The Repositioning of American Public Administration Article Summary - Essay Example

A Summary on The Repositioning of American Public Administration The common conception of public administration before was that it is closely interlinked by the functions of the government or of the state. Because of this idea, it was impossible to treat public administration isolation the general political conditions of society. However, the lecture of H. George Frederickson provides an entirely different concept, one that may well be considered as a more optimistic perspective of American public administration and one that promotes it to the level of a distinct field of political science.

According to Frederickson, American public administration has been in a process of repositioning for about two decades already. This is in response to the new social, economic, and political conditions primarily caused by the increasing irrelevance of national or state boundaries as well as the gradual reduction of state dominance over public affairs. At the basis of such observation is the perspective that public administration is in a continuous process of distancing from “theories and concepts of the clash of interests, of electoral and interest group competition, of games, and of winners and losers” (Frederickson, 1999, p.702). Instead it is on the path of embracing concepts of “cooperation, networking, governance, and institution building and maintenance.

” This is how Frederickson observes and predicts the current trend of repositioning of American public administration. The main external condition that prompts the said repositioning is that the state has lost much of its power over the subjects and over other institutions in society. Apparently, it has become disarticulated and fragmented. This means that the boundaries between nations are being made inconsequential as trading and economic ties have become the principal basis of international relations instead of agreements on territorial jurisdictions and other political aspects.

The barriers between the public and the government, with the usual setup that the latter has administrative control over the former, are also in the process of elimination. Public administration is now also the concern of non-government organizations and other institutions that are not in any way related to the government. A number of these changes may have been mere responses to new situations without the benefit of deeper scrutiny and eventual legislation. However, in the US, the process of repositioning is also gradually being enshrined through the creation of laws regarding such changes.

The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 is one example. Frederickson’s article also mentions that repositioning of the public administration is also creating changes in the appreciation of the theories that govern concept. The theoretical principles and the pragmatic approaches of institutionalism, network theory, and governance have also seen transformations due to the said repositioning. Institutionalism has become more relevant as bureaucracy is depreciating. Networks are established instead of the usual practice of setting up barriers and distinctions among states and within societies.

Governance is being strengthened while the power of the government is reduced. Apparently, this projects an impression that public administration is an affair that is no longer an exclusive domain of the government. The general public, the businesses, the non-government and civic organizations, and other interest groups, all now have better leverage when it comes to the administration of society. With this trend, it is only consequential that the science behind public administration is altered and raised to another level; this time into one that puts into consideration the new power structure in society that is influenced by it.

Frederickson explains that “these theories have much less to do with markets, competition, and individual choice, and more to do with theories of institutions and forms of natural and voluntary cooperation” (1999, p.710). This is obviously a clear proof of how public administration has adapted to the conditions of a fragmented and disarticulated state.ReferenceFrederickson, H.G. (1999). John Gaus Lecture - The Repositioning of American Public Administration. Political Science & Politics, December 1999, 701-711.

Washington, DC: American Political Science Association.