Minnowbrook-II & III were more receptive to others’ contributions than Minnowbrook-I. Explain.

APPROACH AND STRUCTURE

1.  Write an introduction.

2.  Write some basics about Minnowbrook conferences.

3.  Write how MBC is radical.

4.  Then write about MBC II and III that they are not radical.

5.  Conclude.

INTRODUCTION: PA has experienced three Minnowbrook conferences hence there is minnobrook legacy which envisages for PA to focus more on democratic perspective rather than emphasising only on efficiency.

BODY: MBCs are gatherings of academics and practitioners in the area of PA who want to talk about what’s new in the field and set a new path for the discipline. These conferences have been an important element of the historical evolution of PA since MBC 1 in 1968. The conferences have added fresh topics and thrust areas to the PA’s locus and emphasis, as well as providing continuity. The MBC II was organized in 1988 while the MBC III in 2008.

Minnowbrook-I was organised in 1968 under the leadership of Dwight Waldo with participation of radical young leaders. This platform resulted in providing public administration with NPA which is considered as 1st reinvention of public administration by George Fredrikson.

MBC 1–

• Its theme,tone and  temperament  was  more  radical, rejecting, reactionary and anti‐government.
• It came up with 3 antigoals which were to be done away with.
• It was anti- behavioral I.e. completely dismissive of behavioral approach.
• It was marked by gender inequality.
• Sizeable representation from minority.
• famous Simon Waldo debate between positivist and post-positivist ideas

Hence, we can see that MBC1 outrightly rejected the contemporary administrative settings. It became a platform for divulging grievances about administration. Scholars from different background showed confrontation instead of unanimity.

MBC 2:

• It was highly encouraging and  supportive.
• It was receptive to both classicists and behaviouralists.
• Recognised and appreciated the works of behavioralists.
• It may be said that there was a balancing act in MBC2 between normative and empirical approaches as Waldo and Simon both contributed in this conference.
• It considered the principles of both Waldo(normative) as well as Simon(empirical).
• It was more interdisciplinary as it contained thinkers from other disciplines like political science, sociology etc.
• Its subject matter included Methodological Individualism, tools and techniques, leadership, constitutionalism and tacitly accepted NPM movement of the time.

MBC 3

• It was also progressive and pragmatic.
• Focus areas included values and ethics, globalisation, ICT and CPA.
• It was attended by scholars from across the world. Thus, it tried to break ethnocentrism of western nations.
• It was also receptive like MBC 2 and recognised that methodologies and technologies should be pluralistic.
• Ultimately, it came up with three concrete contributions viz. definition of PA, CPA and Methodological Individualism.

MBC 1 happened in the backdrop of crises in America, there were phenomena like Vietnam war, assasination of president Kenedy and Martin Luther, anrarchy, failure of leviathan state. MBC 2 was held in the backdrop of crises in the world like gulf war, economic fallouts etc. so it had to be pragmatic. It couldn’t profess radical American values. Likewise MBC 3 had various new trends like ICT, multinational companies, LPG and Post-NPM developments. Therefore it was also receptive in nature.

MBC-I was largely Waldonian in perspective. But MBC-II & III were both Waldonian and Simonesque in perspective. Hence, they adopted a more pragmatic approach than MBC-I.

Nonetheless, if we compare MBCs, then MBC 1 and 3 are more similar as both gave some concrete contributions. On the other hand MBC2 was marked by constrained hopefulness.

CONCLUSION: Even if they have differences still, they continue to profess a democratic epistemological foundation of public administration which works as a binding force for them. The proposed Minnowbrook-IV paper about the 2028 conference takes the spirit and substance of Minnowbrook-I to the next level by making the discipline of public administration less American and more global.