Public Administration

LECTURE 1 - What is public adminsitration?

Public administration (PA)

Both an empirical phenomenon and a field of research.

• Organizations (public agencies), public servants, formal and informal structures and procedures

• The machinery of government that turns political decisions into concrete actions

• Close to parties, parliaments and governments BUT separate from them

PA as a field of research

• Practice-oriented field: goal is to improve PA efficiency, not just understand how it works.

• Defined by its object of study and practical goals, not by a particular method or theoretical approach

• Key policy questions: Who will implement it? How will it be carried out? What role will PA play in determining its success or failure?

PA as a multi-disciplinary field

• Borrows theoretical approaches and methods from political science, economics, management, law, sociology, psychology.

• Close link to public policy analysis

• Differences between US and European approaches

Bureaucracy

• The rules and hierarchical structure through which administration is conducted

• Often carries a negative connotation

• Authority is exercised through administration: a law only has impact if the administration implements it

Often used interchangeably with PA, term from Weber.

Public Management

The management aspects of PA.

• How government agencies should be organized

• How public employees can be motivated to achieve goals (effectiveness, efficiency, equity, responsiveness)

PA in the US - historical development

• Late 19th century: originated with focus on efficiency, professionalism and corruption (Wilson, 1887)

• After WW2: challenged by Simon and Dahl who criticized focus on mechanic efficiency and lack of scientific rigor

• More recent: highly specialized, focuses on human behavior, limits of rationality, role of context

• PA is profoundly political

PA in Europe

• After WW2: largely dominated by US perspective

• 1975 onwards: EU also relies on PA to implement policies -> not only US-based anymore

• Variation of disciplines, discourses and research approaches between countries

• Increasing internationalization and specialization

• Distinct European research interests (welfare state, multi-level governance)

Dahl's 3 conditions for a science of PA (1947)

Science of PA is only possible if:

1. The place of normative values is made clear

2. The nature of man in PA is better understood and his conduct is more predictable

3. A body of comparative studies exists from which principles transcending national boundaries can be discovered

Easton's model of a political system

• Inputs: demands and support from citizens/environment

• Political system processes inputs

• Outputs: decisions and policies

• Outputs affect the environment -> feedback loop

• PA is embedded in this system, tasked mainly with implementing policies

Chain of democratic delegation

Citizens -> Politicians -> Public Administration -> back to Society

• Citizens elect politicians (representation)

• Politicians delegate execution to PA (delegation & control)

• Accountability goes back to citizens

Parliamentary vs Presidential democracy

• Parliamentary (e.g. Italy): one line of delegation: Voters -> Parliament -> Government -> Bureaucracy. Government accountable to parliament.

• Presidential (e.g. US): two lines of delegation: Voters -> Legislature AND President -> Bureaucracy. Both check the bureaucracy.

Policy cycle

Stages: Problem Recognition -> Agenda Setting -> Policy Formulation -> Policy Implementation -> Policy Evaluation -> Policy Termination

• PA contributes at ALL stages, not only implementation

• Bureaucrats provide expertise influencing agenda-setting and policy proposals

Implementation - room for discretion

Effective implementation requires room for discretion

• Trade-off between democratic control and room for discretion

• Simplistic view sees PA as an apolitical, neutral tool -> reality is more complex

Bureaucratic drift

When PA uses its discretion and de facto modifies policy in the implementation phase.

• Principal-agent problem: politicians (principals) delegate to bureaucrats (agents) who may pursue their own preferences

• The more veto players involved, the greater the potential drift

Street-level bureaucrats

Public servants in direct contact with citizens who use discretion to interpret and apply policies to local circumstances.

PA in non-democracies

• PA is a political resource in the hands of authoritarian regimes (exercise power, support regime stability, oppress opponents)

• J-shaped relationship between democracy and administrative capacity:

  • Authoritarian regimes: medium capacity

  • Initial democratization may decrease capacity

  • High democracy -> high capacity (due to accountability mechanisms)

Bounded rationality (Herbert Simon)

The limits of human rationality in decision-making.

• Humans cannot process all information to make fully rational decisions

• Crucial for understanding decision-making in PA

SESSION 3 - Organizing principles: Structures, procedures and personel.

Public Administration (PA) as an organization

A group of people working together for a shared purpose, characterized by clear rules, procedures, structures, and a clear distinction between people inside and outside the organization.

3 main characteristics of PA organizations

1. Structure: Principles according to which administration is formally organized. 2. Procedures: Ways in which constitutive parts of PA are managed (formal/informal, hierarchical/cooperative). 3. Personnel: Members of PA specialized in a specific field.

Goal of Comparative Public Administration

To describe and explain variation in the 3 characteristics (structure, procedures, personnel) across countries.

Specialization in administrative structures

Division of labor with the goal of increasing efficiency. It is a prerequisite for efficient organization and can be formalized in organizational structures.

Administrative structure

Formalized set of expectations of who is expected to do what and when.

Gulick's 4 principles of organization (1937)

1. By purpose (e.g. education, crime control) 2. By place (e.g. districts, regions) 3. By process (e.g. engineering, accounting) 4. By clientele or object (e.g. farmers, immigrants, the poor)

Inter-organizational specialization

How tasks are distributed among different administrations. Ex: distribution of tasks between Italian administrations.

Intra-organizational specialization

How tasks are distributed within a specific administration. Ex: within a municipality or a specific government agency.

Vertical (hierarchical) specialization

One unit is subordinated to another. Ex: Political leadership → top-level bureaucrat → smaller units led by managers.

Horizontal (thematic) specialization

Specialization of organizations/units that are at the same level. Ex: 24 UK departments, each with their own domain.

Multi-purpose model

All tasks in one territory are fulfilled by one administration. Ex: Municipality. Problem: these units might not be able to specialize internally.

Single-purpose model

Specialized organizations for every issue, organized from the national to the local level. Ex: Agencies for a specific topic.

Deconcentrated administration

Administrations on the ground working for the central government. Ex: Prefectures in France. Good: specialization on the ground. Bad: lack of coordination between local and central structures.

Centralization (Napoleonic model)

Vertical specialization where subnational units have little political autonomy and are subordinated to the center.

Decentralization

Subnational units have significant autonomy to implement many policies. Ex: Municipalities in Scandinavia.

Line and Staff

Line = managers who organize the job. Staff = those who actually do the job.

Unity of command

A clear hierarchy where each subordinate reports to only one superior.

Span of control

Number of subordinates who report to the same manager. Smaller span = more managers needed (tall org). Larger span = fewer managers (flat org).

Tall organization

Small span of control, meaning many hierarchical levels and many managers.

Flat organization

Large span of control, giving staff more autonomy and less detailed oversight.

Silo thinking

When bureaucrats only consider their own part/territory/sector and ignore impacts beyond their boundaries. Negative side effect of specialization.

4 ways to achieve coordination

1. Hierarchical structure (a higher body decides in case of disagreement)

2. Procedures (detailed administrative rules or bonuses tied to common goals)

3. Recruitment/joint background (shared education between units)

4. Shared ideas/goals (overarching goal that motivates work beyond unit boundaries)

Public employment system

The contract under which public servants are employed, described by 3 dimensions: legal status, duration, and education.

Public employees vs. civil servants (legal status)

Public employees: employed under civil/common law, similar to the private sector.

Civil servants: employed under a specific service law, more protective, meant to maintain institutions and resist short-term political pressure.

Career-based employment system

Person is hired long-term and promoted by seniority. Creates generalists who change topics. Low accessibility for external candidates.

Position-based employment system

Hired for a specific spot with no expectation of promotion. More specialized.

Generalists vs. specialists in PA

Generalists: selected by general intellectual ability (Ex: UK).

Specialists: selected for a particular educational background (Ex: US, France with l'ENA).

Politicization

Political appointment of public administration positions in government departments and ministries. Legal (allowed by law) and legitimate (to align administration with elected policies).

Merit vs. patronage

Merit: selection based on capabilities and neutral competence.

Patronage: selection based on political connections.

Why some degree of politicization is acceptable

Top-level political appointments allow for more democratic implementation of policies and ensure responsiveness to voters' choices — but risks compromising merit.

SESSION 4 - The hierarchist way

Grid dimension (Hood/Cultural Theory)

Degree to which PA is governed by specific rules. Measure of structure.

Low grid = lot of room for individuals.

High grid = most choices are limited by rules.

Group dimension (Hood/Cultural Theory)

Degree to which PA involves coherent collectivities that are institutionally distinct from other spheres of society.

Low group = individual freedom.

High group = group cohesiveness.

4 models of the state (Hood)

• Hierarchist (high grid, high group)

• Fatalist (high grid, low group)

• Individualist (low grid, low group)

• Egalitarian (low grid, high group).

Evolve as a pendulum swinging back and forth. In practice they overlap.

Hierarchist model

• High grid + high group.

• Typical way of organizing the state.

• Group centrality

  • Common interest has priority over individual interests.

  • Strong feeling of belonging.

• Rules, norms and procedures

  • Relationships within the group are translated into formal procedures

  • Roles fixed into a hierarchy with clearly defined centers of authority.

  • Control through supervision and monitoring of compliance with rules.

Metaphor of the hierarchist state

State is the father, family is the society. Organically bound together. Individual is part of something larger. State makes the decisions ("state knows better").

Chain of democratic delegation in the hierarchist model

Citizens -> Politicians -> Public Administration -> back to Society. Citizens only vote, no other active role. Supervision and control are hierarchical tools to ensure bureaucratic accountability.

Hierarchist state key features

Command & control, supervision, merit-based selection, procedures, roles & hierarchies. Political system has legitimacy to centralize and exercise power. Society gives trust.

3 historical examples of the hierarchist model

1. Chinese modern state

2. Cameralism

3. Progressive and Fabian movements.

Common aspects: professional PA with clear rules, merit-based recruitment tested by competitive exams, trust in the ability of the state to govern effectively.

Chinese modern state (Qin Dynasty, 221-206 BC)

First example of recruitment of civil servants with a merit-based system. Selection based on skills with the goal of governing the whole territory efficiently.

Chinese modern state (Song Dynasty, 960-1279)

Extensive use of written exams to select civil servants. Development of a highly centralized, unitary public administration covering a large and dispersed territory. Army is the prime example of hierarchist structures.

Mandarin selection

Written exams and days-long public competitions to test ethical standards and skills. Centralized selection procedures. Clear rules/homogenous procedures = key characteristic of the hierarchist model.

Term still used today for public servants selection.

Principles of the Chinese modern state

1. Selection of public servants reflects the natural hierarchy of merits.

2. Merits = capacity to meet ethical standards based on Confucianism.

3. Relation between state officials and population compared to parents and children. Criteria enforced through control and punishment as hierarchical tools.

Cameralism

cience and practice of administration in German/Baltic states whereby monarchs or princes create a professional administrative apparatus for effective governing. (18th-19th century way of administering the state, now a scholar discipline.)

Cameralism - recruitment criteria

Public servants must have:

• Specific university education in administration

• Selected based on merit and technical competences

• Permanent salary

Cameralism - 2 key skills

• Understanding of administration as a process and skill

• Understanding of economic development

Progressive & Fabian movements

• Progressive movement in the US (1890s-1920s) and Fabian society in the UK (19th-20th century)

• Wanted SOCIALISM in the interest of the masses:

  • Reduce corruption and inequalities

  • Support the poor

  • Eliminate monopoly capitalism

  • Reduce the power of elites

• Goal: achieve this through a hierarchical approach

Progressive & Fabian movements - key aspects

• Merit

• Professionalism

• Belief in science

• Bureaucrats should serve citizens directly, not corrupt politicians

3 thinkers in the hierarchist tradition

Weber, Taylor, Wilson.

Common points: only competent people recruited can lead to efficiency + specialization within organizations OR between politics and administration.

Weber - bureaucracy definition

Internal structures and procedures of an organization.

• Empirical observation

• Formalization of the hierarchist approach

Weber - 4 features of bureaucracy

• Specialization: roles formalized, rights and responsibilities clearly described

• Hierarchical organization: clear supervision and subordination, one unit of command

• Professionalism and merit: recruitment and career progression based on competence and experience

• Rule- and record-based procedures: homogenous, consistent, standardized rules ensure impersonality

Weber - bureaucracy as an ideal-type

Theoretically pure type. Does NOT mean it is normatively desirable.

→ Technical superiority of bureaucracies over other forms of organization

Taylor - Scientific Management

Theory analyzing workflows to improve efficiency and labor productivity through scientifically based management rules.

• GOAL: improving economic efficiency and labor productivity

• Belief in science to make administrations efficient

• Efficiency is the only goal that should be pursued

• -> Clearly hierarchical

Taylor - key argument

System must be first, not individuals. Structures and procedures are the base. Only rule-based recruitment can lead to efficiency.

Wilson - Politics-Administration Dichotomy (1887)

Politics and administration should be separated for the common good.

• Politics sets the tasks

• Technical administration decides how to execute them

• Each sphere has its specific tasks

Wilson - role of PA

• PA is subordinated to political guidelines (legitimated by citizens' vote)

• PA expected to serve politicians BUT ALSO society more broadly

• PA is a tool that SERVES the politician

• In favour of merit-based and competitive recruitment

SESSION 5 - The individualist way

Individualist model (position on grid/group)

Low grid + low group.

• Leaves a lot of space for individuals

• Individual is the heart, most central node of society

Individualist model - centrality of the individual

• Group = sum of individuals

• Society and state must protect the individual

• Work for the realization of each individual's well-being, happiness and potential

• Freedom is a necessary condition for the realization of individual self-interest

• Goal of the state should be “the greatest happiness of the greatest number”

Individualist model - rules

• As few rules as possible

• Rules = constraints to individual freedom

• Only necessary rules are legitimate:

  • Preventing from harm

  • Guaranteeing liberties (= limiting state intervention)

Freedom (individualist definition)

Negative definition: freedom = absence of constraints.

• Preserving freedom FROM something

• Individualists prefer markets over state intervention

Critique of the hierarchist state (individualist view)

• Efficient bureaucracy can also be used for despotic purposes

• The better democracy functions in a hierarchist society, the more it becomes a threat to society

• Leads to enslavement of individuals -> Liberal scepticism = anti-state position = neo-liberal vision

3 individualist schools of thought

• Theories of government and public choice (Buchanan, Olson, Tullock): use economic tools to study bureaucrats and politicians as individuals

• Economic theory of the bureaucracy (Niskanen, Dunleavy, Downs): uses economic concepts to study bureaucracy

• Market vs hierarchy (Coase, Williamson): transaction costs

Individualist approach to the state

General distrust of collectivism, statism and centralization -> preference for a "small" state.

• Where state intervention is necessary, market-based coordination mechanisms are preferred over bureaucratic hierarchies:

• Incentives (e.g. performance-related pay)

• Competition (e.g. between jurisdictions or agencies)

Bureaucrats as utility-maximizers - assumptions

• Actors are rational and calculating individuals who act to maximize their utility

• Interests of rulers and ruled do not necessarily coincide

• Rulers do not feel an obligation to align with the common interest

Bureaucrats as utility-maximizers - behavior

To maximize their utility, bureaucrats:

• Progressively increase size and budget of their unit

• Monopolize useful information to gain influence over policy-makers

• Monopolize the implementation of policies to gain power vis-à-vis policy-makers

"Taming Leviathan" (Niskanen)

Public bureaucracy generates inefficiency:

• Oversupply of public goods (too high budgets)

• Production of public goods inefficiently -> Individualists want lean government: "Only by reducing the growth of government can we increase the growth of the economy."

New Public Management (NPM)

Movement that aims at reforming the state and public administration.

• 1990s onwards, spread worldwide

• Contains the essence of the individualist approach

• Seen as a solution to bureaucrat inefficiency and too-high budgets

NPM - goals

Aims to cut down the state on both grid and group dimensions:

• State should be more organized like the private sector

• Reduction of rules governing PA

NPM doctrine - key aspects (Hood, 1994)

• Disaggregate the public sector into manageable units

• Use contracts inside and outside the public sector

• Emphasis on performance measurement and output controls

• Enable more competition in the public sector

• Give freedom and discretion to public managers

Individualist coordination instruments

• Incentives: align the utility function of bureaucrats to the general welfare

• Competition: exploit the competitive nature of individuals while respecting their freedom

→ Both build on choice and money at the center

Performance management

Managing/steering the actions of an organization or specific bureaucrats on specific outcomes, not on the respect of formal procedures/hierarchical command.
- Requires some rules to measure goal achievement
- Goal of control = control the output, not the process

Pay for Performance (P4P)

Pay workers on an individual and daily wage -> more efficient than a fixed monthly rate.

• Applied in many public sector settings (health, education, government)

• Mixed results:

  • Public servants prioritize measurable tasks

  • Ignore tasks harder to quantify even if they benefit the state

  • Never fully implemented, always only part of the system

Competition (individualist tool)

Can be fostered between bureaucrats, between public organizations, or by allowing non-state actors to compete with public organizations.

• Increases performance, productivity and efficiency

• Allows citizens to choose the best performing public service providers

• Competition WITHIN and BETWEEN units of PA

Limitations of individualist tools

Competition and incentives require:

• Tasks that can be meaningfully fulfilled without cooperation

• Specifying and prioritizing concrete goals for each public organization/unit/servant

• Measuring results in a reliable way

• Making performance information accessible and understandable to citizens

Individualist state - summary

• Individual is the reference unit

• Bureaucrats pursue personal self-interest

• Freedom and choice should NOT be constrained by rules or group pressure

• State should be small and non-interventionist

• As few rules as possible

• Bureaucracy organized in small units around incentives and competition

• Bureaucrats accountable for outcomes but responsible for HOW they achieve them