Course ID: | PADP 6910. 3 hours. |
Course Title: | Public Administration and Democracy |
Course Description: | Administrative organization, relations, and controls facing the contemporary public management in the United States. The institutional, political, and normative environment of the public manager in democratic society. Among the questions considered is the problem of reconciling bureaucratic government and democratic principles. |
Oasis Title: | PUB ADMIN/DEMOCRACY |
Duplicate Credit: | Not open to students with credit in POLS 6910 |
Semester Course Offered: | Offered fall semester every year. |
Grading System: | A-F (Traditional) |
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Course Objectives: | This course is designed to assist students in understanding the larger significance
of the practice of public administration. In a related fashion, the seminar is aimed
at encouraging participants to improve their abilities to analyze, and operate
within, the institutional matrix of modern public management with respect for and
sensitivity to democratic principles.
A basic theme of this course is that the informed and skillful practice of public
administration is enhanced by an understanding of the political context of public
management, and how that setting influences the possibilities and constraints with
which administrators must work. The course thus also provides material that may be
useful in assessing the concepts and perspectives available regarding such
administrative subjects as public budgeting and finance, the administration of public
personnel systems, and the organization and management of public agencies. The course
is not organized as an introductory survey of the various subfields or specialities
of public administration, but rather as an examination of its context and political
significance. Nevertheless, the seminar should be helpful as one begins to become
educated about the details of the field; and indeed some of the required readings
provide useful background information about the subject that can be used in turn in
assessing the political context and significance of its operations. |
Topical Outline: | I. Public Administration and Democracy
II. Democratic Theory, the U.S. Constitution, and the Political Theory of American
Public Administration
III. The Development of U.S. Public Administration
IV. Administrative Organization
V. Political Institutions: The Overhead Executive and the Legislature
VI. Other Institutions: Courts, Interest Groups, the Media, and the Intergovernmental
Network
VII. Decision Making in the Policy Process
VIII. Bureaucratic Politics and Administrative Processes: Managing Finances and People
IX. Bureaucratic Power and Democratic Government
X. Administrative Responsibility and Democratic Government |