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.
Athena Title
PUB ADMIN/DEMOCRACY
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in POLS 6910
Semester Course Offered
Offered fall
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
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
Syllabus
Public CV