Understanding Public Administration
The Accomplishing Side of Government
What is Public Administration?
 Public administration is the management of government
agencies.
 It has been called the accomplishing side of government
and often simply referred to as the “Bureaucracy”.
 The purpose of business administration is to manage
enterprises to make money and the purpose of public
administration is to manage public offices that have no aim
of making money but providing public service for the
common good.
 The image of business administration in public eyes is usually
better than the image of public administration particularly in
USA.
 People tend to relate themselves with the material and services
they consume more.
 Think of computer companies, phone companies,
companies, DVD players, televisions and so on.
car
 But public administration has a different image and many of the
services provided by government are either poorly understood,
less visible, or have a “negative image.”
 It is more difficult to relate to the Department of Commerce or
Department of the Interior than it is to Microsoft, Coca-Cola, or
Mercedes.
 What all these companies do for people affect people’s
lives, but for instance, it is hard for people to relate
themselves for the department of Environmental Protection
or the Department of Commerce.
 People hardly know that Department of Commerce
regulates businesses and provides incentives for businesses.
 Commerce is done smoothly because of this department.
 We love to drive our cars that we value very much, and
think about the company that makes it, but we do not think
much about roads and bridges that are built for us to drive.
 We usually do not think about government until we need it.
 Public administration handles most of the nation’s disasters
ranging from hurricanes to airline crashes, and the threat of
terrorism.
 Government also handles many less visible tasks such as
regulating meat processors, public health matters that
include sanitation and vaccinations, essential services such
as sewers and water provision in the nation’s cities, and
maintaining public highways and public education.
 From national defense to delivering the mail, the work of
government is immense and essential.
 Although everyone knows that a city’s fire department puts
out fires, most of us will never have to call the fire
department.
 This, for many of us, makes public administration seem
more distant, unless one is involved with organizations that
deal with agencies on an ongoing basis.
 Public administration is the management of government
agencies.
 But, the roots of public administration are based in law
rather than economics, which is not the case for business
administration.
 Government has right to collect taxes and this is regulated
by the laws.
 Laws create departments that serve people and department
of taxation is one of them.
 There are five types of law affect public administration;
constitutional, legislative, executive, administrative, and
judicial.
 Constitutional law establishes the legal functions of
government.
 The U.S. Constitution created the Congress, the presidency,
and the Supreme Court.
 State and local government bodies, courts and all other
government institutions gain their existence and legitimacy
from the constitution.
 Legislative law is the type of law that is most commonly
recognized by most people.
 Legislative law refers to the laws that are approved by
legislative bodies like TBMM.
 Executive orders are another type of law that affects public
administration.
 The government’s chief executive, the president, or prime
minister or the ruler - governor, issues executive orders that
can have tremendous impact on public administration.
 Executive orders can have a significant impact on the
internal operation of agencies.
 Administrative law involves another type of law that
influences public administration.
 Resolutions are promulgated because TBMM often
delegate enforcement of legislation to the administrative
agencies of the executive branch of government.
 Administrative regulations are rules written by the agencies
that carry the force of law.
 A minister of any department in Turkey can issue an
administrative decree and that is the legitimate law as long
as it does not conflict with the constitutional law.
 For instance, a new regulation for clean air might be issued
by the Çevre ve Şehircilik Bakanlığı, and that will be the
law.
 Legislatures can grant agencies wide discretion in making
additional rules and procedures, such as adjudicating cases by
taking driver’s licenses from drivers who either refuse to take a
blood alcohol test or fail the test.
 Administrative laws are subject to judicial review by the courts,
while courts other than the Supreme Court cannot do judicial
reviews for legislative law.
 Judicial law is the last type of law that affects public
administration.
 The courts hear real cases to form this type of law.
 The decisions reached by courts can cause internal or external
change for agencies, or simply uphold a ruling or practice by an
agency.
 It is clear that laws have an enormous impact on public
administration; but unlike private businesses, which are
based on economics, the roots of public administration are
embedded in public law.
Politics, Power, and Authority
 The world of public management involves politics, power,
and authority.
 Harold Lasswell has described politics as “who gets what,
when, and how”.
 Politics involves the struggle for control of society’s public
institutions and the use and allocation of scarce resources;
the struggle over which public policies should be
implemented, and the clash over the direction in which
society should move.
 The question is mainly about whether we want a smaller,
more limited national government that allows for greater
individual freedom and flexibility for local governments or a
large, active central government that seeks to make society
more equitable and protects the rights of minorities and those
with fewer advantages.
 Public agencies are empowered by law to implement and
administer public policies, and often to make public policies.
 Think about department of taxation.
 It has the power to collect the taxes and if you do not pay
your taxes in the full amount that you are supposed to pay, it
has the power to take you to the court and use all the means
available to it; including having you arrested.
Values about Government and Public Administration
 Values are perceptional filters through which we see the
world.
 They are obviously underlying beliefs that people have
concerning many aspects of society including politics,
economics, government, and public administration.
 Values tell us what is “right” and what is “wrong”.
 Two converse sets of values have influenced the public’s
attitude toward public agencies and administrators.
 They may be thought of as the “cynical” view versus the
“positive” view about government.
 Additionally, a third view emerges between the cynical and
positive view, which is called the “rational” view.
 The cynical view holds that government and public
administration are necessary evils although government is
needed to perform certain critical tasks such as national
defense.
 Those holding this view believe that government does more
harm than good.
 Moreover, government usually oppresses the majority for
the benefit of the few, namely, the wealthy and privileged.
 Cynics believe that all politicians are basically the same,
crooked and corrupt.
 Politicians only care about themselves and getting elected.
 The same idea argues that the bureaucracy is equally as
mistrusted and believed to base its decisions on politics in
the worst sense of the term.
 Cynics can find many examples that illustrate how
administrative rules support the wealthy and powerful,
such as tougher penalties for burglary than for white-collar
crimes and more lucrative tax breaks for the wealthy than
for the rest of society.
 This notion claims that a poor person can rob a bank and
get life in prison, but executives can steal millions and get
slapped on the wrist-and they get to keep the money.
 In the end, the cynic believes, the wealthy and powerful always
win, and government ensures that they do.
 Proponents of the cynical view see those working in the
agencies of government as incompetent bureaucrats who look
after their own self-interest at the expense of the public’s
interest.
 Moreover, the bureaucracy is wasteful and inefficient.
 The bottom line of the cynical view is that government cannot
be trusted.
 In positive view of government, although government
sometimes does restrict some individual freedoms, government
protects citizens and communities from conditions that are
beyond their control, such as environmental pollution.
 In this positive view of government, the large size of
population in countries and the complexity of society limit
individual participation in administrative decisions and
public policy, but interested citizens can participate through
elections and interest groups.
 Public administrators are not the self-serving, incompetent
bureaucrats described in the cynical view; rather, they are
honest, intelligent professionals who serve the public
interest.
 Moreover, government improves the quality of society
through well-planned programs that gradually make
changes that have a positive impact on people’s lives.
 This view is founded on the belief that a large, active
government can have a positive impact on society by
bringing needed changes and solving many problems that
would be left unsolved or inadequately addressed by the
private sector.
 The rational approach is neither cynical nor positive.
 It holds that government and public administration is
neither good nor bad.
 Government and other actors in the process are driven by
self-interest, just like in the marketplace.
 Individuals and groups weigh the intervention of
government into a policy issue.
 Government intervenes when those with sufficient power
apply pressure for intervention.
 Because powerful individuals and organizations possess a
disproportionate amount of political resources, they are
more likely to participate in the process and influence
public policy than average citizens.
 This, naturally, can result in a policy that benefits the few
at the expense of the general public who do not have a
concentrated or organized interest in the policy matter.
 But, the policy will be opposed if others who also have a
concentrated interest organize an opposing interest group,
which often occurs.
 In this context, the term rationality refers to a policy that is
sensible, has clear objectives, and employs methods that
are capable of resolving the issue.
 Policy will be efficiently determined and effectively
implemented in cases where interest groups agree on the
policy’s objectives and methods.
 Policy will be inefficiently determined and ineffectively
executed when interest groups disagree on the policy’s
objectives and methods.
 In the rational view, public administrators are not more
honest or selfish than anyone else, although they are like
everyone else driven by self-interest.
Environmental Conditions
 Social conditions play a major role in the type of legislation
passed by Turkish Parliament and local governments, and
therefore they influence public agencies.
 For instance, in the USA, the mood of the nation during the
Watergate Era, in early 1970s, had a tremendous impact on
the types of legislation enacted by Congress; one of the areas
is sweeping campaign reforms.
 The election reforms included public financing of
presidential campaigns, greater disclosure of the sources of
campaign funds, limits placed on the amount that an
individual or organization could give to campaigns and
parties, and the creation of political action committees
 For instance, the Cold War era, was characterized by a fear of a
war with the former Soviet Union and the spread of
communism around the world.
 The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was allowed wide
flexibility to operate during the Cold War, including arranging
assassinations.
 But, following the abuse of executive power during the 1960s
and 1970s, the practice was formally banned.
 Following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and
the Pentagon in 2001, state-sponsored assassination was once
again allowed.
 This type of switch in policy illustrates how the “mood of the
time” influences what government actions are considered
 Economic conditions, considered as an environmental factor,
affect public administration.
 When the economy is better, people pay more taxes and
revenues of the government will increase.
 As a consequence, the government agencies will act differently
and increase their activities in social services and benefits, such
as increasing unemployment benefits and welfare benefits.
 In opposite, when the economy does not do well, the
government revenues will decrease and some of the services
will be compromised, which may have some severe
consequences such as public safety and security conditions.
 Public administration and the economy are related.
 Technological change and developments have been
influencing public administration and the way public
agencies conduct their business.
 They are constantly under scrutiny, by cameras, 24 hour
news broadcasting.
 Particularly the arrest of people or bad-treatment of people
by police has been causing more serious problems in
various countries, particularly actions against AfricanAmericans in the US triggering more riots against
government.
 In Turkey, Gezi Parkı events were organized mostly
through social media.
 Technology does not only make work of government be
scrutinized, but also it makes it much easier since
computers and phones revolutionized the work place.
 These are also good devices for catching crimes and the
criminals more easly.
Political Factors that Affect Public Administration
 Public administration is also a part of the political system.
 Political conditions include the political structure of the system
itself, such as federalism and separation of powers.
 Interest groups play a significant role in formulating public
policy and the decisions made by public agencies.
 In a typical democratic political system there are several traits
that are also vital for shaping up the public administration:
 Popular consent is the idea that governments draw their powers
from the governed.
 Political sovereignty is the right of the majority to govern
themselves.
 Majority rule holds that only those policies that collectively
garner the consent of a majority of citizens will become
law.
 Individualism is the value and focus placed on individuals
in making decisions so that individuals to achieve his or her
highest level of development.
 This makes the interests of the individual as important as or
more important than those of the state.
 Equality is the idea that everyone is equal under the law.
 Separation of powers refers to the splitting of power
between the legislative, executive and judicial branches of
government.
 This creates a system of checks and balances.
 Pluralism is a political model in which political power and
resources are scattered so widely in diverse democracy that
no single group or individual can dominate or monopolize
any substantial area of policy.
 The constitution is the ultimate written law of land and rule
of law is closely related to the constitution.
Pluralism and Interest Groups
 The idea of pluralism affects public administration in term of
forming and implementing public policies.
 The theory of pluralism holds that power is group-based.
 It theorizes that several important inherent characteristics of the
democratic political system give special importance to the role
of interest groups.
 Contemporary government is so complex that individuals must
join groups to participate in politics.
 The point is that individuals participate through groups in the
political process to influence outcomes, and the access points to
the decision-making process include public agencies.
 There is no permanent distinction between elites and masses.
 Individuals move in and out of the ranks of decision making
simply by becoming active or inactive in politics.
 Multiple centers of power exist within a community, and no
single interest group totally dominates all decisions or is
totally dominated by another interest group.
 Competition exists between various interests so that public
policy is the result of bargaining and negotiation among
competing interest groups.
 Interest groups are groups of individuals and organizational
representatives who have a stake in a particular public policy
or set of policies.
 Interest groups lobby the access points of government,
including public agencies, to influence public policy.
Political Culture
 Public administration is also very much affected by
political culture of a particular country or region.
 The patterned set of attitudes, beliefs, and expectations that
describe how people believe political and economic life
should be carried out is called political culture.
 It is a way of perceiving or interpreting politics.
 It has a strong normative element-that is, it is about how
politics ought to be or should be carried out.
 Everyone is influenced by the political culture in which they
were raised.
 Political culture has more to do with general attitudes and
beliefs about political and economic life, such as the belief
that some political behavior is acceptable or unacceptable.
 For instance, political culture also involves the way economic
life should be carried out.
 In some parts of the world, legalized gambling is not a big
issue, but in other parts the political culture views gambling
as a sure way to ruin society.
 What role government should take in engaging in social
issues is also a matter of debate and it is an aspect of political
 Political culture can vary from region to region, country to
country.
 It even will change over the time what really politics and
public administration mean to citizens.
 What do we expect from the government in Turkey?
 How big is the government supposed to be?
 Do you think the government should have a role in
improving the society; carying on a mission?
 Do you think a government that is caught in corruption
would still stay in power in USA or Europe?
Ideology
 Ideology plays a significant role in the political system and
affects public administration in many ways.
 Ideology is often involved when people split into different
corners of the political arena, take sides on issues, and
clash over what government should do.

It also splits people into liberal versus conservative,
capitalist verses socialist camps.
 For instance, liberals in America tend to support
redistributive policies, government services, active
government, progressive taxes, and activities that maximize
participation.
 On the other hand, conservatives tend to favor distributive
policies, minimal government services, regressive taxes,
weaker government, and limited citizen participation.
 Liberals and conservatives clash over fundamental public
policy and the role of government.
 Should we spend more money on the military or for
increased aid for the poor?
 Do we want to regulate the internet or leave it alone?
 Should abortion be a protected right or should the state be
able to decide that issue?
 Such questions test one’s ideological tendencies.
 Citizens’ expectations of government vary greatly from country
to country.
 In socialist countries like Sweden and Denmark, citizens
expected a much wider range of services and government
activities than in more capitalistic nations like the United States.
How large is the Public Sector?
 There are many ways to measure the size of the public sector:
budgets, assets, number of employees, percentage of
governmental spending in the total gross domestic product
(GDP), and the like.
 The U.S. federal government is the largest business on earth by
almost any measurement one uses.
 Also large bureaucracies are found in Russia, China, and
India in terms of number of employees.
 In August 1966, the US federal government had 2,721,000
employees while the population of the country was 196.56
million.
 In 2013, the US federal government employee numbered
2,723,000 while the population increased to 316.16 million.
 But, in totality, there are 19 million public workers directly
employed by government, handling a variety of tasks both at
the local and national levels.
 This excludes some 3 million people who are paid by
government contracts and roughly 3 million more people in
 Turkey has a population of 76500 000 and the total number
of employees is 2.8 million.
 Whatever the number of public workers might be public
administration is needed to perform many tasks, from
keeping statistics on the population and business activity, to
staffing our international embassies and managing the
nation’s foreign affairs.
 We expect government and its agencies to provide services,
and we expect them to be responsive and accountable for
their actions.
 Public agencies are an integral part of our daily lives,
whether we realize it or not.