Field of study?

 Why is comparisons important to the practice

of Public Administration (PA)?
 What is the ultimate goal of Comparative

Public Administration (CPA)?

 What is relevant to PA to compare?
 What is the current state of knowledge of

CPA?
 What is the future of CPA?
Jreisat, using Ryan’s  Heady argues that CPA
(1994) ideas, started as a field
identifies three stage focusing of
of CPA development
1. Imperialist Missionary administration
(Post WW II-1960s)
 The 1970s was a
decade of
2. Anti-parochial, Anti- retrenchment.
ethnocentric (1970- Financial support dried
1980) out. Scholars begin
3. Interdependence reappraising the field.
(1980s-Present)  Shift from technical
assistance to action-
goal oriented practice
 The emergence of CPA as a field is linked to the
process of decolonization and the expansion of
nation-states.
 CPA in its origins attempt to help develop the
administrative practice of developing nations.
 CPA was a “cold war” strategy to contain communism.

 CPA shifted from the development practice into

academic debate
 Changes around the world (foreign debt,
neoliberalism, etc.) offer a great opportunity for the
revival of the field.
 “CPA is the comparative study of
institutions, process, and behaviours in
many context. Context (or environment in
comparative analysis generally refers to all
external influences that affect management,
such as societal values, norms, religion,
political culture, and economy.” Jreisat
(2002: 1)
 “[Public] Administration is concerned with
means for the achievement of prescribed
ends…found in political settings. Concerned
primarily with the carrying out of public
policy decisions made by the authoritative
decision-makers in the political system.”
(Heady 1991:2]
INSTITUTIONS
◦ Branches of government (executive, legislative, judicial)
◦ Bureaucracies
◦ Political Parties
◦ Military
◦ Civil Society
PROCESSES
◦ Policy making
◦ Agenda setting
◦ Decision Making
◦ Implementation
BEHAVIOURS
◦ Self-interested behavior (rent-seeking, utility maximization)

◦ Socially motivated behavior

POLITICAL SYSTEM
◦ Democratic regime
◦ Authoritarian regime
CULTURE
◦ Traditional
◦ Modern
ECONOMY
◦ Market driven
◦ Command/planned
◦ Mixed
 Scope (as a field of research)
 Polity : the nature of State and of the form of

government (political leadership; political

ideology etc)
 Social welfare – problems pertaining to food,

housing, health, education, social security etc

 Economy –
 Education – elementary education as an

important obligation
 Defense – strategies
 Management of financial affairs – taxation;
debt structure
 Administrative efficiency – which
administrative structure is operating in a
more efficient manner
 Environmental protection – pollution
 Development of infrastructure – power
generations; communication
 Local – local bodies that are taken up in
diverse cultural settings
 1. inter-institutional comparisons
 Comparisons between two or more institutions
working in different environmental contexts
 Structure; the functions performed by that structure;
process involved in discharging the functions of
different institutions
 2. Intra-national comparison
 Comparisons of the different administrative structures
within a country
 3. Cross-national comparisons
Involve two or more nations
 4. Cross-cultural Comparisons
 Representing more than one culture
 Can be intra or inter national comparison
 5. Cross-temporal comparisons
 Studies conducted at different point of time
 Widening horizon of the discipline of PA
 Contribute formulating theoretical constructs
thereby providing scientific base to the discipline
 Helps in explaining factors responsible for cross-
national and cross-cultural similarities and
differences in those administrative systems
 Facilitate explanations in the literature of public
administration  factors responsible for failure
or success of administration of a country
 Contributes in highlighting which of the
environmental factors that help in the promotion
of administrative effectiveness and which
functions more successfully in what type of
environment (administrative capability)
 Comprehend how one particular administrative
system reacted to a particular problem
 Help in finding out how and with what
modification, can the administrative structure of
a particular country can be successfully
transplanted in another country given their
different cultural settings.
 ECOLOGICAL APPROACH
 STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONAL APPROACH
 BEHAVIOURAL APPROACH
 Latest approach (1970s)
 Emphasized by Prof Riggs.
 Need to relate the administrative systems of

developing countries with the environment

 Riggs : “nature of PA in any country cannot be

understood without grasping the social

setting in which it operates”
 Ecology studies:-
 To denote the relationship between the
organism and environment (biology);
 Interrelationships and interactions of
organisms and their environment
 How it relates to PA?
 1945 (Gaus – identifying key ecological
factors for an understanding of contemporary
American PA –people; place; technology;
social technology; catastrophe; personality
etc
 1947 ( Dahl – ecological approach to study PA
 1952 – US technical assistance programme

(Roscoe Martin) – (refer article)

 Emphasized on the ecological aspect with regard to
effective implementation of techno-assistance
programmes
 1. Interdisciplinary – understanding all
environmental forces (political, social,
economic, cultural etc)
 Forces exert considerable influence on the

administrative systems and get influenced

 2. Complex subject matter
 Primary forces  economic, social, symbolic,

communicative and political – most influence

the administration in any country (Riggs)
 3. importance of interactions
 Between administrative structures and their
environment (interplay)
 4. Mutual influences
 How administration is modified as a result of
interaction with its environment and vice-versa
 Arora (1996) - If an organisation is to survive, it must
adapt itself to the changing needs and conditions of
its external environment (continuously changing)
 Bureaucratic system is continually interacting with the
political, economic and socio-cultural sub-systems in
a society.
 It is both modifying influence upon these systems
and a system which is modified by their activity
 Focus on environmental forces  impact on
administrative systems
 Lacks of predictability (administrative

collapse)
 Example – crisis and collapse of Marcos’s

administration in Phillipines
 Taken from anthropologist’s work
 Waldo suggested this approach in 1955.
 Riggs utilized this approach (1957) – studied the
administrative systems of different societies from
ecological perspective in terms of structures and
functions
 Study and analysis of structures and functions
 Analyze the functions performed by society, the
structures that are responsible to carry out those
functions and method used in undertaking the
functions
 STRUCTURE – any pattern of behavior
become a standard feature of a social
system
 Concrete structures – physically separable

from others
 Analytical structure- those are perceptible

through our intellect and not physically

separable from others. (eg structures of
administrative authority and political power
 patterns)
 FUNCTION – outcome of the interdependence
and interaction of two or more structures
 Concrete function – can be observed as have

been performed or as being performed

 Analytical function – imperceptible to human

eyes (decision making, coordination etc)

 Manifest function  intended and observable
 Latent function happen automatically as a

result of manifest function. (impact of

manifest function)  not intended
 1. Presumed social and circumstantial
stability (no fundamental and drastic changes
in the structures and functions of the
administrative system under study)
 2. assume the cause of all happenings are

predetermined (teleological assumption)

 1. value free approach – focus on empirical
aspects rather than normative aspect
 2. descriptive and evaluative approach 
describes structures performing various
functions (comparative analysis and evaluation of
structures of different administrative systems
performing diverse function)
 3. status quo approach  consider only minor
changes (stability)
 4. focus on interaction  all administrative
system perform their functions with coordination
and interdependence
 Hollow (not solid) assumption of social and
circumstantial stability
 Teleological assumption – cause and impact
 Human relations movement
 Administrative system as a pattern of behavior
that depends on a network of human relations
 Modern approach
 Conducting and promoting scientific research
and developing systematic theory building
 Conducted several cross-national, cross-cultural
studies of administrative behavior  promoting
knowledge of PA in the comparative approach
 1. analytical approach
◦ Focus or analysis on behavior in different administrative
settings  how they behave?
◦ Descriptive as well as analytical
 2. inter-disciplinary (involve other social sciences
as well) in analyzing administration behavior
 3. scientific approach
 4. complex subject matter
 5. empirical approach  using rigorous methods
 6. long range venture
 1. scientific approach (hollow claim)
◦ Difficult to quantify people’s behavior
◦ Study of human attitude, values, norms etc
◦ Diverse cultural settings
 2. ignorance of the circumstances
 3. problem of observation  reliable?
 4. Problem of change