Mansour, Esmaeil Zaei

Public Policy And Administration

Mykolas Romeris University Institutional Repository

VIEŠOJI POLITIKA IR ADMINISTRAVIMASPUBLIC POLICY AND ADMINISTRATION2017, T. 16, Nr. 2 / 2017, Vol. 16, No 2, p. 347–350.ISSN 1648-2603 (print)ISSN 2029-2872 (online)Book ReviewReviewed by Mansour Esmaeil Zaei*E-mail: Mansour.ez@pu.ac.in Public Administration and Public Affairs (12th Edition)By Nicolas HenryFirst Published 2012 (Reprint 2015)By Routledge130 Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4SB, UK. 496 pagesISBN: 978-0-2058-5586-5Students studying public administration and policy want to understand the me-chanism of good governance in terms of transparency, efficiency, effectiveness, pro-ductivity, accountability and responsibly which is taking place in an environment of political corruption and amid the crisis in public finance. Public Administration and Public Affairs is a well-suited option for undergraduates, public administra-tion and policy students to acquire the required skills and tools to lead them in such challenging environment. It would also be useful to other readers concerned with public administration issues. Accordingly, this book by using an easy to use, easy to read and comprehend style, prepare the readers for a better career in pu-blic administration. Each part and its chapters consists of boxed notes on important points, along with important terms and supplementary readings lists. Case studies in the USA context are provided by Henry from BP oil spill “Great Recession”, Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, the 2011 debt ceiling crisis, Shirley Sherrod’s resigna-tion in 2010, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and Defense Security Donald Rumsfeld, Modernization Act (2010), etc. These features offer advantages of using the book in undergraduate courses in public administration. The Public Administration and Public Affairs is now in its twelfth edition. The text is organized into four parts reflecting public administration and policy, along with the emer-gence of the nonprofit sector in governing and administering the state in the USA. Book Review. Reviewed by Mansour Esmaeil Zaei* & Nasim Saadati348The book also raises concern about the need to curb corruption as a prerequisite of establishing an effective government. Finally, the appendices of this edition provide a unique and detailed guideline for students on how to start a career in the public and nonprofit sectors. This book is reviewed in a part-by-part format. The exact titles of parts are used, and brief summaries and observations are presented for each part. In Defense of Governing Well Henry begins by emphasizing the need for good governance in the face of in-creasing challenges. He continues the same thought by presenting the USA’s unique cultural views on the role of government and their deep and increasing pessimism over elected leaders and the institution of government. Further, the author highlights the role of public bureaucracy and public administration in a democratic society. He provides a distinction between bureaucracy and democracy as they are in fact an-tithetical systems. Henry notes that bureaucracy tends to be hierarchical and elitist while democracy is an egalitarian system in nature. But for a good democratic soci-ety, both systems must be reconciled. He concludes this topic with some examples of the failure of the US government. The authors also discussed the intellectual evolu-tion of public administration in terms of locus and focus. He presents six overlap-ping paradigms, namely, the politics-administration dichotomy, principles of public administration, public administration as political science, as management, as public administration, and finally as governance, beginning from 1990 to the present. Public and Nonprofit OrganizationsThis part provides a highly comprehensible introduction to organizational the-ories and their effect on public administration. The author presents the systems theory over the closed and open models of organizations. Both models are examined to explain the effect of different circumstances on a government agency’s behavior. He observes that the US government tends to lead governmental agencies and is more analogous to the open system model. Further, he presents different aspects of the organization theory, including decision making. He continues by highlighting the role of ‘emotional intelligence’ and the increasing decline of employee involve-ment in public policy. The author also elaborates the X to Y theory and leadership theories clearly written to explain human behavior in public administration. Henry also describes deep and growing changes in the public organization like incivility and bullying in the workplace which were caused by an environment of political corruption and crisis in public finance. The part also adds information on the emer-gence of the nonprofit sector in governing and administering the state in the USA. Finally, it concludes by examining questions about ‘what people do and why they do these things in the public sector’. Viešoji politika ir administravimas. 2017, T. 16, Nr. 2, p. 347–350 349Public Management: Curbing Corruption, Enhancing EfficiencyThe part begins by providing an excellent overview of complexity in public information resources which affected public administration and policy. The author presents new insights and examples on the problems of privacy versus policy in public information systems. He also highlights the importance of knowledge ma-nagement for bureaucrats to ensure that public policy is made with full and precise information. The writer continues topic with discussion on new trends in computer hacking, databank security, failure in the management of IT, and benefits of e-go-vernment. Further, Henry presents a historical perspective on corruption and public administration which have reacted to each other over the years. He begins by descri-bing four separate paradigms namely, efficiency for good government (1900–1940), budgeting to control costs (1940–1970), managing efficiency and effectiveness (1970–1980), and privatizing for less government (1981–1992). They are followed by two overlapping paradigms namely, the waste, fraud, and abuse: the new mea-ning of corruption (1975–Present) and new public management (1992–Present). The paradigms show the growing role of evaluation in the government especially in de-tecting corruption. Today, the US government has set up many evaluation techniqu-es to measure public performance and programs. But some difficulties are faced in evaluating a program in the public sector. The author also discusses the GPRA Modernization Act of 2010 along with performance reporting in the local, state, and federal governments. The concept of ‘budgeting’ in this part acquaints the students with the history and current practices of budgeting, including program/performance budgeting, planning programming budgeting, budgeting by objectives, zero base budgeting, and target base budgeting. A major point in the public sector budgeting is to have some degree of inspiration towards public administration. The writer continues the topic by discussing the rising demand of US people for transparent and accountable public financial management and significant shifts in federal tax policies. Henry also provides a summary on government workers to explain how ‘people’ are considered in different systems. He notes the personnel administration needs to be able to rapidly change and respond to the rising demands of society. The part concludes with two cases.Implementing Public PolicyStudents of public administration will realize that this section is very well-defined and thoroughly explained in detail. The author begins by stressing on the need to focus on the actual process of carrying out the public policy. Three different approaches to public policy along with their theoretical models have been presented. The ‘incrementalism’ model shows that bureaucratic decision-making has a minor impact on the current policy. The “rationalistic” model tends to picture bureaucratic decision-making as dynamic and is based on long-term planning. The ‘strategic planning’ model which originated from the military, concentrates on long-term Book Review. Reviewed by Mansour Esmaeil Zaei* & Nasim Saadati350planning at the highest level with more practical, and ‘satisficing’ decision making at the local level. The writer also explores federal privatization over the concept of ‘government contracting’ and government corporations. He notes that a surprising amount of governmental policy is delivered by non-governmental bodies on the local level and federal level. Further, he criticizes the Federal government for its neglect towards contracting. The government corporations were criticized because of their relatively unregulated nature. He notes that there is an increasing tendency of centralization of control in Washington due to corruption and local pressure. It is mostly carried out by means of budgeting, known as ‘Federalism’. This part conclu-des by advocacy of the bureaucratic ethic by John Lock and John Rawls. The author thinks everyone ought to have the highest attainable and available rights but should not infringe on others’ rights. He cites that inequalities can be taken into account only when they can be logically expected to work for everyone, and chosen for that positions and offices in a democratic manner.Mansour Esmaeil Zaei, Panjab University, Department of Public Administration, research scholar and editor.Mansour Esmaeil Zaei, Panjabo universiteto Viešojo administravimo departamento mokslininkas tyrėjas ir redaktorius.Straipsnis įteiktas 2016 m. kovo–rugsėjo mėn., recenzuotas, parengtas spaudai  2016 m. gruodžio mėn.

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