in various industrial projects in developing countries around the world. Finally,
Agrarian Crisis
the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade was established in 1947 as a
global trade organization charged with fashioning and enforcing multilateral
trade agreements. In 1995, the World Trade organization was founded as the
successor organization to GATT.

21.11 POLITICAL GLOBALIZATION

Political globalization refers to the intensification and expansion of political
interrelations across the globe. These processes raise an important set of
political issues pertaining to the principle of state sovereignty, the growing
impact of intergovernmental organizations, and the future prospects for
regional and global governance. Obviously, these themes respond to the
evolution of political arrangements beyond the framework of the nation-state,
thus breaking new conceptual ground. There has been a proliferation of
international governing or regulatory organizations and of international

and decision-making procedures around which actor expectations converge in

a given issue of international relations. In 1909 there were 37 IGOs
(intergovernmental organizations) and 176 INGOs (international non-
governmental organizations). By 1989 there were nearly 300 IGOs and 4624
INGOs. Some international agencies and organizations are more technical in
focus; at the other extreme bodies like the IMF, the UN and its satellite
organizations, international security organizations such as NATO and
regional organizations like the EU, are highly political.

There is a tendency for issues to be perceived increasingly as global in scope,

and thus requiring concerted global political action. An obvious example is
the environment. A series of environmental disasters throughout the world
heightened public consciousness. At the same time, the scientific
understanding was growing of the global nature of the biosphere, and the way
that human activities in one region can affect environmental conditions in
another, for instance, through pollution, deforestation or overgrazing. A
landmark in the international recognition of the importance of these global
issues was the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held
in Stockholm in 1972. The climate change conference of the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) subsidiary
bodies was convened in Bonn, Germany in June 2019.

21.12 CULTURAL GLOBALIZATION

Cultural globalization refers to the intensification and expansion of cultural
flows across the globe. Obviously, 'culture' is a very broad concept; it is
frequently used to describe the whole of human experience.

If we are talking about the 'cultural', we are concerned with the symbolic
construction, articulation, and dissemination of meaning. Given that
374
language, music, and images constitute the major forms of symbolic Contemporary
Challenges of
expression, they assume special significance in the sphere of culture. The Liberalization,
Privatization and
exploding network of cultural interconnections and interdependencies in the
Globalization
last decades has led some commentators to suggest that cultural practices lie
at the very heart of contemporary globalization.

Yet, cultural globalization did not start with the worldwide dissemination of
rock 'n' roll, Coca-Cola, or football. The expansive civilizational exchanges
are much older than modernity. Still, the volume and extent of cultural
transmissions in the contemporary period have far exceeded those of earlier
eras. Facilitated by the Internet and other new technologies, the dominant
symbolic systems of meaning of our age - such as individualism,
consumerism, and various religious discourses - circulate more freely and
widely than ever before. As images and ideas can be more easily and rapidly
transmitted from one place to another, they profoundly impact the way
people experience their everyday lives. Today, cultural practices frequently
escape fixed localities such as town and nation, eventually acquiring new
meanings in interaction with dominant global themes.

According to Robert Holton (2000), globalization has been associated with a

range of cultural consequences. These can be analyzed in terms of three
major theses, namely, homogenization, polarization, and hybridization. The
homogenization thesis proclaims that global culture is becoming standardized
around a Western or American pattern. While some evidence supports this
view, the presence of cultural alternatives and resistance to Western norms
suggests that polarization provides a more convincing picture of global
cultural development. Global interconnection and interdependence do not
necessarily mean cultural conformity. Culture, it seems, is harder to
standardize than economic organization and technology. Yet the idea of
polarization has its limits, too. The hybridization thesis argues that cultures
borrow and incorporate elements from each other, creating hybrid, or
syncretic, forms. Evidence to support this view comes mainly from popular
music and religious life. The cultural consequences of globalization are
therefore diverse and complex.

According to Biswajit Ghosh (2011), the process of globalization is much

broader, complex, and multifaceted. Today's social and cultural changes are
not unidirectional, and there are several contrary trajectories generating
processes like homogenization, pluralization, traditionalization, and
hybridization at the same time. In other words, "cultural globalization" does
not refer to the possibility of a single global culture; it rather signifies the
spread of plural cultural elements across the globe. Hence, instead of being a
threat to sociocultural identities, globalization has become a means for
constructing new identities, and hence it has inadvertently resulted in
pluralization.

375
Gender Issues in
Agrarian Crisis
21.13 CHALLENGES OF GLOBALIZATION
According to Mete Feridun, Folorunso Sunday Ayadi and Jean Balouga
(2006) major disadvantage of globalization is that it is always swept under
the rug is the environmental problem. In other words, 'openness' to
international markets affects pollution levels in developing nations, especially
in Africa, and the magnitude of this impact can be enormous in view of the
lax environmental regulations in these countries vis-à-vis the rest of the
world. The new dynamics of trade have increasingly created global and
unfettered markets for trade and investment, significantly increasing the
destructive impact of economic activity upon the Earth. These dynamics are
exhausting the world's natural resource endowment and ecological carrying
capacity at such a deleterious rate they jeopardize the planet's ability to
support future generations.

Although globalization may not be the only factor involved in growing social
inequality, it does seem safe to conclude that it has produced winners and
losers on both the individual and country levels. The increasing gap between
the haves and the have-nots raises the question of fairness. Intense debates
over the fairness of the competitive advantages held by various countries are
fought out at World Trade Organization meetings and trade negotiations.
Increasingly, there are expressions of concern about the threat to political
stability, because historically large, apparently insurmountable gaps between
rich and poor have been a factor in revolutions (Marquand, 1998). In the

inequality is the most serious problem facing

In the words of Biswajit Ghosh, "because of globalization resulting in

pluralization, the challenge today is for us to recognize and respect plurality

21.15 LET US SUM UP

In this Unit, we discussed elaborately Liberalization, Privatization and
Globalization. The author started by defining the terms. Later he explained
the theoretical understanding of the terms. Finally, the author explained the
ramifications of Liberalization, Globalization and Privatization in various
sectors. In the section Globalization, he talked about various forms of
Globalization like political Globalization, economic Globalization and
cultural Globalization. When we talk about Globalization, it is not only
economic Globalization; Globalization happened in the culture and political
field.

21.16 UNIT END QUESTIONS

1. What is Liberalization?

376 2. Explain the theoretical understanding of Privatization.

3. How Cultural globalization will have a impact on women and other Contemporary
Challenges of
genders? Explain Liberalization,
Privatization and
Globalization
21.17 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS
EXERCISES
Check your Progress Exercise 1

1. following major forms: (a) divestiture or the transfer of ownership and

management to the private sector; (b) sale of shares through tender or
capital markets; (c) transfer of management to the private sector without
change in ownership; (d) introduction of production contract while
retaining procurement and marketing functions; (e) profit-sharing with
employees; (f) outright liquidation; and (g) reduction in bureaucratic
control without change in ownership (see Ahmed, 1995:186; De Walle,
1993:7-8). For Daintith (1994:45), there are six major forms of
privatization change in ownership (from the public to private sector),
change in public activities or assets (in the terms of their reduction),
change in legal status of public provisions (such as liquidation), change
in economic status of the public sector (from direct producer to indirect
provider), and change in competitive environment (by withdrawing
monopoly rights of public enterprises). Jiyad (1995) offers an exhaustive
list of various forms of privatization under two major categories the
divestiture and non-divestiture options. The divestiture option includes
the direct sale (full or partial) of public assets to private investors, public
share offerings on stock markets, sales to investment or mutual funds,
sales to employees or management teams through ownership plans or
employee buy-outs, public auctions, and liquidation followed by the sale
of assets. The non-divestiture option, on the other hand, covers
management contracts, leasing and operating concessions,
commercialization or corporatization, joint ventures, and contracting out.
In various degrees, most of these forms of privatization were adopted in
developing countries during the past two decades.

21.18 REFERENCES

London: Routledge. pp.181-192.

Berg, A. & A. Krueger (2002) "Lifting All Boats: Why Openness Helps Curb
Poverty," in Finance & Development, Vol. 39, No. 3.

Bhagwati, Jagdish (1994) "Free Trade: Old and New Challenges," in The
Economic Journal, 104, March issue.

Boli, J. (2005). Contemporary Developments in World Culture. International

Journal of Comparative Sociology, 46(5 6), 383 404. [Link] 377
Gender Issues in /0020715205058627
Agrarian Crisis
Grand

Practices. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter & Co., pp.87-104.

Cowan, L.G. (1990). Privatization in the Developing World. New York:

Greenwood Press.

Thomas Clarke (ed.), International Privatisation: Strategies and Practices.

Berlin: Walter de Gruyter & Co. pp.43-77.

Nations (ed.), Methods and Practices of Privatization. New York: United

Nations. Pp 3-20.

Dollar, D. & Aart Kraay (2001) Trade, Growth and Poverty (Washington,
D.C.: The World Bank).

Edwards, Sabastian (1998) "Openness, Productivity and Growth: What Do

We Really Know?" in The Economic Journal, Vol. 108, No. 447.

Feridun, M., Ayadi, F. S., & Balouga, J. (2006). Impact of Trade

Liberalization on the Environment in Developing Countries: The Case of
Nigeria. Journal of Developing Societies, 22(1), 39 56.
[Link]

Giddens, A. (2000). Runaway world: How globalization is reshaping our

lives. New York: Routledge.

Ghosh, B. (2011). Cultural Changes and Challenges in the Era of

Globalization: The Case of India. Journal of Developing Societies, 27(2),
153 175. [Link]

t and Keith Hartley (eds.), Privatization and

Economic Efficiency. Aldershot: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd. pp.11-25.

Held, D., McGrew, A., Goldblatt, D., & Perraton, J. (1999).

Globalization. Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and
International Organizations, 5(4), 483-496. DOI: 10.1163/19426720-
00504005.

Henry, K. (2002) "Towards Opportunity and Prosperity - Globalization,

Poverty and Inequality: Friends, Foes or Strangers?" address to 2002
Economic and Social Outlook Conference on "Towards Opportunity and
Prosperity," Melbourne Institute and the Australian Treasury. Available at
[Link].~.gov,auldocuments/266/~ITMI~.

The ANNALS of
the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 570(1), 140 152.
378
[Link] Contemporary
Challenges of
Liberalization,
Hussain, Ishrat (1996) "Globalization and Liberalization: An Opportunity Privatization and
to Reduce Poverty" in UNCTAD, Globalization and Liberalization: Effects Globalization

of International Economic Relations on Poverty (Geneva: The United

Nations).

-
International Herald Tribune, 10 March, p.6.

ion in the

Eastern Studies: Ethnic Encounter and Culture Change, Joensuu, Finland, 19-
22 June 1995.

Krueger, Anne O. (1997) "Trade Policy and Economic Development: How

We Learn," in The American Economic Review, Vol. 87, No. 1.

Krugman, Paul (1994) Peddling Prosperity: Economic Sense and Non-sense

in the Age of Diminished Expectations (New York: W. W. Norton).

Martin, Brendan (1993). In the Public Interest: Privatization and Public

Sector Reform. London: Zed Books Ltd.

Marquand, D. (1998). The new reckoning. Cambridge: Polity

Mohammed Nuruzzaman (2005) Economic liberalization and poverty in the

developing countries, Journal of Contemporary Asia, 35:1, 109-127, DOI:
10.1080/00472330580000071

-
(ed.), International Privatisation: Strategies and Practices. Berlin: Walter de
Gruyter & Co. pp.105-118.

Bresser Pereira, Jose Maria Maravall, and Adam Przeworski (eds.),

Economic Reforms in New Democracies: A Social Democratic Approach.
New York: Cambridge University Press. pp.132-198.

Ramanadham, V.V. (1993). Constraints and Impacts of Privatization.

London: Routledge.

Rentoul, John (1987). "Privatisation: The Case Against." In Julia Neuberger

(ed.), Privatisation: Fair Shares for All or Selling the Family Silver? London:
PAPERMAC, Macmillan. pp.1-35.

Robertson, R. (1992) Globalization: Social Theory and Global Culture. Sage,

Newbury Park, CA

-
379
Gender Issues in 2310.
Agrarian Crisis

Management of Social and Economic Activities. London: Management

Development Programme, Commonwealth Secretariat. pp.27-43.

Vasquez, lan (2002) "Globalization and the Poor" in Independent Review,

Vol. 7, Issue 2.

21.19 SUGGESTED READINGS

Adams, S. (2010). Privatization and National Development: A Case Study of
Ghana. Public Organization Review, 11(3), 237-253. DOI: 10.1007/s11115-
010-0119-2

Farazmand, A. (2002). Privatization and Globalization: A Critical Analysis

with Implications for Public Management Education and Training.
International Review of Administrative Sciences, 68(3), 355-371. DOI:
10.1177/0020852302683004

Farazmand, A., & Pinkowski, J. (2006). Handbook of globalization,

governance, and public administration. Boca Raton, FL: Auerbach
Publications.

Haque, Shamsul. (2004). Governance and Bureaucracy in Singapore:

Contemporary Reforms and Implications. International Political Science
Review - INT POLIT SCI REV. 25. 10.1177/0192512104042314.

Islam, M., & Farazmand, A. (2008). Perceptions of Civil Servants Toward

Privatization and Development: A New Exploratory Study. Public
Organization Review, 8(1), 37-52. DOI: 10.1007/s11115-008-0047-6

Miller, H., & Simmons, J. (1998). The Irony of Privatization. Administration

& Society, 30(5), 513-532. DOI: 10.1177/0095399798305002

Ritzer, G. (2012). The Wiley-Blackwell encyclopedia of globalization.

Chichester [England]: Wiley Blackwell.

Robertson, R. (2011). Globalization. London: Sage.

380
UNIT 21 NEW PUBLIC MANAGEMENT PERSPECTIVE

Structure

21.0 Learning Outcome

21.1 Introduction

21.2 New Public Management Perspective: Genesis

21.2.1 Increase in Government Expenditure

21.2.2 Influence of neo-liberalism

21.2.3 Impact of New Right Philosophy

21.2.4 Public Choice Approach

21.2.5 Washington Consensus

21.3 New Public Management Perspective: Salient Features

21.4 Impact of New Pubic Management Perspective

21.5 New Public Management Reforms: An Appraisal

21.5.1 Clash of Values between Traditional Public Administration and New

Public Management
21.5.2 Managerial Predominance over Policy Capacity
21.5.3 Lack of Clarity of Relationship between Citizens and Political
Representatives
21.5.4 Absence of a Clear Cut Concept of Accountability
21.5.5 Promotion of Individualistic Ideas in Place of Collective Interests
21.5.6 Citizen vs. Customer Orientation

21.6 Conclusion

21.7 Key Concepts

21.8 References and Further Reading

21.9 Activities

1
21.1 LEARNING OUTCOME

After going through this unit, you should be able to:

• trace the genesis of New Public Management perspective;

• highlight its salient features;
• examine the impact of New Public Management perspective; and
• appraise the New Public Management response.

21.1 INTRODUCTION

Globalisation, which is multi-faceted, is having a tremendous impact on various facets of

life in the twenty first century. It has also influence on various disciplines. While an
economist looks at globalisation as removal of trade barriers, promotion of foreign direct
investment, entry of multinational enterprises, a sociologist examines it from political,
cultural and social perspectives. The onset of globalisation is leading to significant
changes in the roles of individuals and institutions across the world. Markets have come
to occupy a key place. The nature of state is also undergoing some transformation. You
have already discussed this aspect in detail in Course-011 on State, Society and Public
Administration of this Programme.

Globalisation has ushered in other changes such as interdependencies among the

states, reduction of trade barriers, increasing use of information technology,
communication revolution, blurring of boundaries and realignment of public and private
sectors. These developments have a profound influence on public administration.

The transformation of economies, in the past few years, from command to

market-oriented, all over the world has raised various concerns about the failure of the
‘traditional’ state model to implement appropriate policies and deliver effective services.
A need for developing an alternative model of administration was being felt. During
1980s, debates and discussions centred around making a deliberate conscious
choice between the ‘old’ public administration which relied on bureaucratic efficiency
and the present day new perspective of public administration with a significant
management orientation which is labelled ‘New Public Management’ (NPM). This

2
perspective led to introduction of a series of managerial concepts and techniques in the
governmental systems, with a view to making public organisations efficient, economical
and effective. NPM attempts to prescribe ways for renewed governmental functioning in
the globalisation scenario.

At attempt is made in this unit to trace the emergence of New Public Management
Perspective and highlight its salient features. The reforms initiated in several countries
are highlighted and an appraisal of this perspective is done.

21.2 NEW PUBLIC MANAGEMENT PERSPECTIVE: GENESIS

Public administration, as we have discussed in the previous units of this Course since its
inception in 1987, advocated a conceptual distinction between policy and administration.
It emphasised on the state discharging the political, economic and social functions and
assigned importance to bureaucracy as an instrument of state of the implementation of
policies and programmes. The emphasis of public administration all along has always
been promotion of public interest, assuring equity, responsiveness, and representativeness
to the citizens.

The impact of globalisation on public administration has been significant, emphasising

change, reinventing pubic administration with a management orientation. From the early
1980s, serious challenges have been posed to administration to reduce reliance on
bureaucracy, curtail growth of expenditure and seek new ways of delivering public
services. New Public Management Perspective prescribes a set of reform measures of
organising and offering of services, with market mechanisms, to the citizens. Beginning
1980s, there has been a widespread attack on public sector and bureaucracy as the
governments all over began to consume scarce resources. The expansion of government
has been into too many areas, which could as well be in the domain of private sector.
Bureaucracy was considered to be too unwieldy, unresponsive, inefficient, ineffective,
and unable to withstand the competition. A culmination of several factors has given too
rise to NPM perspective. These include:

3
21.2.1 Increase in Government Expenditure

During the 1970s and 1980s, the excessive increase in government expenditure, in many
counties brought to light the wastage, mis-management, increasing debts coupled with
corruption and inefficiencies in governmental operations. The rise in government
expenditure along with poor economic performance led to the questioning of the need for
large bureaucracies. Hence, attempts were initiated to slow down and reverse
government growth in terms of increasing public spending as well as staffing. This
paved the way for a shift towards privatisation, quasi-privatisation of certain activities,
and moving away from core government institutions.

21.2.2 Influence of neo-liberalism

There has been a powerful influence of neo-liberal political ideology during the 1980s
and 1990s. You have already discussed about this in detail in Course 1. Neo-liberalism
favoured dominant presence of market forces than the state. Concepts such as efficiency,
markets, competition, consumer choice, etc. had gained predominance. Neo liberalism
favoured cutting back of welfare state, maximising individual liberty and freedom, and
encouraging market mechanisms leading to equitable outcomes. Free markets
unrestrained by government, removal of barriers to facilitate the free flow of goods and
money and privatisation were considered significant measures for economic growth. The
then prevailing scenario favoured roll back by the state and the space created by it to be
filled with the private sector. The state was expected to promote the efficient functioning
of markets.

21.2.3 Impact of New Right Philosophy

The New Right Philosophy propagated in the 1970s in UK as well as USA, favoured
markets as more efficient for allocation of resources. Excessive reliance on state was not
considered appropriate and it propagated lesser role for it and opted for self-reliance. The

4
new right denounced the role of bureaucracy, and proposed minimal role for state in
provision of social assistance. This perspective had a global impact in generating a
consensus about the efficiency of market forces. Markets were considered to play a key
role in the creation of economic wealth and employment.

21.2.4 Public Choice Approach

The public choice approach had a major impact on the evolution of the new public
management perspective. Economists such as Tullock, Niskanen, Buchanan propounded
it and the central tenet of their approach is that all human behaviour is dominated by ‘self
interest’. The human being is considered to be a utility maximiser, who intends to
increase net benefits from any action or decision. The voters, politicians and bureaucrats
are considered to be motivated by self interest. The vote maximising behaviour of
politician and self-aggrandisement bureaucrats tend to affect the collective interests of the
society. There are very few incentives to control costs. Such behaviours and attitudes,
according to the public choice theorists, lead to an increase in size and costs of
government and inflated departmental budgets. Bureaucracy, being the core of public
administration, is held responsible for the declining quality of public services. This
thinking led to the new paradigm of government sensitive to market forces, which meant
remodelling of government according to concepts of competition and efficiency. The
efficiency of institutions and processes such as market and decentralised service delivery
has become attractive as a consequence of this approach.

21.2.5 Washington Consensus

The 1980s and 1990s have been characterised by questioning of the role of state in
economic development. It was increasingly felt that the poverty and economic
stagnation, especially in the developing countries, was the result of the state undermining
the operation of market forces. The need for bringing about adjustments in the economy
on various fronts such as financial and banking sectors, and reduced role for the state in
economic development have been considered indispensable. This led to the emergence

5
of Washington consensus. It basically comprises the reform measures promoted by
Brettonwoods institutions (International Monetary Fund and World Bank), the US
Congress and Treasury, and several think tanks, which aimed to address the economic
crisis, especially by Latin American countries during the 1980s. This is also termed as
structural adjustment cum stabilisation programme which emphasised the need for sound
micro economic and financial policies, trade and financial liberalisation, privatisation and
deregulation of domestic markets. This strategy, gradually adopted in many developing
countries, promoted minimal state that refrains from economic intervention, which
focuses on sound monetary policy, provision of education, health and infrastructure. This
has also been responsible for giving a push to market forces.

The emergence of NPM perspective has been one of the recent striking trends in the
discipline of public administration. Its focus basically is on the following:

1. Restructuring government operations along market lines;

2. Distinguishing strategic policy formulation from implementation;
3. Emphasising performance evaluation and quality improvement; and
4. Stressing upon effective services provision and value for money for the
customer.

21.3 NEW PUBLIC MANAGEMENT PERSPECTIVE: SALIENT FEATURES

New Public Management Perspective has subjected to critical questioning the size, role
and structure of public sector. Concepts such as efficiency of state vs. market,
managerial orientation in governmental activities, contracting out and privatisation
started gaining prominence in many countries. NPM intendeds to promote a new
thinking that:

• the present changing scenario requires government reforms;

• there is a need for change in the mindset of government from mere execution of
tasks to performance orientation; and

6
• public organisations need to be risk-taking, mission-oriented and service-oriented.

The core characteristics of NPM perspective include:

• Productivity: gaining more services from lesser revenues

• Marketisation: replacing traditional bureaucratic structures, mechanisms and
processes with market strategies
• Service orientation: keeping the needs of customers as a priority
• Decentralisation: transferring service delivery responsibilities to lower levels
• Policy-administration dichotomy:making a distinction between policy and
execution

In addition, it has certain distinct characteristics as follows:

1. An emphasis on managerial skills to complement policy-making skills

2. Disaggregation of large public organisations into separate self-contained
units having their own goals, plans and requisite autonomy.
3. Adoption of private sector managerial practices by public sector
4. Setting explicit measurable performance standards for public organisations
5. Controlling the performance of public organisation by pre-determined
output measures
6. Preference for private ownership, contracting out and competition in
public service provision.
7. Promoting competition both among public sector organisations as well as
public and private sectors.
8. Strengthening of strategic capacities at the centre.
9. Making services more responsive to the needs of the customer and
ensuring value for money.
10. Steering role of government rather than a direct provider of goods and
services
11. Use of information technology to facilitate better service delivery.

7
21.4 IMPACT OF NEW PUBLIC MANAGEMENT PERSPECTIVE

The New Public Management Perspective had a major impact on administrative systems
of western democracies by the mid 1980s. The economic recession arising out of oil
crisis of the 1970s, public sector cutbacks, limiting public expenditure, striving towards
productivity, efficiency, and economy provided impetus to the reforms. A host of
initiatives were ushered in the form of creation of new agencies, restructuring,
privatisation, contracting out, etc. These attempted to address certain key concerns that
include productivity, marketisation, service orientation, decentralisation, and
accountability for performance.

In the United Kingdom, the public administrative systems underwent a major

transformation since 1979 wherein the Thatcher government initiated key reforms. The
measures favoured rolling back the state, free markets and limited government. With a
view to bringing in economy in the public sector, a series of reviews into various aspects
of the work of departments, to examine specific policies, activities and functions to bring
about savings, were carried out. An Office for Public Service was created in the cabinet
office, entrusted with the responsibility of overseeing the reorganisation of government.
The various activities of the different ministries were examined by adopting a procedure
known as ‘prior options review’. This attempted to analyse the functions of government,
whether the work being done was necessary, or can be done away with, or privatised or
decentralised. This effort yielded significant results.

Financial devolution has been a major initiative in Britain at the central government level,
introduced in 1982. Under Financial Management Initiative (FMI), measures were
directed towards improved financial delegation, financial control focusing on clear-cut
objectives, measuring performance against them and assessing the costs involved in
achieving them.

8
The basic tenet of NPM is decentralisation with multiple agencies performing the
activities instead of a single agency. ‘Next steps’ or executive agencies were created for
discharge of a specific set of activities. These comprise civil servants and chief
executives responsible to the concerned Ministry. Each agency has to set out objectives
and responsibilities in the form of an agreement. The key financial, service and quality
targets are to be indicated in a business plan.

New Public Management attempts to give an explicit place and status to the user of
public services. The government of John Major, intended, in 1991 to bring market closer
to the state through citizens’ charters. The citizens’ charter programme insisted on public
organisations to draw, publish and work towards a clear set of service standards. A
charter indicates:

• clear standards of performance for the services used by individuals and other
organisations
• accurate information about services and their cost
• courteous and helpful service
• access to redressal mechanisms

The basic principles of citizen’s charters are openness, information, transparency,

accessibility and redressal. A citizen’s charter Unit was set up in the cabinet office and
several charters were formulated.

Contracting out of public services was introduced in UK during 1992, covering a variety
of services such as street cleaning, garbage collection, etc. Gradually it was extended to
other areas such as health and social care services. Privatisation of public-owned
enterprises was initiated in areas of gas, electricity, water supply, etc. To monitor the
activities of private entities, set service standards, prices of privatised utilities, regulatory
organisations have also been set up. Public private partnerships in financing of new
public facilities, including transport projects, roads, hospitals, museums, etc were
initiated.

9
In USA, the concept of entrepreneurial government enunciated by David Osborne and
Ted Gaebler (1992) made an elaborate case for transforming the bureaucratic government
into an enterprising government that is responsible to citizens needs in a market-oriented
manner. We have already discussed in detail about this in Unit 16 in Course 1. There
has been a general feeling amongst the citizens of many democratic countries, especially
USA, that public administration is inept, wasteful and this was indicated by the public
opinion polls conducted in USA in 1993. The latter necessitated a critical investigation
of the functioning of the American government structure.

In the U.S.A., in 1993 under the influence of Osborne and Gaebler’s views of
entrepreneurial government, the then Vice-President Al Gore, had initiated National
Performance Review (NPR). This report was entitled ‘From Red Tape Results: Creating
a Government that Works Better and Costs Less’. The basic objective of this has been to
transform the culture of federal organisations by making them performance-based and
customer-oriented and to prescribe a new type of government that functions cheaply and
efficiently. It identified adherence to certain steps which include among others: putting
customers first, making service organisations compete, empowering employees to get
results, and decentralising decision making power. The NPR promoted certain measures
in achieving the above-mentioned objectives.

Cutting Red Tape: The goal was to cut unnecessary red tape and to achieve this certain
steps were proposed. They included:

a) streamlining of budgeting processes;

b) decentralisation of personnel policy to promote effective appointment,
promotion, reward, resignation policies; and
c) abolition of insignificant rules.

Putting Customers First: This gave importance to citizens as users of public services
and proposed to:

10
 a) provide scope to customers to voice their problems;
b) dismantle government monopolies; and
c) utilise market mechanisms to solve certain problems.

Empowering Employees to Get Results: This aimed to stimulate employees in the

provision of high quality results through:

a) decentralised ways of functioning;

b) emphasing responsibility for results;
c) education and training; and
d) improvement in work environment.

Cutting Back to basics: This meant return to the core activity of government through:

a) investing in effectiveness of government institutions;

b) reformulating the programmes to save costs; and
c) eliminating unnecessary tasks and activities.

The reinventing government initiative attempted to create a government that works better
costs less and gets better results.

The Western countries, many state and local governments adopted these measures. For
example, Oregon in the U.S. initiated a Benchmark Programme for establishing clear,
quantified goals for improving health, education, housing, public safety and so on. This
enabled the government agencies and service institutions to assure citizens, on the
achievement of results or progress. Research studies indicate that there has been
significant savings in the costs of government, reduction in the number of positions and
field offices. The reforms continued under George Bush in the President’s Management
Agenda. The agenda focused on strategic management of human capital, competitive out

11
sourcing, improved financial performance, expanded electronic government and budget
and performance integration.

In the Australian government, the adoption of NPM measures aimed at slimming the state
and use of market mechanisms in provision of services. Certain activities were
outsourced. Partial user-pay charges for health and education services were introduced.
Privatisation of government business enterprises was also undertaken. Service charters
were introduced in all government departments and business enterprises. Public service
reforms were also ushered in to make the system more efficient, flexible, responsive,
performance-oriented, accountable through performance-based pay system, and
decentralisation, etc.

In New Zealand, corporatisation of government commercial enterprises, contractual

relationships between government and civil servants to ensure accountability,
performance orientation and and customer service were initiated. A Senior Executive
Service (SES) was created comprising the Chief Executives of government departments
and a new group of senior officials. They were appointed on Five-year renewable
contracts. To examine the social consequences of corporatisation, a Specialist Social
Impact Unit (SIU) was set up. The SIU was entrusted with the responsibilities of
identification of mechanisms by which central government could work constructively
with regions, communities and employer organisations during transition, policy areas
where the government might need to consider alternative means of meeting social
objectives, issues which might be treated as non-commercial objectives and funded on a
contractual basis. Contracting out certain services to the outside agencies by local
government bodies was also resorted to; for example, though education and health
services are publicly funded, the delivery of these services has been contracted out.
Charters are formulated, between the minister and boards of trustees in case of
management of schools, incorporating broad guidelines in the form of locally negotiated
goals and requirements. The reforms in New Zealand aimed at reducing the size of the
core public service, setting up new form of state-owned enterprises, segregating policy

12
and service delivery activities, measurement of performance of public service
organisations.

The developing countries such as India also introduced managerial reforms as part of the
aid conditionalities imposed by donor agencies such as the World Bank and International
Monetary Fund. They included reduced budgetary support to public sector enterprises,
disinvestment, corporatisation, and outsourcing of certain activities. Attempts have also
been made to introduce citizens’ charters, strengthen redressal grievance mechanism, e-
governance initiatives and so on. We have already discussed these in detail in Unit 16 in
Course 011 of this Programme.

21.5 NEW PUBLIC MANAGEMENT REFORMS: AN APPRAISAL

Public administration is a key component of all human endeavours towards betterment of

lives. In the present day globalisation scenario, alternative approaches have emerged in
the arena of provision of public services. The New Public Management (NPM)
perspective has brought in reforms, which attempted to create a new entrepreneurial,
user-oriented culture in the public organisations with focus on performance measurement
and autonomy to the organisations and individuals in contrast to the traditional model.
But the basic question is can private sector interests and initiatives replace the pursuance
of public service motives. Market philosophy cannot be an adequate substitute for the
‘public interest’, which is the core of the governmental operations. The entry of
economic and managerial principles into the public sector affects not only the
organisation concerned, but also the nature of the state as a whole. This has raised certain
critical issues within the state, between state and market as well as state and society.

The ongoing reforms focus on privatisation, marketisation, contracting out,

debureaucratisation, downsizing, etc. Doubts arise regarding the efficacy of this
management framework to the developing countries especially, due to divergence
between market economy’s interests and pursuance of social concerns.

13
21.5.1 Clash of Values between Traditional Public Administration and New Public
Management

The New Public Management (NPM), perspective does not propagate just
implementation of new techniques, but also makes a case for propagation of a new set of
values derived from the private sector. Public service as distinct from the private sector
is characterised by certain basic norms such as impartiality, equality, justice and
accountability. These seem to be overridden by market values such as competitiveness,
profitability, efficiency and productivity. Some apprehend that this could lead to
weakening of public interest, challenging the legitimacy of public service.

21.5.2 Managerial Predominance over Policy Capacity

New Public Management gives significance to managerial principles and practices and
does not assign importance to policy making. Policy is the most important component of
the administrative system. Some of the NPM reforms are likely to have effect on the
policy rendering function of the bureaucrats. For example, the practice of contractual
employment for civil servants might undermine their capacity to render effective policy
advice to political representatives. Also the practice in vogue in some countries of
recruiting personnel from private sector or using consultants to render advice on policy
matters, according to some, is said to undermine the significance of policy-making
capacity in government.

21.5.3 Lack of Clarity of Relationship between Citizens and Political

Representatives

NPM fails to establish a clear-cut relationship between citizens and politicians. In any
democracy people have a key role having direct relationship between their elected
representatives. The politicians also are expected to be responsive to their needs and
demands through varied ways. This way, the state is able to control the society on the
basis of a democratic mandate from the people. But for NPM model, market mechanisms

14
play a dominant role and fail to indicate the ways through which people in a market
system can contribute towards creating a suitable democratic system.

21.5.4 Absence of a Clear Cut Concept of Accountability

Public administration, as we all know, places emphasis on democratic accountability.

This provides the citizens a direct and effective means of ensuring accountability as they
could vote the elected representatives out of office whenever they feel like. The
processes, laws and hierarchical controls are intended to make administration efficient
and accountable to public. NPM envisages enhanced accountability, as one of its goals,
but the focus is more on results or outputs. With the market forces playing a key role,
there is a fear of dilution of the concept of hierarchical accountability. NPM is more
managerial in nature than political, which emphasises on the strategic role of public
managers. Yet, it lacks clarity in defining the roles of politicians and bureaucrats. We
shall be discussing about the changing concept of accountability in Unit 19 in Course 013
on Public Systems Management of this Programme.

21.5.5 Promotion of Individualistic Ideas in Place of Collective Interests

Promotion of collective interests affecting the majority is a distinct feature of democracy,

but New Public Management is considered to be an individualistic philosophy that fails
to take cognisance of the collective demands of the society. The market-oriented
restructuring, especially, in a developing country is bound to affect certain categories of
society particularly the poor, peasants and labourers due to its repercussions such as
withdrawal of subsidies, reduction in the work force, and cutbacks in welfare
programmes.

21.5.6 Citizen vs. Customer Orientation

New Public Management (NPM) provides customer orientation to government. It calls

for empowerment of customers, increased citizen choices, strengthening the government

15
in providing public choices in meeting the needs of the customer. This is in contrast with
the conventional public administration, which emphasises on effective and equitable
public service. The increasing emphasis on customer orientation is the fallout of the
public choice theory and application of market economics to the government that
promotes provision of choices by the market forces. George Frederickson(1996) in
bringing out the differences between the New Public Administration and Reinventing
Movement propounded by Osborne and Gaebler in USA, points out that the latter focuses
on empowerment of individual customers to make their own choices. The value of
individual satisfaction is judged more than the value of achieving collective democratic
consensus. NPM initiatives intend to empower consumers thereby diluting the citizens’
rights. It gives prominence to those who can pay for services thereby claiming efficient
services.

Many, as negating the values of social justice and equity, consider new Public
Management’s emphasis on efficiency. The anti-state ideology it pursues leads to decline
in basic social services provision, creating a bunch of inequities. The NPM reforms’
reigning themes are achievement of objectives of economy and efficiency. But the issues
of social equity, justice, accountability, responsiveness, transparency and participation
are equally important to be taken cognisance of by any system.

New Public Management reforms are not generalised prescriptions solutions that can
hold good and yield positive results for all the countries. It cannot be a single dominant
administrative reform strategy for developing countries. Any reform initiative has to be
in conformity with the local conditions. Public administration has to be set and looked at
from its own environmental context. NPM reforms basically originated in the west and
hence its impact is bound to vary. As Caiden (1991) remarks, “unless reconciled with
local ecology, universal formulas of administrative reform based on western concepts
were unlikely to work”. There has been lack of research studies to examine the impact of
NPM reforms on developing countries. Also there have been no proper indicators of
measurement of NPM reforms. There are methodological problems in assessing the
costs and benefits of the reforms. For instance, it is not feasible to assess the effect of

16
performance-related play, short-term contracts on the morale and motivation of staff and
the productivity of public sector.

21.6 CONCLUSION

New Public Management (NPM) has emerged as a management tool for achieving
developmental goals. Despite its focus on roll back of state, there persists a growing
concern about the government’s crucial role in creating a sound environment for its
citizens. Public administration, no doubt is slow moving, cautious as compared to
management. But the ‘publicness’ aspect in it should not be sidelined. Managerial
orientation as applicable to the public domain has to support government and citizens.
What is needed is public service orientation, decentralisation and networking of public
agencies. No doubt, there is clear evidence of greater exchanges between public and
private sectors and a desire to bring reforms in the structure, functions and work culture
of government organisations.

In the Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management

(CAPAM) Conference held in Canada in 1994, the need for strengthening the civil
society, especially in the developing countries was emphasised. ‘Empowering’ the
citizens also assumes crucial significance. The focus, it was reiterated, is at the
grassroots where people are striving hard to create democratic space for themselves.

Any reforms under the influence of NPM need to be introduced in any country keeping in
view its political and socio-economic set up. The advocates of NPM focused on benefits
of managerial autonomy, exposed the over-protected bureaucracy to managerial models,
which if carefully adopted, can bring about improvement in traditional public
administration.

Public administration, in the present times, is becoming complex and in this scenario, it is
moving towards enlightened public governance. It is the co-existence of government,
market and civil society organisations working towards enhancing opportunities for the

17
well being of its citizens. As Denhardt and Denhardt suggest, NPM needs to evolve
along the lines of New Public Service (NPS) which propagates public interest, acting
democratically and ensuring the accountability of public servants not only to market, but
also to community values, citizen interests, valuing people, citizenship, public service
above entrepreneurship. This calls for different kinds of collaborative partnerships,
networking, thereby striving towards combining economic management with social
values. A balance needs to be maintained between managerial reforms and governance
challenges.

21.7 KEY CONCEPTS

Contracting Out: It is the process of purchasing of services from an outside organisation

or the obtaining of services from the private sector. Through the instrument of contract,
the relation between the parties are managed and regulated.
New Public Service: This indicates the values derived from the money spent on public
services be it education, health etc. in terms of outcome, efficiency and productivity. For
instance the expenditure incurred on reduction of crime is assessed in terms of several
parameters such as number of offenders dealt with, total recorded crimes, responses to
crime that were reported etc.
Value for Money: This concept propounded by Janet V. Denhardt and Robert B.
Denhardt focuses on public servants adhered to law community values, professional
standards and citizens’ interest. It gives importance to democratic names, citizens, and
communitarian values.

21.8 REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING

Bhattacharya, Mohit, 1999, Restructuring Public Administration Essays in

Rehabilitation, Jawahar Publishers, New Delhi.
Bhattacharya, Mohit, 2001, New Horizons of Public Administration, Jawahar Publishers,
New Delhi.
Boston, Jonathan etal (Ed), 1991, Reshaping the State, New Zealand’s Bureaucratic
Revolution, Oxford university Press, Oxford.

18
Caiden, G., 1991, Administrative Reforms Come of Age, Grunter, Berlin.
Charih, Mohammed and Athur Daniels, 1997, New Public Management and Public
Administration in Canada, Institute of Public Administration of Canada.
Christensen, Tom and Per Laegrid (Eds), 2001, New Public Management, the
Transformation of Ideas and Practice, Ashgate, Aldershot.
Christopher, Hood and Michael Jackson, 1991, Administrative Argument, Dartmouth,
Aldershot.
Denhardt, Robert B. and Janet Vinzant Denhardt, 2000, The New Public Service: Serving
Rather Than Steering, Public Administration Review, November/December, Vol. 60, No.
6.
Frederickson, George H., 1996, “Comparing the Reinventing Government Movement with
the New Public Administration”, Public Administration Review, Vol. 56, No. 3, May-
June.
Kate, McLaughlin etal (Eds), 2002, New Public Management current trends and future
prospects, Routledge, London.
Kaul, Mohan, 1998, Introducing New Approaches Improved Public Service Delivery,
Common Wealth Secretariat, London.
McCourt, Willy and Martin Minogue (Eds.), 2000, The Internationalization of Public
Management Reinventing the Third World State, Edward Elgar, USA.
Osborne, David and Ted Gaebler, 1992, Reinventing Government, How the
Entrepreneurial Spirit is Transforming the Public Sector, Addison-Wesley.
Rosenbloom, David H. and Robert S. Kravchuk, 2002, Public Administration,
Understanding Management Politics and Law in the Public Sector, McGraw Hill, New
York.
Williams, Daniel W., 2000, Reinventing the Proverbs of Government, Public
Administration Review, Vol. 60, No. 6, November/December.

21.9 ACTIVITIES

1. Based on newspaper reports or visit to any government undertaking or enterprise,

prepare a note highlighting the New Public Management Reforms in produced in
recent times.

2. Discuss the silent features of New Public Management.

3. Analyse the impact of New Public Management perspective.

19