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Section 1: Evaluation
We viewed the subject given and it was just a subsection in the public administration article. The Comparative public administration definition given within the article has not been updated and clarified since 2003. The paragraph gives an alternative definition, it is unnecessary and should be removed but a further explanation is needed. There is a need to add historical applications and examples, the existing paragraph has only one. The paragraph as it is discusses why Comparative Public Administration has been unable to establish itself among public administration or political science, this needs further explanation as to why this is the case and the circumstances that made this so. The existing paragraph goes into the problem of a lack of theoretical models that can be tested, this is something that needs to be expanded on through examples and individuals in the field who are attempting to make these models.
· Change the one paragraph that exists into multiple paragraphs titled for the subsections that would exist in a whole article
o History: “The emergence of comparative public administration dates from post-World War II efforts to find better international development strategies. Its early practitioners (Riggs, 1954; Heady, 1960) worked to define the field, develop general theory, set a research agenda, and generalize “lessons learned.” Heady noted (1966: 3) that as long as the study of public administration is not comparative, there cannot be a “science of public administration” in the sense of a body of generalized principles independent of their peculiar national setting” -Fitzgerald
o Influential figures and organizations: For example Woodrow Wilson the Father of Public Administration.
o Theories and models in development:
· It is widely considered a subcategory of public administration. Our goal is to clarify the scattered and often misunderstood study of comparative administration and pull in all relating information to emphasize the key deficits resulting in a lack of importance on the subject.
o What article lacks: History, Examples, How it could be applied, Figures/ Models.
· An examination of Comparative Public Administration that discusses issue of the lack of curriculum that may have prevented it from being a major field of study will be inserted here.
o Quote - “Comparisons to the United States also can be problematic, because of the tendency of many American scholars to presume the the American organizational structures and processes are models for other nations to emulate, which was a failing of early developmental administrative studies” – Riggs, - Muslims do not hate our freedom, but rather our policies” – Zaharana
o Examples– “Although there is a size able literature on comparative public administration it is scattered and dated.” - Waugh “Comparative studies are difficult because of the necessity to provide enough information on the sociopolitical context of national administrative structures and processes for readers to understand why there are differences and similarities.” – Waugh, - In 2002 the National Security Strategy were on the offensive for the battle of hearts and minds. They tried to assimilate with an Arab and Islamic audience push American values and democracy to try to stop terrorism when in fact due to the lack of comparison on the public level it was in effective and backfired, using the lack nor the willingness to understand their culture led to more tension in the middle east. Leading to the conclusion that there are not enough resources directed to the study of comparative public administration, for this basic understanding is key to understanding the structure a society or culture fabricates around.
-Heady’s purpose was to respond to an audience of students, teachers, and researchers wanting more information.
· The application of Comparative Public Administration is widely over-looked and does not get credit for the various ways it is and was appropriately applied.
o How it was applied: To compare anywhere from a local sector to national government. - Public management reform in France and Great Britain.
o Quotes: “In spite of similarities in public management reform rhetoric, it is argued that there is increasing divergence in the philosophy & practice of public service in the two nations, & and these differences reflect regimes that incorporate different ideals of citizenship.” – Lindroth & Clark
o Examples: By examining patterns emerge in the public sector that one can use to see similarities and differences in many things including ideals of citizenship.
· How it is applied: This section will discuss how it is currently being applied.
o Quotes: “It was therefore the vehicle for what comparative methodologists would term a ‘small N analysis’ a systematic comparison of a limited number of cases (King et al 1994) This approach permits the testing of theories and construction of generalized statements, butas analytic rather than statistical generalizations.” (Yin 1994 pg. 10) (Pollitt Bouckaert)
o example: There’s a form of models that provide comparison and analysis for comparative public administration.
· How it could be applied: This section will discuss various ways into how it could be applied.
o Quote: “During the Clinton administration the focus on residential energy consumption in the United States was elevated to a high level with the inauguration of the Million Solar Roofs initiative, in which the Department of Energy (DOE) sponsored workshops, developed a pool of existing federal lending and financing options, and worked with partners in the solar and building industries to remove market barriers to strengthen grassroots demand for solar technologies” – Farhar and Coburn
o Examples: “In the United States, residential and commercial buildings combined now use 71% of all electricity produced and account for 79% of all electricity expenditures. Annual CO2 emission attributed to electricity consumption in these U.S. buildings constitute 43% of the country’s annual total CO2 emission, which is approximately equivalent to the total CO2 emission of Japan, France, and the United Kingdom combined. These levels support the claim of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that energy use in buildings offer more potential for reducing carbon emission than any other single sector in the United States and abroad.” – Farhar and Coburn (This example compares CO2 emission in the U.S. to other countries and through the buildings sector the U.S. could cut down on CO2 emission. All being comprised done through comparative public administration.)
· In this section we will insert and analyze the small scope application (inter-state) and the larger scope (International) of Comparative Public Administration.
o History:
o Examples: (larger scope) “In developing countries, it often means refining government’s ability to deliver vital public services (through core administrative functions like budgeting, human resource management and program evaluation) while simultaneously focusing on more fundamental changes (e.g., citizen participation, decentralization, innovation and entrepreneurial leadership” -Fitzgerald
· How to build the field of comparative public administration. This section will be devoted to how the field of Comparative Public administration can be built upon. It will outline the places where it can be a primary field of study.
o example: Heady’s purpose was to respond to an audience of students, teachers, and researchers wanting more information on comparative public administration.
o quote:“The capacities of the state to implement a program tend to depend on as much the configuration of society as of the state.” (Hall 1986) (Heady)
· Joint work plan: This is how as a team we will be working together.
o Everyone must dare to dream, dare to commit, and dare to achieve.
Timeline
-Complete outline skeleton (April 3)
-Fill in outline with source information (April 6)
-Add to wiki talk page (April 6)
-Edit (April 6-12)
-Add to live wiki page (April 13)
“Characterize the administrative systems in a wide range of present-day nation-states.” (Heady)
“Compare or perish.” (Motto of CPA) (Peters & Pierre)
-European scholars have been comparatists for approximately 200 years. (Heady)
-Emphasize issues related to continental system of administrative law (Heady)
-Relationship between public and civil society (Heady)
“With regard to various institutional reforms to increase communication between public administration and civil society we have seen such reforms being conducted in Germany, Sweden, the UK and, to a lesser extent, also in France and the US.” (Heady)
“Historically, much public administration and development literature has focused on “best practices,” implying that solutions that work in one context may be applied to another. More recently, scholars have begun to recognize how the differences in governance contexts—institutions, administrative processes, and culture—can present opportunities and challenges for effectively adopting or diffusing such best practices” ( Fitzgerald 3 )
“A comparative approach is founded on research and analysis that can counteract tendencies toward parochialism that are already prevalent in US public administration theory, research and teaching” ( Fitzgerald 3 )
“The field of comparative public administration (CPA) arguably fulfills a growing need to better understand the administrative tools, strategies, and processes that can address the policy implementation challenges governments face in an increasingly globalized world” (Fitzgerald 3)
Comparative public administration or CPA is defined as the study of administrative systems in a comparative fashion or the study of public administration in other countries.[39][40] There have been several issues which have hampered the development of comparative public administration, including: the major differences between Western countries and developing countries;[41] the lack of curriculum on this subfield in public administration programs; and the lack of success in developing theoretical models which can be scientifically tested.[42] Even though CPA is a weakly formed field as a whole, this subfield of public administration is an attempt at cross-cultural analysis, a “quest for patterns and regularities of administrative action and behavior.”( http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1540-6210.2005.00447.x/epdf) CPA is an integral part to the analysis of public administration techniques. The process of comparison allows for more widely applicable polices to be tested in a variety of situations to produce a best practice for a given administration seeking change start with.
Comparative public administration emerged during the post World War II time period in order to seek international developmental strategies which aided in the containment of Communism during the Cold War. (Riggs 1954, Heady 1960, UTEP) The developers of this field expanded on a general theory, a research agenda, and generalized “lessons learned”. (Riggs 1954, Heady 1960) A prominent figure of Public Administration commented on the study by saying, “Like principles of civil liberty are everywhere fostering like methods of government; and if comparative studies of the ways and means of government should enable us to offer suggestions. which will practicably combine openness and vigor in the administration of such governments with ready docility to all serious, well-sustained public criticism, they will have approved themselves worthy to be ranked among the highest and most fruitful of the great departments of political study.” (Woodrow Wilson, http://www.heritage.org/initiatives/first-principles/primary-sources/woodrow-wilson-on-administration) As the financial state of the powering countries began to stabilize toward the decline of the Cold War, the field of CPA began to diminish. (UTEP) Therefore, the resulting decline caused the lack of further expansion of this study making it irrelevant.
Woodrow Wilson: “Like principles of civil liberty are everywhere fostering like methods of government; and if comparative studies of the ways and means of government should enable us to offer suggestions which will practicably combine openness and vigor in the administration of such governments with ready docility to all serious, well-sustained public criticism, they will have approved themselves worthy to be ranked among the highest and most fruitful of the great departments of political study.” (http://www.heritage.org/initiatives/first-principles/primary-sources/woodrow-wilson-on-administration)
An examination of Comparative Public Administration shows a lack of curriculum that has prevented it from being a major field of study. This lack of understanding of the basic concepts that build this field’s foundation has ultimately led to its lack of use, for example Dr. William Waugh a professor at Georgia State University stated “Comparative studies are difficult because of the necessity to provide enough information on the sociopolitical context of national administrative structures and processes for readers to understand why there are differences and similarities.” He also asserts, “Although there is sizable literature on comparative public administration it is scattered and dated.” This alone could cripple any intellectual field of study, but what can be deduced from his evaluation is that this field requires an understanding of different administrative structures to even start to utilize it, for the heart of this field is comparing different public administrations to gain further knowledge. This may be tough because as he claims the literature to build this base of knowledge is scattered and often unattainable. The simplistic rationalization for the lack of curriculum can be deduced to its inability to be applied, for one must posses prior knowledge to allow for comparisons to be drawn. The lack or ill-formed use of Comparative Public Administration has been detrimental for many countries including the United States. To better illustrate this, Fred Riggs a political scientist who has written many books on this field is quoted stating, “Comparisons to the United States also can be problematic, because of the tendency of many American scholars to presume the American organizational structures and processes are models for other nations to emulate, which was a failing of early developmental administrative studies.” In this, he claims the miss-use of Comparative Public Administration has led to it being underdeveloped.
The fundamental foundation of Comparative Public Administration could lead to better understanding, Yet unfortunately for Comparative Public Administration it has not been used when necessity has called for it. A great example of this is the United States presence in the Middle East post 9/11. For instance in 2002 the National Security Strategy was on the offensive for the battle of hearts and minds. They tried to assimilate with an Arab and Islamic audience to push American values and democracy in an attempt to stop terrorism, when in fact the lack of comparison on the public level was ineffective and backfired. The lack of willingness to understand their culture led to more tension in the Middle East. In conclusion of these events there are not enough resources directed to the study of comparative public administration. For a basic understanding of sociopolitical structure of a society or culture is a key component of Comparative Public Administration. Despite all of it’s set backs there are examples of the application of well-formed Comparative Public Administration working in the world today. One of which is the comparison on the national level David Clark an author in this field states “In spite of similarities in public management reform rhetoric, it is argued that there is increasing divergence in the philosophy & practice of public service in the two nations, & and these differences reflect regimes that incorporate different ideals of citizenship.” This highlights the benefit of proper comparison of public administration. By examining patterns that emerge in international public sectors one can identify similarities and differences in many things including ideals of citizenship on the local level. Although the United States failed use of Comparative Public Administration in the Middle East is noted, they did properly incorporate it domestically. “During the Clinton administration, the focus on residential energy consumption in the United States was elevated to a high level with the inauguration of the Million Solar Roofs initiative, in which the Department of Energy (DOE) sponsored workshops, developed a pool of existing federal lending and financing options, and worked with partners in the solar and building industries to remove market barriers to strengthen grassroots demand for solar technologies” (Farhar and Coburn). This grassroots demand may have come from the comparative knowledge that concluded “In the United States, residential and commercial buildings combined now use 71% of all electricity produced and account for 79% of all electricity expenditures. Annual CO2 emission attributed to electricity consumption in these U.S. buildings constitute 43% of the country’s annual total CO2 emission, which is approximately equivalent to the total CO2 emission of Japan, France, and the United Kingdom combined. These levels support the claim of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that energy use in buildings offer more potential for reducing carbon emission than any other single sector in the United States and abroad.” (Farhar and Coburn). This example compares CO2 emission in the U.S. to other countries and through the buildings sector; the U.S. could cut down on CO2 emission. This proper use points to the importance and necessity of this field and the need to build Comparative Public Administration.
The field of Comparative Public Administration is often misunderstood for the definition itself is complex and requires layers of understanding. The field will require many more years of collaborative research before it becomes a widely recognized academic study.