Abstract
The academic field of Public Administration is quite diverse in Europe, ranging from applications of basic public law on the one hand to analyses of the ‘hollow state’ on the other (where it is difficult to find any clear-cut ‘public’ organisation). Nonetheless, in the light of societal changes towards late modernity, post-modern conditions and globalisation, there are some common challenges that sooner or later may knock at the door of all universities teaching Public Administration: how might we best conceptualise Public Administration as a field?; what are the field's relations to practice?; how can we best teach our field in a globalising world?; how adequate are our theories?; and how can we reach out and meet the demands to come down from our ivory tower?
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
This article is based on a seminar on the relevance of Public Administration theory for practice and teaching held in Florence in May 2004. We thank the participants of the seminar and in particular we want to recognise the input provided by a number of position papers written by Lotte Jensen, Elke Löffler, Carlos Conde Martínez, Tiina Randma-Liiv, Ig Snellen, Theo Toonen and Stavros Zouridis.
Most of them are American, however, but see, for example, Hatch (1997) and later editions.
It goes without saying that these people are unlikely to publish in scholarly journals or books, so they are difficult to refer.
References
Blythe, G., Hasewend, B. and Laget, P. (eds.) (2004) ‘The Europe of knowledge 2020: a vision for university-based research and innovation’, DG Research, Directorate for Science and Society, Brussels.
Bogason, P. (2000) Public Policy and Local Governance: Institutions in Postmodern Society, New Horizons in Public Policy, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Bogason, P. (2001) ‘Postmodernism and American public administration in the 1990s’, Administration & Society 33 (3): 165–193.
Box, R.C. (1998) Citizen Governance. Leading American Communities into the 21st Century, London: Sage.
Davis, G. and Ostrom, E. (1991) ‘A public economy approach to education: choice and co-production’, International Political Science Review 12 (4): 313–335.
Farazmand, A. (1999) ‘Globalisation and public administration’, Public Administration Review 59 (6): 509–522.
Flyvbjerg, B. (2001) Making Social Science Matter. Why Social Inquiry Fails and How It Can Succeed Again, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Forester, J. (1999) The Deliberative Practitioner. Encouraging Participatory Planning Processes, Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Frissen, P.H.A. (1999) Politics, Governance and Technology: A Postmodern Narrrative on the Virtual State, New Horizons in Public Policy, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Gibbons, M., Limoges, C., Nowotny, H., Schwartsman, S., Scott, P. and Trow, M. (1994) The New Production of Knowledge. The Dynamics of Science and Research in Contemporary Societies, London: Sage Publications.
Glaser, B. (1992) Basics of Grounded Theory, Mill Valley, CA: Sociology Press.
Greve, C. (2003) ‘Public–private partnerships in Scandinavia’, International Public Management Review 4 (2): 59–69.
Hajer, M.A. and Wagenaar, H. (eds.) (2003) Deliberative Policy Analysis. Understanding Governance in the Network Society. Theories of Institutional Design, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hatch, M.J. (1997) Organisation Theory. Modern, Symbolic and Postmodern Perspectives, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hoppe, R. and Huijs, S.W.F. (2003) Werk op de grens tussen wetenschap en beleid: paradoxen en dilemma, Den Haag: RMNO.
Kettl, D.F. and Fesler, J.W. (2005) The Politics of the Administrative Process, Washington, DC: CQ Press.
Kolk, A. (2000) Economics of Environmental Management, Essex: Pearson Education.
Lindquist, E.A. (1990) ‘The Third Community, Policy Inquiry, and Social Scientists’, in S. Brooks and A.-G. Gagnon (eds.) Social Scientists, Policy, and the State, New York: Praeger.
Lueneberg, F. and Ornstein, A.C. (2003) Educational Administration: Concepts and Practices, London: Wadsworth.
Luhmann, N. (1983) Legitimation Durch Vefahren, Frankfurt: Suhrkamp.
Mandell, M.P. (1990) ‘Network Management: Strategic Behavior in the Public Sector’, in R.W. Gage and M.P. Mandell (eds.) Strategies for Managing Intergovernmental Policies and Networks, New York: Praeger, pp. 29–53.
Marcussen, M. and Torfing, J. (eds.) (2006) Democratic Network Governance in Europe, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Miller, H.T. (2002) Postmodern Public Policy, Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
OECD. (2001) Citizens as Partners. OECD Handbook on Information, Consultation and Public Participation in Public Decision-Making, Paris: OECD.
Ostrom, E. (1990) Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Papadopoulos, Y., Holzinger, L., Cohen, J., Fung, A., Manin, B., Honuld, C. and Holzinger, K. (2004) ‘Déliberation et action publique’, Swiss Political Science Review 10 (4): 147–210.
Peters, B.G. (1988) Comparing Public Bureaucracies. Problems of Theory and Method, Tuscaloosa, AL: The University of Alabama Press.
Pollitt, C. and Bouckaert, G. (2004) Public Management Reform. A Comparative Analysis, 2nd edn, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Scharpf, F.W. (1997) Games Real Actors Play. Actor-Centered Institutionalism in Policy Research, Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Schön, D.A. (1983) The Reflective Practitioner. How Professionals Think in Action, New York: Basic Books.
Scott, J.C. (1998) Seeing Like a State. How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed, New Haven: Yale University Press.
Simon, H.A. (1945) Administrative Behavior, New York: Free Press.
Smith, A. and Webster, F. (eds.) (1997) The Postmodern University? Contested Visions of Higher Education in Society, Buckingham: Open University Press.
Spicer, M.W. (2001) Public Administration and the State. A Postmodern Perspective, Tuscaloosa, AL: The University of Alabama Press.
Tarrow, S. (1994) Power in Movement. Social Movement, Collective Action and Politics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Weber, M. (1947) The Theory of Social and Economic Organisation, Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
Weiss, C. (1977) Using Social Research in Public Policy Making, Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
Whitaker, G.P. (1980) ‘Co-production: citizen participation in service delivery’, Public Administration Review 40 (3): 240–246.
Wittrock, B. (1991) ‘Social Knowledge and Public Policy: Eight Models of Interaction’, in P. Wagner, C.H. Weiss, B. Wittrock and H. Wollmann (eds.) Social Sciences and Modern States. National Experiences and Theoretical Crossroads, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bogason, P., Brans, M. Making Public Administration Teaching and Theory Relevant. Eur Polit Sci 7, 84–97 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.eps.2210181
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.eps.2210181