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Origin AND Development OF Public Administration
Theory & Practice of Public Administration (PA 56)
Aklan State University
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ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
Public administration has ancient origins. In antiquity the Egyptians and Greeks organized public affairs by office, and the principal officeholders were regarded as being principally responsible for administering justice, maintaining law and order, and providing plenty. The Romans developed a more sophisticated system under their empire, creating distinct administrative hierarchies for justice, military affairs, finance and taxation, foreign affairs, and internal affairs, each with its own principal officers of state. An elaborate administrative structure, later imitated by the Roman Catholic Church, covered the entire empire, with a hierarchy of officers reporting back through their superiors to the emperor. This sophisticated structure disappeared after the fall of the Roman Empire in western Europe in the 5th century, but many of its practices continued in the Byzantine Empire in the east, where civil service rule was reflected in the pejorative use of the word by Zantinism.
This chapter present the historical background of Public Administration including its different proponents from classical proponents and neoclassical proponents of public administration.
I. DESIRED LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of this chapter, the student will be able to:
- Discuss the historical background of Public Administration;
- Analyze the movement of Woodrow Wilson;
- Understand and identify the different proponents (classical and neoclassical proponents) of Public Administration; and
- Analyze the emerging challenges in the development of Public Administration.
ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
A Call for Public Administration
Perhaps, public administration can be traced back since time immemorial. It was believed to be as old as the civilization of Greece and Mesopotamia. Public administration existed in all societies, big or small. It was the institutionalization of “administrative capacity for collective purposes” that serve as the framework of public societies committed in the promotion of public welfare. Caiden (1982) in Brillantes et al., (2008:2) postulated the idea that public administration should not be considered administration of the public, but an administration for public that has been practiced and expressed in the Code of Hammurabi in Confucianism and in the funeral oration of Pericles. In other words, the idea of client-oriented public administration has its roots in ancient public administration.
Caiden also noted that the genesis of public administration must have originated from monarchial Europe where household officials were divided into two groups: one in charge of public affairs, e. g., the administrator of justice, finance, training of armies, and the other is responsible for public services. Rutgers (1998), in Brillantes et al., support this claim that (e., royal) administration had always been manifested way back in the mid-17th century and early 18th century in Prussia. F Nekidus (as cited in Brillantes et al., 2008) likewise argued on the study of public administration and its positions amidst the sciences in the 18th century. He advocated “cameralism” and claimed that it should be treated as an autonomous field of study of great important of the state. Cameral science is designed to prepare potential: public official for government service. This practice flourished in Europe until the 21st century but it was, in the long run, replaced by administrative laws and legal studies.
Public Administration as a discipline can be divided into two major periods: the classical period (Traditional PA) that is from the late 1800s to the 1950s, and the other one is the modern period (Modern Public Administration) that is from the 1950s up to the present day. The modern day period can be further divided into sub periods, which are:
- Development Administration (DA) – 1950s to 1960s
- New Public Administration (NPA) – Toward 1970s
- New Public Management (NPM) – 1980s to 1990s
- Reinventing Government (RG) –1990s
- Public Administration as a Governance (PAG) – 2000s
Origin AND Development OF Public Administration
Course: Theory & Practice of Public Administration (PA 56)
University: Aklan State University
