GLOBALIZATION
AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
By Fred W.
Riggs
ABSTRACT
Globalization and public administration are enmeshed in a complex pattern of interdependence that cannot easily be untangled, but the World Wide Web provides a transparent window through which to take a closer look at these linkages. Indeed, the INTERNET may be viewed both as a cause and consequence of globalization, and as an interactive link to connect it with administrative phenomena. Both globalization and public administration are so complex and multi-leveled that we would need a book rather than just an encyclopedia article even to sketch out the connections. However, if we focus on one aspect of public administration (the dynamics of bureaucratic performance in independent states) and one perspective on globalization (the images reflected through the Web) we can find a convenient and useful starting point. We may then supplement this foundational information by looking at some of the gaps that need to be filled during the coming years.
CONTENTS
C. REGIONAL
INTRODUCTION
The INTERNET is a powerful manifestation of globalization -- it both results from and contributes to the modern dynamics that, by circular causation, have accelerated the information revolution of our contemporary world system. By contrast, public administration is an ancient phenomenon but in the world today, it has vastly expanded its scope. We may visualize the resulting transformations in the form of a triangle. Visualize a dynamic pyramid of governance, each of whose three sides -- ascending, descending, and horizontal -- represent complementary principles that are incomplete by themselves, but can stabilize modern governments when effectively linked. To illustrate my point, let me borrow a figure from the paper in which it is fully described: http://www2.hawaii.edu/~fredr/aladin.htm#tri (Use this site if the figure does not appear on your screen)
If we adopt a dynamic perspective, we can see the three sides sequentially as they have evolved historically.
- The hierarchic right side is the oldest and is paradigmatic for public administration -- it flows from the top down. Ancient rulers appointed officials to administer their realms and keep them in power. The precursors of modern Public Administration wrote treatises for kings, advising them about rules of conduct that would enable them to govern effectively and hold on to their thrones. The word, republicanism, is used here only because Republican theorists perpetuated this elitist perspective.
-
The left side of the triangle represents the basic principle of modern public administration as expressed in the right of citizens, through their representative (polyarchic) institutions, to control bureaucracies on behalf of the governed -- it flows from the bottom up. Although hierarchic rules based on republicanism were seen as necessary for efficient and responsible public administration, the universal premise of modern public administration has been that officials should always be accountable to the organs of representative governance, they were public servants, not masters over a subject population. This was the basic premise of liberalism. Although the guidelines for Public Administration taught during the past century stressed management principles that reflected the older hierarchic traditions, they presupposed the underlying duty of management to be responsible to elected representatives of the people. I have capitalized the term, Public Administration, in order to call attention to its use as the name of a discipline rather than a practice. One does public administration, but studies Public Administration.
- The bottom side of the triangle represents a new principle of democratic networking, the ability of citizens to organize themselves, to establish a civil society. Although this principle antedates the INTERNET, let me emphasize here that the new information technology based on the World Wide Web is both a basic resource for globalization and a foundation for civil society. Its role in the theory and practice of social networking is examined in the document mentioned above. This focus is crucial for Democratic theory.
In this article I shall focus on how the World Wide Web provides a resource that interested individuals and private groups are using with accelerating speed, all around the globe, both within states and across state boundaries, to create links with others who share their interests and concerns, and also to interact with public officials and elected politicians. In response, bureaucrats have become more responsibly interactive with individual citizens, viewed them as clients or customers rather than as subjects to be controlled or manipulated.
An important vehicle for such interactions that cuts across all the established public/private boundaries is the WWW -- including all the Web sites and interactive e-mail lists hat it supports. To illustrate this proposition and to pave the way for more detailed inquiries, this article identifies some of the more important sites and quotes selectively from them. Readers are encouraged to use the URLs that are identified below to visit these sites. Brief texts will be quoted to illustrate how contemporary states, in the global context, seek both to affect their environment and to use the information it offers.
The sequence of sites will proceed from the general to the specific: from the most comprehensive global sites, to regional organizations, and then to those presenting data from independent states. Virtually all of these sites represent a public/private amalgam insofar as they bring private citizens, scholars and responsible public officials together in conferences, research, publications, and training programs.
In a broader perspective, this is only a start. Public administration, in response to globalization, now encompasses much more than the management of independent states. Increasingly, sub-states, cities, and local governments are establishing their own Web sites to present themselves and discuss their problems. Similarly, a growing number of international organizations -- both governmental and non-governmental in membership -- have become active globally and their staffing arrangements also reflect basic principles and problems of public administration. In growing numbers, they also have their own Web sites. In the following text, I shall focus first on independent states and their public bureaucracies, but conclude with some observations about the important aspects of public administration that this focus overlooks.
I shall start at the international level and then go to the regional. After each regional view, I will identify some of the states in that region that have their own home pages. We will start with Europe and end with North America. The other regions are arranged alphabetically between them. A concluding section looks at some of the non-traditional and non-state public organizations whose administrations also invite attention.
INTERNATIONAL
The impact of globalization may be most visible in global organizations. Accordingly, let us focus first The International Institute of Administrative Sciences, the leading association for promoting knowledge of public administration all over the world. It has a home page at: http://www.iiasiisa.be/iias/aiacc.htm
Among the various goals of the IIAS, consider this one:
to cover the study of the administrative phenomenon in its full context
and in all regions of the world with a specific accent on: the interfaces
of administration and development; the innovations required to meet the rapidly
changing needs of contemporary public administration;
Without assessing its success of failure, the goals of the IIAS are comprehensive: to view administrative phenomena in their full context in all regions of the world. This is, indeed, an ambitious goal and it covers, in principle, all the questions I have proposed for this essay. One way to visualize the scope of the IIAS, consider the themes identified through a set of international Working Groups sponsored by the IIAS:
·
administration and development;
·
administrative reform and modernisation (innovations
- productivity - evaluation);
·
public administration and democracy;
·
women and decision making in the public sector;
·
the history of administration.
These themes are quite broad and one may speculate about the problems they actually focus on. However, the list serves our purposes by identifying the broad problem areas that an influential group of practitioners and scholars recruited from around the world consider important. The first focuses on development as a process of economic growth and industrialization that is happening globally as both a cause and consequence of globalization. The working group has been looking at the administrative implications of this process -- what challenges and opportunities does it pose for states and also for all kinds of non-governmental and inter-governmental organizations? Unfortunately, the IISA home page does not provide copies of the reports these groups have prepared, but they are no doubt available on paper and readers my secure them on request.
The second theme turns from the problems confronting public administrators to the methods they use to organize and implement policies, with special attention on the reforms and innovations that distinguish contemporary administrative practices from older and more traditional ones. Although democratization is rapidly expanding around the world, many states are dominated by dictators or ruling cabals. It is appropriate, therefore, to look carefully at the processes of democratization whereby responsibility for public policies devolves (polyarchically) to citizens through their representative institutions, posing problems for public administration that differ fundamentally from those of traditional administration based on hierarchic chains of authority. Increasingly, therefore, public administration needs to be based on mechanisms that assure the accountability of officials to citizens and those they serve. This theme, therefore, shifts the focus of attention from the hierarchic (right side of the triangle) to the polyarchic (left side).
Among the radical changes that democratization has brought to the world are many driven by the expanding power of women in a world traditionally dominated by men -- and, one might add, by the proliferation of ethnic diversity and pluralism. These trends have important administrative implications, both substantively with respect to the policies pursued by public organizations at all levels, and also instrumentally with respect to the degree that women and minorities are included in the work force, not only to give them equal opportunities, but also to take advantage of their special knowledge and values as factors in the implementation of public policies. Such changes raise networking problems symbolized by the bottom side of the triangle: states much not only deal with individuals as atoms in a collectivity, but with groups whose growing power to organize and communicate thrusts them into the vortex of public administration as clients or customers and as officials of the state. Their distinctive interests need to be taken into consideration by government officials and elected politicians -- and they must also become partners in the processes of public administration.
The final topic, on the history of public administration, may strike readers as the most academic and least relevant of the five topics to contemporary problems. However, I believe a good sense of history also has practical implications. Good historical knowledge not only enables us to understand more about the forces and factors that have produced our current problems and opportunities, but it also enhances our ability to visualize the future and to make plans to cope with emerging problems. When we relate administrative history to the triangle posted above, we can see that during most of the history of civilizations, public administration was oriented only to its hierarchical right-hand side. Modern public administration, under the impact of democratizing forces, added responsibility to citizens (the polyarchic left-side), through elected officials, to the scope of its inquiries. Finally, in the context of contemporary globalization, the bottom side representing social networking and group rights has come forward as the result of globalizing forces. The IIAS formulation is not explicit on this point, but it may be inferred.
The normal focus of attention under all these headings is on the administration of public policies by states. A major gap in the IIAS agenda, therefore, appears to be the administration of non-state entities at all levels. An apparent exception may be provided by an IIAS working group on Supranational Administration -- see: http://www.iiasiisa.be/iias/aigrou/aigrthemes.htm#Supranational However, the scope of its work appears to be more expedient than substantive, by which I mean that it focuses on the status and personal problems faced by international officials rather than the challenges they face in doing their work.
In close association with the IIAS we find IASIA, The
International Association of Schools and Institutes of Administration,
whose home page can be found at:
http://www.iiasiisa.be/schools/aequestce/aequestc.htm
By contrast with the IIAS whose members are states, national sections and
international organizations, IASIA has individual members and over 170
institutions in 70 countries, plus several international organizations. It
activities include the education and training of administrators and
managers, and related research, consulting, and publications. It is
administered from IIAS headquarters in Brussels. This means that the new states of the third world and many
innovative schools and institutes designed to promote the development of
their administrative capabilities are well represented in IASIA.
The expanding scope of public
administration under the impact of globalization is well symbolized by the
fact that the latest IASIA Congress was held in Beijing, China, from 10-13
July, 2000. The themes of the
conference were Improving Accountability, Efficiency
and Responsiveness in Government: ideas and lessons for the new
millennium. These
themes were spelled out in the program announcement as
follows:
The past two
decades have witnessed the emergence of great demands for
"efficiency" within the increasingly complex environment in which
public administrators - be they civil servants or political appointees - must
carry out their responsibilities. The emerging demands for greater ethnic and
gender responsiveness, the development of increasingly stronger civil society
organisations and the growing calls for smaller and lower cost government all
have placed extraordinary pressures on the contemporary public administrator
for more efficient government. This is also an issue which we shall examine
during the course of the 2000 IASIA Conference.
"Responsiveness"
is yet another key issue confronting the contemporary public manager. As
concerns about integrity, participation and inclusiveness have spread around
the world, the citizenry of almost all countries are demanding more responsive
government. In many countries new systems have been put in place to encourage
the responsiveness of those who deliver public services at the grass-roots
level. This too is a topic which we shall examine during the course of the
IASIA 2000 Conference.
In other words, the conference was designed to examine a triangle of relationships affecting administrative performance: relations to the organs of representative government involving accountability, hierarchic relations of command and control visualized as matters of efficiency; and interactions with citizens as clients or subjects of public administration, expressed as responsiveness. These are precisely the three dimensions represented in the Triangle visualized above. Papers presented at the conference are not yet available on the Web, but one may assume that they covered these themes from a wide variety of regional, national, and international perspectives.
The
UNITED NATIONS
The United Nations has launched a comprehensive information network for public administration to be known as the UN Public Administration Network (UNPAN). It has a pyramidal structure based not on individual countries but on regional groups of various kinds: they will be identified, with their Web Sites, below. They include:
The African Civil Services Observatory (OFPA); the African Training and Research Centre in Administration and Development (CAFRAD); the Arab Administration Development Organization (ARADO); Caribbean Centre for Development Administration (CARICAD); Centro Latinoamericano de Administracion para el Desarrolo (CLAD); Eastern Regional Organization for Public Administration (EROPA); African Institute for Economic Development and Planning (IDEP); The Network of Institutes and Schools of Public Administration in Central and Eastern Europe (NISPACEE); The Luis Eduardo Magalhaes Foundation; the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA); the Greek National Center for Public Administration (EKDD);the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA). For details see: UN Public Administration Network.
According to the report of The First Interregional Consultative Meeting of UNPAN, which was held in March 2000, on the basis of a working paper prepared at a preliminary meeting in June 1999, significant agreements were reached. They … detailed the technical and managerial requirements needed to successfully implement an online information and knowledge network for all of these regions. Although the project does not cover substantive questions, it does illustrate a key feature of globalization: the information revolution supported by modern computer technology and the INTERNET. A standard package, including hardware and software, will be developed and distributed to selected least developed countries under the support of the UNPAN project. It will be available free of charge to anyone. Further details can be found on the UNPAN main page at: http://www.un.org/esa/governance/unpanpg.html
This is just one of the projects sponsored by the UN Division for Public Economics and Public Administration, whose Web Site is at: http://www.un.org/esa/governance/index Among its functions, it assists Governments in improving their public administration and finance systems by facilitating access to information and knowledge, disseminating and customizing best practices and providing an international forum for the exchange of national experiences and technical cooperation among Member States.
Information about the organization of government and its administrative problems in all the world's states is not readily available, but a good starting point can be found at: http://www.un.org/esa/national.htm This is an UN-sponsored page with links for virtually all member states, arranged by regions. Some are quite fragmentary, but others provide more information than one can readily digest. See, for example, the page for India that can be found at: http://goidirectory.nic.in/ There is no space here to report on these innumerable sources of information for individual states, but the increasing availability of information about them on the INTERNET is clearly one of the consequences of globalization.
INTERNATIONAL
ORGANIZATIONS
There are a large number of international organizations, both governmental and non-governmental, that have a loose global network of overlapping structures with large zones of anarchy where effective governance does not exist. The Union of International Associations http://www.uia.org provides a marvelous resource for identifying these networks, including an elaborate index of themes or problems addressed by the associations. Among these themes, one is called Organization Design, http://www.uia.org/uiadocs/aadocndn.htm It comes close to confronting the administrative problems of international organizations.
Among many papers, a good example of the way this subject has been approached can be found in a report on Future Operation of International Organizations within an Electronic Environment -- framework for reflection on intra- and inter-organizational issues of relevance to both intergovernmental organizations and NGOs, By Anthony Judge, http://www.uia.org/uiadocs/electron.htm. This paper takes up the special problems and opportunities created for international organizations by the growing availability and utilization of electronic communications. On the whole, however, one has to conclude that the literature on administrative problems of non-governmental organizations, at the national as well as international level, is woefully underdeveloped.
In addition to the extensive data available through the UIA, one may find A map with links to all the UN family of organizations at: http://www.un.org/search/map/. For inter-governmental organizations associated with the United Nations, see: http://www.unsystem.org/index5.html. These sites make it easy to find information that identifies a host of international organizations and the substantive problems they seek to solve. Unfortunately, these sites offer little or no information about the administrative problems they face. The organizations themselves seem to lack sub-structures designed to investigate their administrative problems, and few if any outside organizations, including universities, have taken up the serious study of international administration at both the governmental and non-governmental levels. This remains a major gap that needs to be filled.
REGIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
v
EUROPE
Because of the seminal role of Europeans in the development of modern Public Administration, and the fact that the IIAS is headquartered in Europe, it seems appropriate to open our look at regions in Public Administration by going to EGPA, The European Group of Public Administration. It was established under the auspices of the IIAS in order, among other things, to foster comparative studies and the development of Public Administrative theory within a European perspective. Its home page can be found at: http://www.iiasiisa.be/egpa/agacc.htm EGPA holds annual conferences, the latest being in Scotland from 30 August to 2 Sept. 2000. Its main theme was the management of parliaments, and how they relate to the conduct of public administration by the executive agencies of government. Thus the theme of accountability developed by the IIAS for its Beijing conference was spelled out in more detail in the European context. The conference announcement contains this statement:
Across Europe we are
seeing significant parliamentary reform. For example, in the developing,
transitional economies of central and Eastern Europe, we see major public
administration reforms accompanied by the establishment of democratic
parliamentary arrangements. In the country hosting this year's conference, a
wave of devolutionary reforms have been introduced, with the establishment of
legislative assemblies in Scotland, Wales and, most recently, Northern
Ireland.
Two signs of globalization are apparent in this announcement.
First, the collapse of the Soviet system and the rise of democratic regimes have not only brought them within the range of attention of "European" Public Administration, but they have led to a special interest in the role and functions of parliamentary bodies, both with reference to how they are managed, and how they affect the management of public policies. Note the relevance of the left side of the triangle to this question.
A second important point involves the devolution of state powers as manifest in the establishment of legislative assemblies within the U.K. in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In view of the heightened emphasis on the regional autonomy in response to ethnic nationalism in many countries, this topic is relevant not only in Europe but many other parts of the world also, an aspect symbolized by the bottom side of our triangle.
EIPA, The European Institute for Public Administration, supplements
EGPA as an institutional resource for Europe. Its home page is at: http://www.eipa.nl/default.htm
An illustration of the administrative problems confronting European states
can be found in a book sponsored by EIPA: The Intermediate Level of Government in European
States: Complexity
versus Democracy? Torbjörn
Larsson, Koen Nomden and Franck Petiteville (eds). 1999, 418 pages. This
book deals with the “intermediate level” of government in 16 European countries.
It focuses on the regional governments, regional state administrations and
municipal associations. The relationship between these three types of
structures is analyzed, as is the relationship between the intermediate level
and the central and local levels. In doing so, the study primarily stresses the
legal, political, administrative and economic dimensions (taxation,
subsidies).
According to the notice about this book,
The current debate about the intermediate level of government in the
different countries is also presented and special attention given to whether
European integration has dramatically altered this debate and/or led to any
fundamental changes in how the intermediate level is organized and functions in
the different countries. The resulting picture the study gives is of an
increasingly complex structure at intermediate level in many countries, as new
units are often created – for example new types of public “administrative” and
self-governing bodies are emerging in many cases – while, at the same time, old
ones remain. Managing the intermediate level today, therefore, seems to be much
more a question of governance by networks than a question of hierarchy, control
or command: a development sometimes in harmony with ideas and ambitions to
improve self-government but also quite frequently in conflict with the basic
principles of democracy.
At the EIPA site one may also find entries for the Public Administration institutions that exist in almost every country of Europe. Most of them have their own Web Sites. Top find the list go to: http://www.eipa.nl/scientific_council/default.htm. I shall enter a few of the sites here, with some excerpts copied from them, but first, here is a European institution:
The Strasbourg Centre for European Studies -- http://www.cees-europe.fr/E/index.html
AUSTRIA
The Federal Academy of Public Administration, http://www.vab.ac.at/infoengl/index.html participates in bilateral or multinational projects designed to improve public administrations, support EU integration or strengthen public administration training institutes. VAB (Verwaltungsakademie des Bundes) International is an integrated department of the Federal Academy of Public Administration. Among the eight activities it lists, five belong to traditional public administration, but three reflect globalization:
- European Union
institutions, general procedures and the history of integration
- EU specific policies,
i.e. agriculture, environment and the single market
- EU public procurement
procedures
Thus this national institution for Public Administration explicitly focuses on international issues, especially in Europe.
DENMARK:
DSPA International http://www.dspa.dk/ is the international center of the Danish School of Public Administration. It provides Danish and European expertise and training in a wide range of areas of interest to the public sector, especially in those countries which are benefiting from bilateral and multilateral assistance.
One of its programs, called
Crossing the Boundaries: offers training for women at senior management levels in the
public sector -- see http://www.crossing.dk/ It …focuses on strategic leadership in
organisations within governmental and political areas, facing the
challenges of new public management and growing international
responsibilities… It combines new management and organisation development
theory with continuous practical work on the very cases of the
participants’ home organisations. [It] encourages participants to
understand and transcend boundaries like nationality, corporate culture,
personality and gender traditions. In a visionary and non-traditional way,
it leads to value diversity and gain from it, to find new solutions and to
maximise results.
FRANCE:
The French Institut de Haute Etudes ed Administratiion Publique -- http://www.unil.ch/idheap/ , among its many other activities, offers a course on: Mondialisation, Etat et Politiques publiques. L'objectif principal du cours est l'analyse du phénomène de la globalisation et de ses répercussions sur la souveraineté de l'Etat ainsi que sur les politiques publiques. La globalisation est un changement à la fois ubiquiste et mal connu.
Moreover, the Ecole Nationale
d'Administration, http://www.ena.fr/E/index.html,
which provides training for senior French civil servant, asserts that its …curriculum clearly reflects the desire
to alert future government managers to the international implications of
government action, especially the European Community dimension as well as many
other different situations which may confront students during their
professional life.
FINLAND:
HAUS, the Finnish Institute of Public Management, http://www.haus.fi/hauseng.htm ...maintains a domestic network covering ministries, universities, regional and municipal bodies, private organisations and consulting firms. Moreover, it has a well-established and effective network with European colleague institutions, as also with a number of international private training and consulting organisations, companies and law firms.
The activities of HAUS are described in http://www.haus.fi/orgserv.htm as follows "European and international services meet the needs of both domestic and international customers for development and problem solving in European and international context, be it individual professionals or organisations. One of the most recent service forms is The Centre for European Negotiation and Decision-making (CENAD) http://www.haus.fi/cenad/index.html established by HAUS in 1998 which offers high-level negotiation training in Brussels for customers from various countries and European institutions. In addition to whatever services HAUS provides for public administrators in Finland, it also has a strongly international orientation, especially for cooperation within the European Community.
GERMANY:
For those who read German, the following information will take them to the relevant Bundesakademie für öffentliche Verwaltung im Bundesministerium des Innern
http://www.bakoev.bund.de/ -- Die Bundesakademie ist die zentrale Fortbildungsinstitution der Bundesregierung. Schwerpunkt ist die zusammenfassende konzeptionelle Planung der Fortbildung sowie die Entwicklung der Koordinierung der Fortbildungsmethodik.
GREECE
The Greek National Centre of Public Administration http://ils.ekdd.gr/DefaultEN.asp reports that . "The Civil Service today is full of turbulence and turmoil. Those in leading positions buffeted by unpredictable forces, are under increasing pressure to survive and gain competitive advantage in a context where systems and procedures no longer provide the appropriate answers. Organisational change, human resource management, technological change, the economic recession in the European market and the European integration constitute the key areas for our training intervention."
IRELAND:
The Institute of Public Administration, http://www.ipa.ie/ reports that, "Nationally, we complement our own services with associate specialists expert in specific skills. As necessary, we draw upon the knowledge and experience of international associates. This mix of national and international experience keeps our own thinking fresh, innovative and up-to-date."
ITALY:
The Graduate School in Public Administration, http://www.sspa.it/inglese.htm is an organ of the Prime Minister’s Cabinet Office which is responsible for training public managers and senior civil servants. It offers extensive links for related European and international public administraton organizations at: http://www.sspa.it/links_utili.html
PORTUGAL:
The National Institute of Administration http://www.ina.pt/gb/ina.htm supports International Cooperation - bilateral and multilateral cooperation with the Portuguese speaking African countries, European Union countries, Central and Eastern Europe, China and Latin America, involving, in many cases, international organizations (European Commission, World Bank, UNDP, etc.).
SPAIN:
The National Institute of Public Administration http://www.ina.pt/gb/ina.htm
writes that In this new stage of its life, the Institute aims to widen its
role on the international stage, especially in Europe and Latinamerica,
and to contribute to developing and preparing activity that complements
regional and local policy in collaboration with the Regional Governments'
training colleges and the various ministerial departments. The
INAP also
cooperates with international bodies and institutions, in particular with
the European Institute of Public Administration in Maastricht and the
Latin-American Development Centre (CLAD)
SWEDEN:
The Swedish Agency for Public Management http://www.statskontoret.se/stkeng.htm asserts that, Among other activities, it engages in:
- taking an active part in
work on issues relating to democracy and public administration
- co-ordinating development
projects in the IT and telecoms sectors
- drawing up framework
agreements for IT and telecoms use in public administration
UNITED KINGDOM:
The UK Civil Service College, http://www.open.gov.uk/college/cschome.htm
is part of the recently created Centre for Management and Policy Studies,
provides training to people from central and local government and the public
sector, both in the UK and internationally. With locations in Sunningdale,
London and Edinburgh, the College is one of the largest management development
centres in the world.
The College is active internationally. Since 1991, it reports, "when we began working with the African National Congress, the Civil Service College has acquired an enviable reputation in the field of international public service management, in which we work to help create sustainable capacity for the modernisation of public administration.
REGIONS
OUTSIDE EUROPE
v AFRICA:
The leading regional organization is CAFRAD, African Training and Research
Centre in Administration for Development, http://www.cafrad.org/ . To
learn about its activities and goals, one might view the report on the latest
CAFRAD conference, which focused on PUBLIC SERVICE IN AFRICA
: NEW CHALLENGES, PROFESSIONALISM AND ETHICS . It was held in Abuja, Nigeria) 26 –
29 June, 2000. El Hussoine Aziz, Minister of Civil Service
and Administrative Reforms in the Kingdom of Morocco and Chairman of the
Governing Board of CAFRAD, said that There
[is] a need to take concrete steps to regenerate the civil services of Africa
to include professionalism and to share experiences on the challenges facing
the African continent based on the themes to be presented by eminent African
scholars who had been carefully selected for their highly technical
quality. He observed that it had become
necessary to reform the African civil services and to learn from the
experiences of other countries especially as globalization, competitiveness,
technological innovation and information technology have impacted the
administrative system of African countries.
The Minister's statement reflects
views that had been formulated in the Rabat Declaration, that had been
endorsed by African Ministers
of Civil Service, meeting in Rabat, Morocco, December 1998. They agreed that:
RECOGNIZING that given the
political and economic changes of recent years, new responsibilities have
been placed on the public administration of African countries,
including:
- adapting to the growing globalisation of the economy and
establishing an environment favouring the growth of the private sector;
- ensuring not only the economic growth and the strengthening of
basic infrastructures but also social development and the narrowing of
increasing disparities of income and opportunities in favour of social
solidarity;
- modernising the administrative structures through grasping new
information and communication technologies while making the civil service
close to the citizen and providing quality services.
At the opposite pole from Europe, where virtually every country now has a Web Site for Public Administration, I have not been able to find a single national Web Site for Public Administration in any of the CAFRAD member states. However, the following site contains a map of Africa on which one can click for entries providing information about the member states. Go to: www.cafrad.org/cafrad/a_member_states.htm Some of these entries may have links to national web-sites, but they are not listed here.
v ASIA AND THE PACIFIC :
The oldest and most important regional organizatin for
public administration in Asia is EROPA, the Eastern Regional Organization for
Public Administration
http://www.hkbu.edu.hk/~hkpaa/eropa_home.htm One may find a statement of its goals
in the context of globalization in a speech by Emil Q. Javier, President, University
of the Philippines, offered at the Eropa World Conference on
Governance
http://www.csc.gov.ph/wcoghomepage.html
He …traced the evolution of the
paradigm shift from government to governance as a natural outcome of
globalization, the ascendancy of markets, and the wave of democratization
that swept the world in the late 1980’s. The shift from government to
governance, noted Dr. Javier, is a reflection of the empowerment of the
"governed" where "people" are no longer passive
objects of public service but active participants in the process of
governance.
The Public Service Department of Malaysia also maintains a Web Site for EROPA, http://www.jpa.gov.my/jpai/korporati/ihasa2.htm. It provides useful information about EROPA activities and members, but no links to their Web Sites.
However, the ASEAN Conference on Civil Service Matters (ACCSM), which was established in 1981, promotes cooperation among ASEAN countries to modernize their Civil Service systems. See: http://www.jpa.gov.my/jpai/korporati/ihasa3.htm. According to information on this page, the main objective of ACCSM is to modernize the public service systems in the context of national development. With this cooperation, the expertise of ASEAN member countries especially in training, consultancy, exchange of information and research can be fully utilized.
AUSTRALIA
and NEW ZEALAND
Australia and New Zealand are members of EROPA and so they are included here.
The Institute of Public Administration of Australia http://sunsite.anu.edu.au/community/ipaa/
The New Zealand Institute of Public Administration has a Web Site that I could not open, but information about it can be found at: http://searchpdf.adobe.com/proxies/1/30/47/94.html
Both of these institutes seem to be quite focused on domestic problems, but undoubtedly they are actually as much involved in the global system as are their counterparts in other countries.
v COMMONWEALTH:
The Commonwealth is an association of states formerly associated with the British Empire. It sponsors the Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management (CAPAM) that has a Web Site at: http://www.capam.comnet.mt/. A list of members, including links for the sites of associated organizations, can be found at:
http://www.capam.comnet.mt/member.html#current_members
Substantively, it is relevant here to note that at its latest biennial conference (15 - 18 October 2000, Cape Town, South Africa) CAPAM members addressed the theme, Globalisation, Governance and Public Service," According to the conference report, "… In recent years, the link between democracy and trust has received an increasing share of attention in discussions of government reform. The Commonwealth is witnessing a resurgence of concern about the erosion of the basic principles and standards of public life. According to a preliminary planning document, http://www.capam.comnet.mt/cbiconf.htm#lead the conference might focus on such questions as the following:
What are the directions we wish to take our
countries in the future? What are the
common goals and values emerging in the various Commonwealth countries that
will inspire others to collaborate in achieving this new vision in the 21st
Century? How do we lead within an
increasingly interconnected world, with societies characterised by
diversity? How do we move away from
opportunistic leadership to more strategic leadership? How do we lead in an
environment of low morale and reform fatigue? How do we capitalise on
technology? How do we move from a focus
on management practices to a broader vision of the future? How do we continue to meet ethical standards
in the spirit of public service? Where do find the people who will lead us into
the 21st Century? Lastly, what will globalisation mean for
leadership at the dawn of the new millennium?
v CARIBBEAN:
The Caribbean Centre for Development Administration (CARICAD) http://isis.uwimona.edu.jm/cesd/caricad/caricad.html
posts a Mission Statement that reads in part:
There is also a further dimension on
which CARICAD's work has centred and is becoming increasingly pertinent in the
face of global trends for privatisation and divestment, restructuring of the
public-private sector interface, social consequences of structural adjustment,
sustainability and environmental issues. By means of close working relations
with the multilateral agencies and in particular through collaboration with
such organisations as the Commonwealth Secretariat and tertiary-level research
institutes, the benefits of a comparative perspective beyond the region is
brought to bear on national and regional issues.
v CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE:
The Network of Institutes and
Schools of Public Administration in Central and Eastern Europe, http://www.nispa.sk … aims to become a forum
for East - East dialogue through joint research, educational and training
programmes and discussions between instructors, civil servants, trainers and
public sector managers. This will promote both human capacity building and
institutional development through learning from each other. NISPAcee should
foster preferably East - East cooperation, as well as East - West cooperation,
which has predominated until now.
NISPAcee enlists 100 Institutional members (from 19 countries), 28 Associate members (from 16 countries), and 159 Observers (from 27 countries). A list with their addresses, but no Web links, can be found at: http://www.nispa.sk/home/list.html
v LATIN AMERICA:
The Latin American Center for Development Administration (CLAD) http://www.clad.org.ve/homee.html
held its 1998 Congress in Madrid. Among three roundtables at this meeting, one
had the theme: The State of
the XXI century. Changes in the
function and structure of the State. State, market and globalization.
Governance and governability.
A list of CLAD members can be found at: http://www.clad.org.ve/miembros.html Some of them have their own Web Sites, as listed below. It is not always clear what interest they have in public administration, but since my knowledge of Spanish is rudimentary, I may not well understand the texts.
ARGENTINA:
The
SUBSECRETARIO DE LA GESTIÓN PÚBLICA DE LA JEFATURA DE GABINETE DE MINISTROS, http://www.sfp.gov.ar/webs/funciones.html Includes as no. 12. Supervisar el
accionar del INSTITUTO NACIONAL DE LA ADMINISTRACION PUBLICA (I.N.A.P.).
BRAZIL:
National School of Public Administration,
WWW.ENAP.GOV.BR/HTML/INGLES.HTM
According
to this site, One of ENAP’s
objectives is fostering the debate about the changes faced worldwide by the
State and the public administration. For this purpose, it carries out events
with the participation of national and foreign lecturers, and produces …
specialized publications.
CHILE
The Division de Modenizacion, WWW.MODERNIZACION.CL, writes the
following:
La
naturaleza altamente compleja del proceso de globalización que afecta a todas
las sociedades, impone el desafío de adecuar los ordenamientos institucionales,
normativos e instrumentales de los países. Globalización no sólo concebida como
interdependencia económica –especialmente en materia de mercados financieros-,
sino también como la transformación del tiempo y del espacio en nuestras vidas.
COLOMBIA:
Escuela Superior de Administración Pública, http://www.esap.edu.co/esap/index.htm Its Web Site contains this information: Gobernabilidad. Producto del debilitamiento de las diferentes instancias
del Estado y de la baja participación política de los colombianos, se
identifica en múltiples escenarios la pérdida de capacidad de la sociedad para
sacar adelante las estrategias de desarrollo que se propone, para garantizar la
convivencia y la armonía entre los diferentes intereses y la prevalencia del
estado de derecho en todas las esferas de la vida nacional.
La falta de
gobernabilidad se identifica hoy como un eje central de la crisis nacional, que
impide la solución democrática de las más importantes falencias de nuestro
sistema económico y social y que adicionalmente establece un ambiente de
impotencia de todos los estamentos del país.
COSTA RICA:
Ministerio de Planificación
Nacional y Política Económica
(MIDEPLAN), http://ns.mideplan.go.cr/ focuses, on national planning and its
relevance for public administration is not clear.
MEXICO
The National
Institute of Public Administration (INAP)
www.org.org.ms/inap/presenta.htm
contains this text: Intensificar la presencia del INAP en otros
países a través de la participación en diversos foros internacionales y
fortalecer las actividades de colaboración con instituciones afines, mediante
la suscripción de convenios.
URUGUAY:
Oficina Nacional del Servicio Civil http://www.onsc.gub.uy/ La Oficina
Nacional del Servicio Civil es responsable de formular la política de
recursos humanos y controlar su ejecución en la Administración Pública,
tomando como principios fundamentales el desempeño y la calificación;
estimulando el compromiso de los funcionarios públicos con la prestación
de un servicio eficiente orientado hacia el usuario y la innovación de la
gestión, asesorando en programas de modernización del Estado en las áreas
mencionadas.
v MIDDLE EAST :
The Arab Administration Development Organization (ARADO), sponsored by UNESCO, apparently lacks a Web Site. Although clearly not included in ARADO, I have not been able to find a public administration site for Israel.
v
NORTH AMERICA:
CANADA:
The Institute of Public Administration of Canada, http://www.ipaciapc.ca/
According to its announcement, In
recent years, … the Institute of Public Administration of Canada (IPAC) has
….exported Canadian knowledge of public administration to countries around the
world. In this context, IPAC has brought benefits to many people in the client
countries, ranging from improving the decision-making processes so that
governments can better deliver their mandates, to seeing improved methods
implemented to reduce pollution.
Why pursue an international role? IPAC
believes that Canadians wish to share their unique expertise in public
administration. Our members wish to contribute to international knowledge in
public administration. They also want the benefits of experience in public
administration in other countries and cultures.
v
THE UNITED STATES;
By contrast with many other
countries, the U.S. government does not provide a focal institution for
teaching and research on Public Administration. There are, of course, government agencies directly involved in
monitoring and regulating the performance of administrative functions, as noted
below. The most conspicuous context for
linking and studying Public Administration in America is probably The American
Society for Public Administration which posts a Site at: http://www.aspanet.org/ With a diverse membership composed of more than 10,000
practitioners, scholars, teachers and students, ASPA is the largest and most
prominent professional association in the field of Public Administration.
On its Web Site, one may find
links to a large and miscellaneous collection of American organizations,
plus a few located elsewhere. http://www.aspanet.org/links/links.htm
Among its Sections, one specifically dedicated to International and
Comparative Administration (SICA) has a page at: http://www.uncc.edu/stwalker/sica/ On this page, one can read that,
SICA members are dedicated to meeting
the global challenges of the 21st Century. We will:
- Build administrative and managerial capacity for societal
transformation in the areas of democratization, the free market economy,
security and political alliances.
- Explore the potential for innovative institutional arrangements,
such as public-private collaboration/partnerships.
- Develop innovative administrative and operational responses to
trans-boundary global problems, such the environment, terrorism, HIV/AIDS,
ethnic conflict, and drug abuse.
- Integrate international, comparative knowledge and approaches into
public administration training and all sectors of government.
- Respond to global economic interdependence by expanding
professional, scientific, and cultural exchanges worldwide.
The National Academy of Public Administration, http://www.napawash.org/napa/index.html has evolved out of ASPA. It is an elected college whose members have been honored and they constitute a large panel available to take part in studies of major administrative problems facing the government, usually under a contract with some public agency. One of their groups is The International Affairs Standing Panel which focuses on the Academy's role in the international community. Unlike other Standing Panels, all of which have Web Sites to describe their activities, this Panel lacks a public window on its activities.
U.S.
GOVERNMENT
Turning to the federal government itself, we may go first to a site maintained by Louisiana University. It lists all U.S. Federal agencies that post Web Sites. See: http://www.lib.lsu.edu/gov/exec.html. Among them, the most immediately relevant for present purposes may be the Office of Personnel Management which maintains a site at: http://www.opm.gov/.
One of its activities that is especially relevant to our present concerns is the National Partnership for Reinventing Government , led by Vice President Al Gore, whose site is: http://www.npr.gov/ On this site one may find a A REPORT BY THE 21ST CENTURY SKILLS LEADERSHIP GROUP. Under the heading, A Blueprint for Lifelong Learning (Nov. 1999) it contains this opening paragraph:
As we enter the new century, preparing the nation's workforce is more important than ever before. The impact of globalization is constant and permanent. Knowledge is growing exponentially, and changes -- technological and otherwise -- will accelerate. Lifelong learning is imperative, and the rewards are likely to be great. The full text can be found at: http://www.npr.gov/cgi-bin/print_hit_bold.pl/library/misc/bluprint.html?globalization
Another
relevant item offered here deals with electronic government. It reads, New and emerging forms of
information technology are vital tools in changing Americans' experience with
their government. NPR is committed to using information technology and the
Internet to transform how citizens interact with government. Its goal is to
provide better access to government services. It's all about putting people
"online, not in line."
Under the leadership of Vice President Al Gore, NPR published a blueprint for developing our electronic government program, called Access America. It will eventually allow anyone who wants to transact business with the government electronically to do so easily and quickly. Further details about this initiative can be found at http://www.accessamerica.gov/docs/access.html
Associated
with this initiative are a number of specific partnerships between the
government and other interested organizations, public and private. Among them is one called the Benchmarking
partnership. http://www.npr.gov/initiati/benchmk/ Its purposes are described as follows:
When organizations want to improve
their performance, they benchmark. That is, they compare and measure their
policies, practices, philosophies, and performance measures against those
of high-performing organizations anywhere in the world. As federal agencies have been
reinventing their operations to become more businesslike, many have been
benchmarking against world class private sector companies, other
organizations, and other federal agencies that have become really good at
what they do. In fact, some companies are beginning to benchmark against
high-performing federal agencies!
UNIVERSITIES
Many American Universities have departments, schools and institutes in which Public Administration is taught and researched. To find them, we turn to the National Association of Schools of Public Administration, Public Policy and Public Affairs (NASPAA) http://www.naspaa.org/index.html . Among the various categories of institutions identified on this list are universities that offer a Ph.D. in Public Administration -- or in Public Policy. They are identified at: http://www.naspaa.org/doctoral/docintro.htm A few are mentioned here, in alphabetical order, for illustrative purposes. Although they usually cling to Public Administration as a useful label, it is significant that many now prefer Public Policy or Public Affairs. This development is reflected in the name of NASPAA which now includes both terms, in addition to Public Administration.
Harvard University, J.F.Kennedy School of Government, http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/ What is
today the John F. Kennedy School of Government traces its origins to Harvard
University's Graduate School of Public Administration, which was established in
1936. … By the mid-1960s, faculty began to develop a public policy curriculum
based more in economics and analytic studies than on the management principles
of traditional Public Administration.
The University of Maryland, School of Public Affairs,
http://www.puaf.umd.edu/. offers a Ph.D. in Policy Studies,
with a major in environmental, social and other policy fields, plus Management,
Finance and Leadership -- it also offers a Masters degree in Public
Management. The word administration
is avoided. A message from the dean
claims that the School provides
… current and
future leaders with the knowledge and skills they will need to craft and
implement public policies in a complex policy environment. With the blurring of
roles among the public, private and non-profit sectors in policymaking and
management, our graduates need to excel not only in their chosen fields, but
also across sectors.
New York University, Wagner
Graduate School of Public Service, http://www.nyu.edu/wagner/programs.html. They say they are: Committed to an
interdisciplinary approach to learning... Our core curriculum provides a
foundation in finance, policy, and management. As advances in technology bring
the world closer together and shifts in public policy result in new
public-private partnerships, Wagner prepares students to work in the public,
non-profit and for-profit sectors in the global environment.
University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public and International
Policy, http://www.gspia.pitt.edu/. They say, We stress the
connection between domestic and international issues and the connections
between different approaches to those problems—policy, planning, and
management. We stress, also, the connections between the sectors—public,
nonprofit, and private—and educate students for the careers of the future,
where people increasingly move across sectors.
Princeton University, Woodrow
Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, http://www.wws.princeton.edu/. They
define themselves as … a professional school for men and women who
seek a career in public service; it is a school for those with a practical
desire to make the world a better place. The School became a major
international center of advanced training and research in public affairs.
Today, the School emphasizes experiential, policy-oriented research and
learning in its graduate program. It serves interests in both domestic public
policy and international affairs.
University of Southern California, School of Policy, Planning and Development http://www.usc.edu/schools/sppd/index.html. They assert that There are many opportunities for leadership
in our decentralizing, horizontal, global world, and our faculty,
students, and alumni
are uniquely positioned to capitalize on them. Whether we are identifying and
evaluating the costs and consequences of policy choices; designing new
governance structures and processes; leading and managing in a public-private
health care system where policy choices and market choices have profound
consequences for everyone; or designing and developing places to live, work,
and play; we are working now for a better society in the next century
Syracuse
University, The Maxwell
School http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/pa/
, is now a multidisciplinary graduate school with departments of Public
Administration and Political Science.
However, it has a broad multi-disciplinary and public affairs
orientation. It was … the first
school in the U.S. to provide graduate education in Public Administration.
Graduates of the Public Administration programs serve at all levels of
government in the United States and around the world. Many also hold
responsible positions in the private and non-profit sectors. Graduates of our
doctoral program are faculty members at other high quality public affairs
programs and research institutes in the United States and abroad.
The Section for International and Comparative Administration of ASPA at least has a formal commitment to promote the study of International Administration. It maintains on its Web Site a start-up list of some relevant organizations -- see: http://www.uncc.edu/stwalker/sica/links.htm#International.
The Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) -- see: http://qsilver.queensu.ca/appam/information/index.shtml aspires to be ...the leading professional organization dedicated to blending the talents of researchers, educators and practitioners in the production, dissemination and application of analysis bearing on public concerns. It supplements ASPA by providing links to many of the relevant disciplines, but it's orientation seems to be quite national rather than international, and I have not found any international association for public policy studies.
DOCUMENTATION:
There is a growing literature on the global problems of public administration. A good starting point to access this literature can be found in the Public Administration journals that should be available in many good libraries. A comprehensive list of them can be found through the Periodicals Contents Index, which has a site for Political Science and Public Administration at: http://pci.chadwyck.co.uk/titles/comp_19.html Unfortunately, only titles and publication dates are listed, without Web Sites, or even mailing addresses. However, much can be learned by reading their titles.
INDIVIDUALS:
Another resource can be found in the minds of specialists located at many places around the world. Some of them can be found through the Public Administration Theory Network http://www.pat-net.org/ The Network does not have a collective identity, but members do share in common the idea that public administration is as much about the social construction of society as it is about the administration of public services. Over the past few years, the membership has become more international, with members representing Europe, Asia, Australia, and Latin America. Some members of the Network embrace a postmodern critique of society and public administration. Their views are reflected in a recent book, Public Administration in a New Era Postmodern and Critical Perspective, Edited by Mario A. Rivera, University of New Mexico and Gary M. Woller, Brigham Young University.
A list of members with their own Web Sites can be found at: http://www.pat-net.org/pages/memberpages.html Their next conference will be held in June, 2001 in the Netherlands at Leiden University. An illuminating look at the point of view of this group can be found in the plans for this conference which will focus on the "changing nature of governance and the new dynamics of the public sphere." More details are available from the host university, at Leiden, Netherlands., where the local hosts have organized the Pioneer Project, dedicated to study of the "Renaissance of Public Administraton." Their home page is: http://www.fsw.leidenuniv.nl/www/w3_best/ropa/index.htm
The core themes of the conference are expressed in the following captions:
- public administration as both discourse and practise
- reconceptualizing public administration