Bureaucracy in the Field:



BUREAUCRACY IN THE FIELD

TYPES OF INTER-GOVERNAMENTAL

RELATIONS

I. Golden Oldies:

II. Literary Map:

III. Grand Synthesis:

IV. Theme: Bureaucracy in the Field-

I. The Issue: A cacophony of terms

▪ AT ISSUE - Location of ultimate power

▪ Definition of Power: the authoritative allocation of values

2. Forms of Decentralization

▪ Concept: Transfer of authority to a lower level of government

▪ Primary Unit of Government: Lowest level that carries a bureaucracy with it

3. Confederation and loose con-federal relationships

▪ Power lies with the sub-units

▪ U.S. Articles of Confederation

▪ European Union

▪ Southern African Development Council

▪ Economic Council of West African States

4. Federal Relationship

▪ Some power lies with the National Unit

▪ Some power lies with lower units

Key Distinction:

1. Lower units cannot break away from the National

Unit

2. National Units cannot take power away from the lower units

Federal

Examples: USA

Canada

Germany - Federal Republic

Nigeria

India

Russian Federation

Austria

Switzerland

3. Under Federalism: Transfer additional authority back to the sub-units but not take power away from the federated governments

For example, there is a debate over provinces in South Africa

5. Unitary Systems

▪ All power ultimately lies at the national level

▪ What power the local level has, is given to it by the national level

▪ The power that the national unit has given to the local level can also be taken away from it

Examples: United Kingdom

France

Kenya

Ivory Coast

Malaysia

South Africa? (Unitary or Quasi-Federal)

6. Devolution: Transfer to a non-Federal political body

E.g. Budget and personal authority to district, city and town councils

Key- power lies with lower level politicians

Note: Discussion of Traditional, Colonial and Imperial systems (Heady)- Fused systems and the fear of dissolution

7. Deconcentration: (Europe and Field Administration- Tarrow) Transfer of authority to administrators at lower level within the administrative system. Part of routinization of Bureaucracy

Terms:

1. Local state

2. Local Government

3. Self-Governance

4. Functional Systems

5. Prefectoral- integrated Systems

6. Prefectoral-unintegrated

7. Delegation: and the soft state (Turner and Hulme) Public Corporations or parastatals. The problem of Commercialization

8. Corporatism: The relationship between local government and field administration (Picard) under social corporatism. (Peak organizations, interests and technology)

9. Contracting Out: (Why contract out? Why not? Baker and Turner and Holme)

10. Privatization: Origin and problems with public enterprise (Turner and Holme)

11. Governance Issues:

1. Democracy- the powerless of power (Orwell)

2. Decentralization and the critiques of indirect democracy: the human factor (Greene)

3. Decentralization and NGOs (Are NGOs dangerous)

Threats (Morris)

4. Decentralization and ethnic and regional conflict- the dangers of decentralization (Heady)

5. The Communal/municipal model vs. urban/rural dichotomy (Picard)

6. Decentralization (such as land reform) as a failure

7. Issue: local government staff: "bush postings" and Rooting for the Other Team (Morris)

8. Decentralization and Development: State level central planning

Bureaucracy in the field

Questions:

1. What is the difference between local government and field administration? What is the local state? What factors have made local government difficult to introduce in LDCs? Is decentralization easier in more developed countries?

2. What is the Prefectoral system? Why are some called integrated and some called un-integrated? What criticisms are often made of field administrators and field administration?

3. Analyze the issues of public management and public policy raised by the novels by Graham Greene and George Orwell. How do the issues differ from those raised by Warren? By our other authors of "fiction?" Use the comparative public administration literature to discuss these two very different situations.

4. What does Armstrong mean about "territorial direction?" How has prefectoral authority work in France and Russia? What was the Imperial experience with field administration in India and in other British colonies? Compare this with other parts of the world.

5. According to Armstrong, what has been the experience of field administration on development in Europe? Compare Armstrong's view of field administration and development with that of our other authors? What are the dilemmas of decentralization?

6. What does Morris mean by "rooting for the other team?" What is wrong with it? What are the major problems that Morris points to in his article?

7. How does Picard define decentralization? What does he mean by re-centralization? What does he say happened in Denmark? How does he relate re-centralization to the planning process? Critique the model developed by Picard drawing on material from other parts of the world.

8. What is Corporatism? How has specialization affected decentralization in Europe? What are the major goals of the reform and how did they change local government in the Scandinavian Countries? What are "steering mechanisms?" Peak Organizations? What conclusions can be drawn about decentralization in Scandinavia?

9. In general, what is the difference between field administration and administration at the center. What is the difference between field administration and local government? Terms to note and explain: Prefect, Integrated vs. Un-integrated systems, devolution, de-concentration and functional administration.

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