European Association for Public Administration Accreditation

Basic principles for Public Administration

This text has been published in Dutch as part of the report of the Visitation Committee on Public Administration of the Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU) in June 1998. Chair of this committee was Prof.dr. Rudolf Maes (Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium). 1. For the entire field of the social sciences it could be stated that it isn't possible to use one unambiguous standard or one single concept as a basic principle for the scientific practice. Therefore this also applies to the study programmes in the field of the science of public administration and public policy and organisation.1 In its report published in January 1992 the Visitatiecommissie Bestuurs-, Beleids- en Politieke Wetenschappen (visitation committee on public administration, public policy and political sciences) made the following remark: The various programmes in the Netherlands reflect the multiformity, that is also existing at an international level with respect to the science of public policy and public administration.2 All the same there are certain minimum standards or a minimum programme one could use, which these university education programmes should have to meet. As a result of the recommendations made by the previous visitation committee in 1992 in this respect, a report and proposal for discussion was launched in June 1995, entitled Een indicatief minimumpakket' (an indicative minimum package). This was elaborated by a sub-study group of the Werkgroep Bestuurskundig Onderwijs (study group for scientific education on public administration).3 The frame of reference is building on this report. The science of public administration constitutes a field of science, studying as material object the organisation and the functioning of the government and the public administration, within the social environment determining the government interference and government policy. According to the report An indicative minimum package the material object of the connected training programmes can be described as follows: The

2.

By analogy with the remark of A. GIDDENS in his Sociology. A brief but critical introduction, 1991, 3: Like all the social sciences under which label one can also include, among other disciplines, anthropology, economics and history sociology is an inherently controversial endeavour. That is to say, it is characterised by continuing disputes about its very nature. But this is not a weakness. Just like the institutes visited in 1991, the institutes now visited are characterised, not only by a difference in faculty embedding, but also at least partly by the various names and different views of the education programmes. In 1993 the authors of this report made a survey of all academic public administration institutes and recorded a number of remarkable similarities and differences then. Based on their experiences an indicative minimum package for all education programmes that could be considered public administration-oriented was elaborated. The sub-study group consisted of J.C. COOLSMA, chairman and J.A.W. de BRUIN, G.H. HAGELSTEIN, R. HULST, M. TUURENHOUT and A. van der VEEN, members. Website: www.eapaa.org ; Secretariat: Mrs. Seeta Autar University of Twente, School of Management and Governance p.o.box 217, NL 7500 AE Enschede, the Netherlands tel. +31-53-483-6346, fax +31-53-483-6347, e-mail secretariat@eapaa.org
3 2

Basic principles for Public Administration

pg. 2

persons involved, the organisation, the products, and functioning of the public administration in interaction with society.4 Instead of the term public administration the description 'organisations from the public sector of government organisations' could be used. Both the legislative and administrative bodies and the judiciary are performing directive tasks within society, and private organisations are assigned to take on responsibilities with regard to that society, in a public-private co-operation. In the Netherlands we have sciences of public administration, public policy and management in this context. 3. Although one might assume that authorities from times immemorial surrounded themselves with advisers, helping them in work and deed where the preparation and execution of actions imposed by the authorities were concerned, and also with the organisation and the functioning of the available administrative machinery, the origin of the administrative, organisation and policy sciences is traditionally mainly associated with the constitution of the modern states, and timely situated in the course of the last century. The factors contributing to the development are diverse in character and connected to: The rise of the empiricism-based social sciences in general and the political and policy sciences in particular. These sciences opened new perspectives for studying the government, government policy and public administration, which previously mainly were studied from a normative point of view by philosophers and jurists. Sociologists, political scientists, public finance professionals, as well as public administration oriented jurists made their contribution to the study of the actual functioning of government and administration within an essentially ever changing social environment. The increasing government interference and policy formulation during the twentieth century proved only to enhance this. The rise of trade and industrial enterprises and the attention for the organisation and management of these enterprises in connection with this. As a consequence also the organisation theory and management-oriented approaches of the design, functioning and administration of organisations in the public sector were developing. These were keeping abreast of the evolution the industrial and service organisation would undergo afterwards, and a mutual influence between business administration, focusing on 'for profit management', and public administration, focusing on 'not for profit management', occurred. It could therefore be stated that today's science of public administration has two parents; on the one hand the study of rational organisations and their management, and on the other hand the political sciences with their focus on policy formulation by the government and on public administration as a part of the political system.5 Both should be

Een indicatief minimum pakket, 1995, 7 (An indicative minimum package). The data bank relates to structures (organisation), procedures/processes, programmes/products (policy and rules) and persons (motivation, professionalism, leadership, management). The fact that in addition to the organisation and functioning also persons and products were included in the definition, means that the education programmes give attention to the structure and contents of policy and policy theory, the effects or results of policy and production processes and to the meaning of personal characteristics and role or function characteristics. See also: J.C. COOLSMA, G.H. HAGELSTEIN and A. van der VEEN, Universitaire bestuurskunde in de jaren 90: inventarisatie en agenda, in Bestuurswetenschappen, 1996, no. 3, 169. (Academic science of public administration in the nineties: Survey and agenda)
5

N.B. LYNN, A. WILDASKY (Eds.), Public Administration. The State of the Discipline, Chatham House Publ., Website: www.eapaa.org ; Secretariat: Mrs. Seeta Autar University of Twente, School of Management and Governance p.o.box 217, NL 7500 AE Enschede, the Netherlands tel. +31-53-483-6346, fax +31-53-483-6347, e-mail secretariat@eapaa.org

Basic principles for Public Administration

pg. 3

equally presented in the education programmes concerned. However, it's not inconceivable, especially in case of specialisation, that sometimes one direction and at other times the other direction are given more attention.6 Furthermore this young field of science is still developing.7 Besides that it is also subject to trends.8 4. Just defining the scope of study and the corresponding education programmes in the light of their material object (locus or key object) is not enough. After all this object applies to many administration and policy sciences in plural, which usually as specialisations or mono-disciplines study certain aspects of one material object. Merely as a consequence thereof, they are of inherent importance to the science of public administration, serving as auxiliary sciences:9 Jurisprudence (public law, the constitutional law, European and international institutions, administrative law and parts of private law, that likewise rule the government interference or refer to public-private co-operation); Economic sciences (the economic issues of the public sector, public finance, political economy and institutional economy); Sociology (organisation sociology, sociology of public policy and administration sciences); Political sciences (the study of social factors and processes, determining political phenomena with regard to authority, power, order and conflict or the functions of the

New Jersey, 1990. F. van VUGHT distinguishes three periods in the development of the international literature on public administration. The first phase concerns the construction of the science of public administration in the interval between the two world wars; a construction which mainly took place on the foundation of the political sciences and the Scientific Management. The second phase is the period of the criticism both on the academic and the professional character of the science of public administration in the years after World War II. The Minnowbrook conference of 1968 concerning the New Public Administration marks the beginning of the third development phase, characterized by continuous attempts to establish the discipline and the science in an academically professional sense. See: F. van VUGHT, Van vakgebied naar discipline? (From a field of study towards a discipline') in: H.M. de JONG and P. de JONG, Onderwijs en de kwaliteit van het openbaar bestuur (Education and the quality of public administration), Geschriften van de Vereniging voor Bestuurskunde, Vuga, s Gravenhage, 1994, no. 17, 91. It goes without saying that in addition to this general frame of reference, also the frames of reference applied by the specific education programmes themselves should be taken into account in the assessment. See also: H.M. de JONG and P. de JONG, Onderwijs en de kwaliteit van het openbaar bestuur, Geschriften van de Vereniging voor Bestuurskunde, Congress publication 1993, 7: Also in the Netherlands science of public administration is a relatively new occupation. To a certain extent one could state that the field of study isn't fully crystallized; W.J.M. KICKERT and F. van VUGHT, Public Policy & Administration Sciences in The Netherlands, Prentice Hall, Londen, 1995, 9 ff. For example, attention could be drawn to the fact that there is a growing influence from business management, whereas until recently this was considered inappropriate for the management of the classical government organisations.
9 8 7 6

In the report Een indicatief minimum pakket these are called basic disciplines. Website: www.eapaa.org ; Secretariat: Mrs. Seeta Autar University of Twente, School of Management and Governance p.o.box 217, NL 7500 AE Enschede, the Netherlands tel. +31-53-483-6346, fax +31-53-483-6347, e-mail secretariat@eapaa.org

Basic principles for Public Administration

pg. 4

authoritative allocation of values, the control of aims to be pursued in a social context, and constituting the political system). Also the interdisciplinary conceived management science and business administration can be concerned with this object, involving various disciplinary methods of approach, e.g. the economical, sociological, psychological and possibly even judicial approaches as well as those from the political sciences, in their field of interest. In that case they discuss the government and public administration, insofar as these consist of a multitude of purposive forms of co-operation between people, within which organisation and management processes are developing. The formal object (focus or object of knowledge) of the covered field of science, i.e. the study (or science) singular of public policy and administration sciences, is to come to knowledge integrating concepts, paradigms and theories with regard to on the one hand the rationalisation of the suitability (purposiveness, effectiveness, efficiency, integration) and on the other hand the democratic standard (openness, citizen-orientation, legal protection and protection of interests, participation and complaints management) of the design and layout of government organisation, government interference and government policy, taking into account the above mentioned aspect approaches. This could also be called the quality of the intended structures and processes. Also the legitimacy of the government is an umbrella or knowledge-integrating concept, since the legitimacy is depending on the democratic and suitable functioning of the government organisations.10 Interdisciplinarity and integration of knowledge are of complementary importance in this respect.
Other authors mention the umbrella paradigm of the Democratic Administration (see: V. OSTROM, The Intellectual Crisis in American Public Administration, The University of Alabama Press, 1974) or the system rationality, where rational in a political system also means democratic (see: N. LUHMANN, Theorie der Verwaltungswissenschaft, Bestandsaufnahme und Entwurf, Grote, Kln/Berlin, 1966, 66). In his contribution to the congress publication of 1994 about education and the quality of public administration I.Th.M. Snellen justly remarks: Connecting the science of public administration to the government's identity means in any way that the limitation of education and research to issues of effectiveness and efficiency and to standards derived from aspect sciences isn't sufficient. Science of public administration has to come to the government's senses in order to make a sensible contribution to the functioning of public administration; I.Th.M. SNELLEN, Identiteit van de overheid, identiteit van de bestuurskunde (The government's identity, the identity of public administration sciences, in: H.M. de JONG and P. de JONG, op.cit., 21. After 1980 a lot of attention was given to the discussion on the knowledge integration and interdisciplinarity of public administration science, also in the Dutch field of language, though. See among others: A.P.J. van der EYDEN, Overheidskunde en overheidswetenschap, Kluwer, Deventer, 1980 (Government studies and government science); P. GLASBERGEN, Voortgang en vooruitgang in de bestuurskunde' (Progress and improvement in the science of public administration), in: Bestuurswetenschappen, 1988, no. 2, 86-96; J.M.L. HAKVOORT, Integratie binnen de bestuurskunde' (Integration within the science of public administration), in: Bestuurswetenschappen, 1989, no. 1, 21-33; M.R. RUTGERS, Tussen fragmentatie en integratie. De bestuurkunde als kennisintegrerende wetenschap, (Between fragmentation and integration. The science of public administration as a knowledge integrating science) Eburon, Delft, 1993; M.R. RUTGERS, Het perspectief van de bestuurskunde (The perspective of the science of public administration), in: Bestuurskunde, 1995, no. 6, 274-283; A.R. EDWARDS, and I.M.A.M. PRPER, Pluriforme bestuurskunde; voorbij redeloos relativisme (Multiform science of public administration; beyond unreasonable relativism), in: Bestuurskunde, 1996, no. 3, 156-166; R. MAES and K. JOCHMANS, Inleiding tot de bestuurskunde, (An introduction to public administration) part I, Studiecentrum voor Open Hoger Onderwijs, Brussels 1996, 160 ff.; Website: www.eapaa.org ; Secretariat: Mrs. Seeta Autar University of Twente, School of Management and Governance p.o.box 217, NL 7500 AE Enschede, the Netherlands tel. +31-53-483-6346, fax +31-53-483-6347, e-mail secretariat@eapaa.org
10

Basic principles for Public Administration 5.

pg. 5

Casually it should be mentioned here that the Dutch usage sometimes distinguishes between 'bestuurswetenschap' (science of public administration), singular, and 'bestuurskunde' (public administration sciences) or 'bestuurs- en beleidskunde' (public policy and administration sciences). In the Anglo-Saxon terminology this particular field of science is usually referred to as Public Administration.11 In French the common term is science administrative and in German the term Verwaltungswissenschaft is used, even though the French and German terms not always are used in the singular form. Therefore some testators of the science of public administration feel these terms do not concern them.12 In Dutch 'bestuurskunde' (public administration sciences) and 'bestuurswetenschap' (public policy and administration sciences) are often used as synonyms, which also applies in this frame of reference. Not everyone is in complete agreement with that and sometimes these terms get different meanings, although they are relating to the same material and formal object. In this case 'bestuurswetenschap' (public policy and administration sciences) refers to the socio-scientific knowledge of public administration, that is mainly built up descriptively on an interdisciplinary basis, using theoretical and empirical research or practice-based data. The science of public administration on the other hand should be far more practically oriented and operate prescriptively or normatively on the basis of knowledge acquired through scientific research of the public administration.13 Using this distinction it should be clear that although the education programmes concerned have to express a combination of these two views, the main thing is that they offer a firm scientific basis and lay the foundation for an adequate application of the scientific knowledge of public administration. In order to be able to realise the ambitions of the material and formal object of the mentioned field of study, various fields of knowledge have to be covered, according to the committee. First of all these fields of knowledge belong to the large terrain of the social sciences, secondly they are connected to the aspect-oriented sciences of public administration and in the third place they form the object of the knowledge-integrating public administration. They can be summarised as follows: Knowledge of society (facts, problems and values). The government interference and the public administration are focusing on (or interacting with) the broad social environment or the social system, that is not only characterised by variable facts and problems, but also by traditions, culture and (partly also changing) values. The

6.

L. SCHAAP, Bestuurskunde als bestudering van sociale systemen. Theorie der Verwaltungswissenschaft en ander werk van Niklas Luhmann (Science of public administration as the study of social systems. Theorie der Verwaltungswissenschaft and other works of Niklas Luhmann), in: Bestuurskunde, 1997, no. 6, 277-290. Although the term Public Administration for some people might have an undertone of techniques, instruments, procedures and administration, so its contents don't fully cover this frame of reference. In this respect, see: T. TOONEN, Europeanisering en onderwijs. Is Europa klaar voor Nederlandse bestuurskunde? (Europeanization and education. Is Europe ready for the Dutch science of public administration ?) , in H. M. de JONG, P. de JONG, op. cit., 81.
12 11

T. TOONEN, op. cit., 81.

U. ROSENTHAL, M.P.C. van SCHENDELEN, A.B. RINGELING, Bestuurskunde: organisatie, beleid en politieke omgeving, (Public administration: organisation, policy and political environment), Tjeenk Willink, Alphen aan den Rijn, 1984, p. 17. Website: www.eapaa.org ; Secretariat: Mrs. Seeta Autar University of Twente, School of Management and Governance p.o.box 217, NL 7500 AE Enschede, the Netherlands tel. +31-53-483-6346, fax +31-53-483-6347, e-mail secretariat@eapaa.org

13

Basic principles for Public Administration

pg. 6

explanation for the current administration structures and decision-making processes lies in the sociological, cultural, historical, philosophical, ethical, economic, judicial and political facts, that are typical for a certain society. Emphasis is laid especially on knowledge of the historical aspects and on aspects with regard to the sociophilosophical theories that are of importance to the study, and sometime are less developed, since they do not belong to the basic principles that will be discussed later on. The knowledge of all facts mentioned here, as well as the methods of socioscientific research in order to discover these facts, have to be given an adequate chance in the education programmes concerned. Knowledge of the political system. The organisations and processes referred to here, are particularly taking shape within a certain political system as a complex of elements, ruling the actual government interference within society. The attention paid to institutions in the public sector and their functioning is evident, as is the interest in the political and social theories, including those regarding the legitimacy and the democratic design and functioning of government organisations. Knowledge of public administration and government policy. The structures and processes hidden underneath can vary from one form of government to another or from one political system to another. Furthermore within each political system or government level a particular policy formulation mostly in a multi-actor (whether or not in a public-private co-operation) and multilevel context is developed. Not only should we gain an insight into the actual course of decision-making processes and policy and administration networks, but also into the theories and methods to explain or interpret these structures and processes of administration and policy formulation and to situate them within a knowledge integrating frame of mind. The external or society-oriented government interference meant here will usually consist of a combination of communication, organisation and juridical acts, financial and economic transactions or incentives and policy processes. Knowledge of the bureaucratic organisations and their management. The public sector contains a multitude of purposive organisations with political and official components, each with their own characteristics and problem areas with respect to suitability, (de-)bureaucratisation, the formal and informal organisation, rational or irrational behaviour, professionalisation, the relationship between politically elected administrators and the civil service, the division of tasks, co-ordination, integration, deontology, etc. The government management is dominated by the responsibility for the purposive, effective, efficient and achievement-oriented performance of these organisations and takes into consideration that the management has an eye for the legitimate desiderata of self-realisation formulated by the members of the organisation and their motivation. Technical knowledge of administration. This knowledge is in the first place related to the methods and techniques with which organisations and processes of government interference can be analysed and explained within the social and the political system. They are to a large extent accounted for under the previous fields of knowledge. Secondly, this refers to the methods and techniques for policy formulation and government management. One could think of methods and techniques with respect to human resources management, financial management or organisation management. Furthermore the methods and techniques related to e.g. design, implementation, evaluation and planning of the government policy (occasionally also presented under the denominator of strategic management) are of importance. Finally also the methods
Website: www.eapaa.org ; Secretariat: Mrs. Seeta Autar University of Twente, School of Management and Governance p.o.box 217, NL 7500 AE Enschede, the Netherlands tel. +31-53-483-6346, fax +31-53-483-6347, e-mail secretariat@eapaa.org

Basic principles for Public Administration

pg. 7

and techniques for the integration of knowledge and implementation of scientific research on public administration have to be mentioned. Knowledge of communication. Both in the relation government-society and in the internal organisation processes of information exchange, harmonisation and communication are of major importance. Therefore they are mentioned separately in this context, although they are interrelated to the previously mentioned fields of knowledge, and could have been discussed there as well. One of the reasons for mentioning them separately is the growing importance of information science and information and communication management.

7.

The above mentioned basic set of knowledge and methods, that should be available in every education, according to the committee, should be understood like this: It cannot be the intention to educate public administration experts who have a full command of the wide terrain of the social sciences, and especially of sociology, jurisprudence, political sciences and economy or philosophy and history as this would not be studiable or to assure some form of education, training students to be mini-sociologists, mini-jurists, mini-political scientists or mini-economists who in competition with graduates from this fields of science always would be defeated; It should be the intention to arm public administration experts with a package of basic knowledge that is sufficiently tuned to the government, the public administration and the relation with the environment, so they are enabled to integrate with sufficient sense for the socio-scientific reality, context and relevance into an (autonomous) scientific frame of thinking and working based on an inter-discipline. This should constitute the strength of such education programmes. The public administration expert should be able to relate the worlds of science and administration and policy in concrete cases in such a way, that scientific knowledge can assist the administration and policy actors to come to a well-founded strategy.14 Finally public administration education programmes are concentrating on the aspects determining the identity of the government, the organisations under it and their interaction with society. The government's goal-orientation is taking place within the principles of a constitutional state, based on democratic relations; it is focused on social benefits, so it cannot simply be equated with the product or output-orientation within a private company. The public administration cannot afford to have limited attention for the consequences of its actions; compartmental and sectorial thinking is counterproductive, since the meaning of government interference in one sector has consequences for achieving aims in other sectors. The awareness of being part of an interrelated whole with significant social responsibilities is a feature specific to government organisations. At the moment the relevant integration frameworks, resulting from the internationalisation and the European dimension as a new administration level on the one hand, and the emphasis on the advancement of democratic citizenship on the other hand are in a state of flux. In time also future generations will be a factor, when it comes to realising a lasting

8.

J. GRIN, H. van de GRAAF, R. HOPPE, De makelaarsrol van de bestuurskundige (The broker role of the public administration expert), in: Athenaum Illustre, June 1996, no. 6, 11. See also: G.H. HAGELSTEIN, Moet het object van de bestuurskunde verruimd worden naar de profitsector? (Does the object of the science of public administration have to be expanded to the profit sector) in: Bestuurskunde in Nederland: Minimum pakket voor een curriculum, (Public administration in the Netherlands: Minimum package for a curriculum), final report of the symposium in Utrecht, 24 October 1996, 33. The public administration expert is called the playmaker' here. Website: www.eapaa.org ; Secretariat: Mrs. Seeta Autar University of Twente, School of Management and Governance p.o.box 217, NL 7500 AE Enschede, the Netherlands tel. +31-53-483-6346, fax +31-53-483-6347, e-mail secretariat@eapaa.org

14

Basic principles for Public Administration

pg. 8

development policy, etc.15. Consequently also the education has to be focused on developing the necessary critical reflectivity and stimulating the positions or attitudes, relating directly to the identity of government and government interference. For example, learning to negotiate should not be focused merely on winning, but on learning to pursue a democratically negotiated and acceptable result. Attention for the social effects of actions is essential, just like critical reflection on the present developments and those to be foreseen, within the social, political and administrative systems. 9. Furthermore it goes without saying that public administration science should pay attention to the so-called traditional fields of application'.16 As far as especially methods and techniques of socio-scientific research or technical administrative knowledge are meant here, these points of particular interest were discussed earlier. They have to make it possible to use concepts, theories and methods based on research and applicationoriented methods in the practice of government organisation, policy formulation and government management, and to be able to start off research on public administration. Secondly also practical skills are intended here, like language, communicative, computer and concrete management skills, which should make it possible to function effectively within a public administrative organisation and the related social context. In addition to providing practical exercises and tutorials developing these skills will be enhanced by field experiences, work placement and - more specific - by writing a Master's thesis.

15 16

I. Th. M. SNELLEN, op. cit., 20-22. Een indicatief minimum pakket, 1995, 7. Website: www.eapaa.org ; Secretariat: Mrs. Seeta Autar University of Twente, School of Management and Governance p.o.box 217, NL 7500 AE Enschede, the Netherlands tel. +31-53-483-6346, fax +31-53-483-6347, e-mail secretariat@eapaa.org