This book describes the various models, theories and practices of public administration and governance. It balances the dominant Western perspectives and models on administration with non-Western perspectives, and blends theory with practice by carefully explaining the theories governing the discipline while simultaneously focusing on public policy programmes. And, importantly, it describes how the local context heavily influences public administration, and why, therefore, it is difficult to formulate a universal definition or theory of the discipline.

Public Administration: From Government to Governance provides:

• Detailed discussions on the various classical theories, landmark conferences (such as Minnowbrook) and the changing discourses around the discipline of public administration.
• A comprehensive study of various non-Western models of governance through the works of M. K. Gandhi, Mao Zedong and Julius Nyerere.
• Chapters on governance and e-governance, public policy, and the failures and successes of major policies, ethics in governance, and the untapped potential of local governance in our country.
• Contemporary theoretical developments and the growing role of the market and civil society in governance.

This book serves as a ready-reckoner of public administration, incorporating almost all the important aspects of political and social life that are part of the process of governing. It will be useful for undergraduate and postgraduate students of political science and public administration, researchers and civil service aspirants.

Bidyut Chakrabarty is Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Delhi, Delhi.

Prakash Chand is Assistant Professor of Political Science, Dyal Singh (E) College, University of Delhi, Delhi.

Preface
Introduction
SECTION A: CHANGING DISCOURSES IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

1. Trajectory of Public Administration as a Discipline in India

• Nature of the discipline
• Evolution of the discipline
• Changing stances within the discipline

2. Classical Theories of Public Administration

• Scientific management theory
• Bureaucratic theory
• Human relations theory
• Decision-making theory
• Ecological theory

3. Publicness of Public Administration: Minnowbrook Conferences

• First Minnowbrook Conference, 1968
• Second Minnowbrook Conference, 1988
• Third Minnowbrook Conference, 2008

4. Contemporary Theoretical Developments

• New Public Administration (NPA)
• New Public Management (NPM)
• Feminist approach
• Good governance

• Corporate governance, environmental governance and e-governance

SECTION B: NON-WESTERN TRADITIONS OF ADMINISTRATIVE THEORIES

5. Conceptual Intervention: Gandhi, Mao and Nyerere

• Village swaraj
• Commune
• Ujamaa

SECTION C: GOVERNMENT TO GOVERNANCE: DEMOCRACY AS COLLABORATIVE EXERCISE

6. Defining Governance

• Historical roots of governance
• Theoretical roots of governance

• Initiatives of the World Bank

• Good-enough governance
• Privileging the private over the public
• Deconstructing governance
• New governmental designs

7. Public Policy: Conceptual Exploration

• Public policy as an emerging field of study
• Defining public policy
• Public problems as reasons for public policy
• Texture and dimensions of public policies
• Classification of public policies
• Models to understand public policy dynamics

• Institutional model, process model, group model, elite model, rational model, incremental model, normative-optimal model, game theory, system model, public choice model and garbage can model

• Public policy cycle

• Formulation, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation

• Emerging dimensions in policy science

8. Major Public Policies in India

• Environment policy
• Education policy
• Health policy
• Employment policy

9. Ethics in Governance

• Attempting a definition of ethics in governance
• Recommendations of the ARC
• Ethics committees

• Rajya Sabha ethics committee and Lok Sabha ethics committee

10. Citizen-centric Administration: The Heart of Governance

• Situating citizens in governance
• Reforms within the system

• Administrative accountability, decentralisation, redressal of public grievances, right to information, citizens’ charters and e-governance

• The role of civil society

11. Local Governance: Empowering People at the Grassroots

• History of decentralisation in India
• Rural local governance

• 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992
• Weaknesses of the system

• Urban local governance

• 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992
• Major challenges before the system

• Implications of 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts

Conclusion
Select Bibliography
Index