Summary
Summary Comparative Public Administration and Management
- Course
- Institution
- Book
Summary of the course 'Comparative Public Administration and Management', academic year , taught by Prof. Bram Verschuere.
[Show more]
Connected book
Book Title:
Author(s):
- Edition:
- ISBN:
- Edition:
4 reviews
By: BPM90 • 2 year ago
By: IrisRNY • 3 year ago
By: jentel_cool • 4 year ago
By: woutkeymolen • 4 year ago
Seller
Follow
bpm
Reviews received
Content preview
SUMMARYCOMPARATIVE PUBLIC
ADMINISTRATION AND
MANAGEMENT
PROF. DR. BRAM
VERSCHUERE
UNIVERSITEIT GENT
, INTRODUCTION
1. COMPARING…
Comparing means to examine or look for the difference between two or more things.
1.1. WHAT ‘THINGS’ DOES COMPARATIVE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION COMPARE?
The problem is that public administration itself is a multi-disciplinary field that draws on other
disciplines:
§ Political science: for example, different electoral systems (FPTP, Mixed, Proportional). In every
country there are different electoral systems.
§ Law: different legal systems (Civil law, common law, religious law)
§ Sociology: How do people think in a country? National culture is dependent for the public
administration.
§ Economics: Esping-Andersen: Three worlds of welfare capitalism: (1) Liberal regime, (2)
Conservative regime en (3) Social-democratic regime.
§ …
1.2. DIFFICULTIES FOR COMPARING IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
§ Problem of equivalence, or the ‘travelling problem”: can concepts and terms be transferred to
difficult context (language, culture, …)? E.g. ‘corruption’ may be different in different countries.
§ Level of analysis: National systems? Public organizations? Policies? Civil servant’s behavior?
§ Units of analysis: Comparing ministries? Ombudsmen? Structures? Processes?
§ Limited availability of data with which to make real comparisons:
o OECD Government at a glance
o EU Commission reports
o COCOPS
1
,E.g. government spending as % of GDP? What is government spending?
§ Cost for the governmental apparatus?
§ Transfers in social security to individuals?
§ Transfer of tax-money to private sector organizations performing public tasks?
§ Subsidies to private sector organization?
§ Tax deduction?
2
, 1. THEORIES AND ANALYTICAL
APPROACHES
1. COMPARATIVE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
1.1. TYPOLOGIES OF COMPARISON IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
“In order to compare administrative systems beyond national borders, different typologies and
analytical concepts have been proposed”
§ Administrative traditions are multi-dimensional, comparisons always require a selection of
comparison criteria, the combination of which allows the formation of types.
§ Selection of criteria depends on the focus of the analysis, different comparison-related
typologies can be made meaningful.
There are two analytical dimensions to compare upon:
1. ADMINISTRATIVE TRADITIONS AND CULTURES
‘Legal tradition of a country has an influence on the dominant values in administrative action and the
relation between politics, citizens and administration’
Two clusters must be distinguished:
(1) Classic continental European rule-of-law culture (rechtsstaat) à Civil law tradition
(2) Anglo-Saxon public interest culture (UK: common law à no comprehensive codification of
rules).
3
, In this analytical four families are differentiated for Western Europe:
(1) Common law
(2) Roman-French
(3) Roman-German
(4) Roman-Scandinavian
Central assumption: the handed-down legal tradition of a country has a significant influence on the
dominant values in administrative action and the way in which administration is implemented, as well
as the relationship between politics, citizens and administration.
2. POLITICAL-INSTITUTIONAL FEATURES (CENTRALIZATION/DECENTRALIZATION)
(A) Vertical dispersion of power: Here the degree of centralization or decentralization of public
administration and the relationship between central/centralized and subnational-
decentralized/local government are crucial. Three variants can roughly be distinguished:
1. Federal states (separation versus integrationist model)
2. Unitary-centralized
3. Unitary-decentralized
(B) Type of government: This depends partly on electoral systems and it is more consultative and
consensus oriented, less adversarial moving down the list
1. Single party, minimal-winning (1 party more than 50%)
2. Minimal-winning coalition (2 or more parties more than 50%)
3. Minority cabinets (government less than 50%)
4. Oversized executives (grand coalitions)
(C) Combining type of government and vertical dispersion (Lijphart):
In comparative administrative reform research, the standard classification of countries as either
majority or consensual democracies, is granted special explanatory power with regard to
public management reforms. This has proven to be an important starting condition for NPM
reforms in the different countries.
In which country or system is a public sector reform much easier to reach? In the UK, because
you have one party in the rule, so they don't have to take into account other parties. They
don't have to bother about other levels of government, because the power is centralized.
4
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller bpm. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $8.58. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
Can Stuvia be trusted?
4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)
49497 documents were sold in the last 30 days
Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy study notes for 14 years now