Understanding Public Administration

The Accomplishing Side of Government What is Public Administration?

Public administration is the management of government agencies.

It has been called the accomplishing side of government and often simply referred to as the “Bureaucracy”.

The purpose of business administration is to manage enterprises to make money and the purpose of public administration is to manage public offices that have no aim of making money but providing public service for the common good.

The image of business administration in public eyes is usually better than the image of public administration particularly in USA.

People tend to relate themselves with the material and services they consume more.

Think of computer companies, phone companies, car companies, DVD players, televisions and so on.

But public administration has a different image and many of the services provided by government are either poorly understood, less visible, or have a “negative image.”

It is more difficult to relate to the Department of Commerce or Department of the Interior than it is to Microsoft, Coca-Cola, or Mercedes.

What all these companies do for people affect people’s lives, but for instance, it is hard for people to relate themselves for the department of Environmental Protection or the Department of Commerce.

People hardly know that Department of Commerce regulates businesses and provides incentives for businesses.

Commerce is done smoothly because of this department.

We love to drive our cars that we value very much, and think about the company that makes it, but we do not think much about roads and bridges that are built for us to drive.

We usually do not think about government until we need it.

Public administration handles most of the nation’s disasters ranging from hurricanes to airline crashes, and the threat of terrorism.

Government also handles many less visible tasks such as regulating meat processors, public health matters that include sanitation and vaccinations, essential services such as sewers and water provision in the nation’s cities, and maintaining public highways and public education.

From national defense to delivering the mail, the work of government is immense and essential.

Although everyone knows that a city’s fire department puts out fires, most of us will never have to call the fire department.

This, for many of us, makes public administration seem more distant, unless one is involved with organizations that deal with agencies on an ongoing basis.

Public administration is the management of government agencies.

But, the roots of public administration are based in law rather than economics, which is not the case for business administration.

Government has right to collect taxes and this is regulated by the laws.

Laws create departments that serve people and department of taxation is one of them.

There are five types of law affect public administration; constitutional, legislative, executive, administrative, and judicial.

Constitutional law establishes the legal functions of government.

The U.S. Constitution created the Congress, the presidency, and the Supreme Court.

State and local government bodies, courts and all other government institutions gain their existence and legitimacy from the constitution.

Legislative law is the type of law that is most commonly recognized by most people.

Legislative law refers to the laws that are approved by legislative bodies like TBMM.

Executive orders are another type of law that affects public administration.

The government’s chief executive, the president, or prime minister or the ruler - governor, issues executive orders that can have tremendous impact on public administration.

Executive orders can have a significant impact on the internal operation of agencies.

Administrative law involves another type of law that influences public administration.

Resolutions are promulgated because TBMM often delegate enforcement of legislation to the administrative agencies of the executive branch of government.

Administrative regulations are rules written by the agencies that carry the force of law.

A minister of any department in Turkey can issue an administrative decree and that is the legitimate law as long as it does not conflict with the constitutional law.

For instance, a new regulation for clean air might be issued by the Çevre ve Şehircilik Bakanlığı, and that will be the law.

Legislatures can grant agencies wide discretion in making additional rules and procedures, such as adjudicating cases by taking driver’s licenses from drivers who either refuse to take a blood alcohol test or fail the test.

Administrative laws are subject to judicial review by the courts, while courts other than the Supreme Court cannot do judicial reviews for legislative law.

Judicial law is the last type of law that affects public administration.

The courts hear real cases to form this type of law.

The decisions reached by courts can cause internal or external change for agencies, or simply uphold a ruling or practice by an agency.

It is clear that laws have an enormous impact on public administration; but unlike private businesses, which are based on economics, the roots of public administration are embedded in public law.

Politics, Power, and Authority

The world of public management involves politics, power, and authority.

Harold Lasswell has described politics as “who gets what, when, and how”.

Politics involves the struggle for control of society’s public institutions and the use and allocation of scarce resources; the struggle over which public policies should be implemented, and the clash over the direction in which society should move.

The question is mainly about whether we want a smaller, more limited national government that allows for greater individual freedom and flexibility for local governments or a large, active central government that seeks to make society more equitable and protects the rights of minorities and those with fewer advantages.

Public agencies are empowered by law to implement and administer public policies, and often to make public policies.

Think about department of taxation.

It has the power to collect the taxes and if you do not pay your taxes in the full amount that you are supposed to pay, it has the power to take you to the court and use all the means available to it; including having you arrested.

Values about Government and Public Administration

Values are perceptional filters through which we see the world.

They are obviously underlying beliefs that people have concerning many aspects of society including politics, economics, government, and public administration.

Values tell us what is “right” and what is “wrong”.

Two converse sets of values have influenced the public’s attitude toward public agencies and administrators.

They may be thought of as the “cynical” view versus the “positive” view about government.

Additionally, a third view emerges between the cynical and positive view, which is called the “rational” view.

The cynical view holds that government and public administration are necessary evils although government is needed to perform certain critical tasks such as national defense.

Those holding this view believe that government does more harm than good.

Moreover, government usually oppresses the majority for the benefit of the few, namely, the wealthy and privileged.

Cynics believe that all politicians are basically the same, crooked and corrupt.

Politicians only care about themselves and getting elected. The same idea argues that the bureaucracy is equally as

mistrusted and believed to base its decisions on politics in the worst sense of the term.

Cynics can find many examples that illustrate how administrative rules support the wealthy and powerful, such as tougher penalties for burglary than for white-collar crimes and more lucrative tax breaks for the wealthy than for the rest of society.

This notion claims that a poor person can rob a bank and get life in prison, but executives can steal millions and get slapped on the wrist-and they get to keep the money.

In the end, the cynic believes, the wealthy and powerful always win, and government ensures that they do.

Proponents of the cynical view see those working in the agencies of government as incompetent bureaucrats who look after their own self-interest at the expense of the public’s interest.

Moreover, the bureaucracy is wasteful and inefficient.

The bottom line of the cynical view is that government cannot be trusted.

In positive view of government, although government sometimes does restrict some individual freedoms, government protects citizens and communities from conditions that are beyond their control, such as environmental pollution.

In this positive view of government, the large size of population in countries and the complexity of society limit individual participation in administrative decisions and public policy, but interested citizens can participate through elections and interest groups.

Public administrators are not the self-serving, incompetent bureaucrats described in the cynical view; rather, they are honest, intelligent professionals who serve the public interest.

Moreover, government improves the quality of society through well-planned programs that gradually make changes that have a positive impact on people’s lives.

This view is founded on the belief that a large, active government can have a positive impact on society by bringing needed changes and solving many problems that would be left unsolved or inadequately addressed by the private sector.

The rational approach is neither cynical nor positive.

It holds that government and public administration is neither good nor bad.

Government and other actors in the process are driven by self-interest, just like in the marketplace.

Individuals and groups weigh the intervention of government into a policy issue.

Government intervenes when those with sufficient power apply pressure for intervention.

Because powerful individuals and organizations possess a disproportionate amount of political resources, they are more likely to participate in the process and influence public policy than average citizens.

This, naturally, can result in a policy that benefits the few at the expense of the general public who do not have a concentrated or organized interest in the policy matter.

But, the policy will be opposed if others who also have a concentrated interest organize an opposing interest group, which often occurs.

In this context, the term rationality refers to a policy that is sensible, has clear objectives, and employs methods that are capable of resolving the issue.

Policy will be efficiently determined and effectively implemented in cases where interest groups agree on the policy’s objectives and methods.

Policy will be inefficiently determined and ineffectively executed when interest groups disagree on the policy’s objectives and methods.

In the rational view, public administrators are not more honest or selfish than anyone else, although they are like everyone else driven by self-interest.

Environmental Conditions

Social conditions play a major role in the type of legislation passed by Turkish Parliament and local governments, and therefore they influence public agencies.

For instance, in the USA, the mood of the nation during the Watergate Era, in early 1970s, had a tremendous impact on the types of legislation enacted by Congress; one of the areas is sweeping campaign reforms.

The election reforms included public financing of presidential campaigns, greater disclosure of the sources of campaign funds, limits placed on the amount that an individual or organization could give to campaigns and parties, and the creation of political action committees (PACs).

For instance, the Cold War era, was characterized by a fear of a war with the former Soviet Union and the spread of communism around the world.

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was allowed wide flexibility to operate during the Cold War, including arranging assassinations.

But, following the abuse of executive power during the 1960s and 1970s, the practice was formally banned.

Following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in 2001, state-sponsored assassination was once again allowed.

This type of switch in policy illustrates how the “mood of the time” influences what government actions are considered acceptable.

Economic conditions, considered as an environmental factor, affect public administration.

When the economy is better, people pay more taxes and revenues of the government will increase.

As a consequence, the government agencies will act differently and increase their activities in social services and benefits, such as increasing unemployment benefits and welfare benefits.

In opposite, when the economy does not do well, the government revenues will decrease and some of the services will be compromised, which may have some severe consequences such as public safety and security conditions.

Public administration and the economy are related.

Technological change and developments have been influencing public administration and the way public agencies conduct their business.

They are constantly under scrutiny, by cameras, 24 hour news broadcasting.

Particularly the arrest of people or bad-treatment of people by police has been causing more serious problems in various countries, particularly actions against African-Americans in the US triggering more riots against government.

In Turkey, Gezi Parkı events were organized mostly through social media.

Technology does not only make work of government be scrutinized, but also it makes it much easier since computers and phones revolutionized the work place.

These are also good devices for catching crimes and the criminals more easly.

Political Factors that Affect Public Administration

Public administration is also a part of the political system.

Political conditions include the political structure of the system itself, such as federalism and separation of powers.

Interest groups play a significant role in formulating public policy and the decisions made by public agencies.

In a typical democratic political system there are several traits that are also vital for shaping up the public administration:

Popular consent is the idea that governments draw their powers from the governed.

Political sovereignty is the right of the majority to govern themselves.

Majority rule holds that only those policies that collectively garner the consent of a majority of citizens will become law.

Individualism is the value and focus placed on individuals in making decisions so that individuals to achieve his or her highest level of development.

This makes the interests of the individual as important as or more important than those of the state.

Equality is the idea that everyone is equal under the law.

Separation of powers refers to the splitting of power between the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government.

This creates a system of checks and balances.

Pluralism is a political model in which political power and resources are scattered so widely in diverse democracy that no single group or individual can dominate or monopolize any substantial area of policy.

The constitution is the ultimate written law of land and rule of law is closely related to the constitution.

Pluralism and Interest Groups

The idea of pluralism affects public administration in term of forming and implementing public policies.

The theory of pluralism holds that power is group-based.

It theorizes that several important inherent characteristics of the democratic political system give special importance to the role of interest groups.

Contemporary government is so complex that individuals must join groups to participate in politics.

The point is that individuals participate through groups in the political process to influence outcomes, and the access points to the decision-making process include public agencies.

There is no permanent distinction between elites and masses.

Individuals move in and out of the ranks of decision making simply by becoming active or inactive in politics.

Multiple centers of power exist within a community, and no single interest group totally dominates all decisions or is totally dominated by another interest group.

Competition exists between various interests so that public policy is the result of bargaining and negotiation among competing interest groups.

Interest groups are groups of individuals and organizational representatives who have a stake in a particular public policy or set of policies.

Interest groups lobby the access points of government, including public agencies, to influence public policy.

Political Culture

Public administration is also very much affected by political culture of a particular country or region.

The patterned set of attitudes, beliefs, and expectations that describe how people believe political and economic life should be carried out is called political culture.

It is a way of perceiving or interpreting politics.

It has a strong normative element-that is, it is about how politics ought to be or should be carried out.

Everyone is influenced by the political culture in which they were raised.

Political culture has more to do with general attitudes and beliefs about political and economic life, such as the belief that some political behavior is acceptable or unacceptable.

For instance, political culture also involves the way economic life should be carried out.

In some parts of the world, legalized gambling is not a big issue, but in other parts the political culture views gambling as a sure way to ruin society.

What role government should take in engaging in social issues is also a matter of debate and it is an aspect of political culture.

Political culture can vary from region to region, country to country.

It even will change over the time what really politics and public administration mean to citizens.

What do we expect from the government in Turkey?

How big is the government supposed to be?

Do you think the government should have a role in improving the society; carying on a mission?

Do you think a government that is caught in corruption would still stay in power in USA or Europe?

Ideology

Ideology plays a significant role in the political system and affects public administration in many ways.

Ideology is often involved when people split into different corners of the political arena, take sides on issues, and clash over what government should do.

It also splits people into liberal versus conservative, capitalist verses socialist camps.

For instance, liberals in America tend to support redistributive policies, government services, active government, progressive taxes, and activities that maximize participation.

On the other hand, conservatives tend to favor distributive policies, minimal government services, regressive taxes, weaker government, and limited citizen participation.

Liberals and conservatives clash over fundamental public policy and the role of government.

Should we spend more money on the military or for increased aid for the poor?

Do we want to regulate the internet or leave it alone?

Should abortion be a protected right or should the state be able to decide that issue?

Such questions test one’s ideological tendencies.

Citizens’ expectations of government vary greatly from country to country.

In socialist countries like Sweden and Denmark, citizens expected a much wider range of services and government activities than in more capitalistic nations like the United States.

How large is the Public Sector?

There are many ways to measure the size of the public sector: budgets, assets, number of employees, percentage of governmental spending in the total gross domestic product (GDP), and the like.

The U.S. federal government is the largest business on earth by almost any measurement one uses.

Also large bureaucracies are found in Russia, China, and India in terms of number of employees.

In August 1966, the US federal government had 2,721,000 employees while the population of the country was 196.56 million.

In 2013, the US federal government employee numbered 2,723,000 while the population increased to 316.16 million.

But, in totality, there are 19 million public workers directly employed by government, handling a variety of tasks both at the local and national levels.

This excludes some 3 million people who are paid by government contracts and roughly 3 million more people in the armed services.

Turkey has a population of 76500 000 and the total number of employees is 2.8 million.

Whatever the number of public workers might be public administration is needed to perform many tasks, from keeping statistics on the population and business activity, to staffing our international embassies and managing the nation’s foreign affairs.

We expect government and its agencies to provide services, and we expect them to be responsive and accountable for their actions.

Public agencies are an integral part of our daily lives, whether we realize it or not.