APPROACH AND STRUCTURE
1. Write an introduction.
2. Write about criterias for discipline.
3. Show how PA lacks those criterias.
4. Comment part: Still PA fulfils some criterias hence is a discipline.
5. Conclude.
INTRODUCTION: Even if there are six overlapping paradigms of Public Administration, still it lacks recognition as a separate discipline.
BODY: Public administration as discipline began with Wilson’s essay of 1887 named Study of Administration. This separated the discipline of PA from political science. Eventually, it resulted into the evolution of PA as a separate discipline.
Why it struggles: There are some parameters for any discipline to be recognized as a separate discipline which are as follows:
| Parameters | PA | Sociology/Psychology |
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Has |
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Has |
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Has |
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Has |
Caiden observed that Public administration is an underdeveloped discipline and suffers from lack of approach, methods and principles etc. In fact, there are theories in PA but there are no general theories in PA. Most of the theories and principles of PA are by-products of administration in private firms. And a number of vocabularies of PA are borrowed from other disciplines. Waldo opined that the discipline suffers from the crisis of identity. That is why it isn’t equivalent to the subjects like sociology, psychology and so on.
Although, it lacks independent recognition as a separate discipline, yet saying that Public Administration is not a separate discipline will be injustice to the developments happened so far in the area of PA. PA means the government in action.
For instance, Minnowbrook perspectives in 1968, 1988 and 2008 tried to define the subject matter of the discipline of PA. The 2008 MBC delineated the definition of PA as a socially embedded process. Waldo defined the PA in terms of core and periphery.
Post-NPM developments like Neo Weberian State, New Public Governance, Network Governance etc. provide PA the foundation for a separate discipline. Likewise, other theoretical developments like Weberian bureaucracy, CPA and Development Administration deal with the original concepts advocating PA as a separate discipline.
Public Administration also has the academic recognition like NASPAA established in 1970 has more than 250 colleges where the discipline of PA is imparted. Also in India, Lucknow University was the first to provide degree in PA. Now more than 30 universities in Indian provide degrees in PA including Indian Institute of PA.
The MBC-III even if ignored the disciplinary status but espoused the idea that as far as solving the problems of governance of the state is concerned, there is no other discipline but public administration.
CONCLUSION:
To conclude, we can say that developments in operational part of the government have given strong foundation like post-NPM thesis etc. which are likely to give greater recognition to the discipline of PA as separate discipline in coming future.
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