Professor Michael Spicer

UB 110

Telephone: 687-2136 (Phone-mail available)

440-892-9640 (Weekdays before 6pm)

 Office Hours: Tuesday 4- 6 p.m. (Except for 3/9)

Thursday 4-6 p.m. (Except for 3/4, 3/11, 4/8. 4/15) or by appointment

1. To provide a broad understanding of concepts, issues and topics relevant to the study of public administration.

2. To provide a familiarity with the classic literature in public administration.

3. To provide a critical view of the way in which public administration scholars view public administration and government.

4. To provide insight into the nature of the activity of research in public administration.

1. Texts

David Farmer. Language and Public Administration. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. 1995. (F).

Jay Shafritz and Albert Hyde (eds.). Classics of Public Administration. Fourth Edition. Harcourt Brace: New York. 1997. (S&H)

Michael Oakeshott. Rationalism in Politics and other Essays. Liberty Prsss: Indianapolis. 1991. (O)

2. Library Reserve Readings

a. Book

Mosher, Frederick C. (ed.), Basic Literature of Public Administration. Holmes and Meier: New York. 1981.

b. Photocopies

i). Denhart, Robert B. "Toward a Critical Theory of Public Organization." Public Administration Review, Vol. 41, 1981: 628-635.

ii). Green Richard T., Keller, Lawrence F. and Gary T. Wamsley. "Reconstituting a Profession for American Public Administration. Public Administration Review. Vol. 53, 1993: 516-524.

iii). Henry, Nicholas. "The Emergence of Public Administration as a Field of Study." from Ralph C. Chandler (ed.). A Centennial History of the American Administrative State. Free Press: New York, 1987.

iv). Hummel, Ralph. Stories Managers Tell: Why They Are as Valid as Science. Public Administration Review. Vol. 51, 1991: 31-41.

v). Rohr, John A. "The Administrative State and Constitutional Principle." from Ralph C. Chandler (ed.). A Centennial History of the American Administrative State. Free Press: New York, 1987.

vi). Rosenbloom, David. "Have an Administrative Rx? Don't Forget the Politics." Public Administration Review. Vol. 53, 1993: 503-507.

vii). Spicer, Michael W. and Larry D. Terry. "Legitimacy, History, and Logic: Public Administration and the Constitution." Public Administration Review. Vol. 53, 1993: 239-245.

viii). Waldo, Dwight. "Politics and Administration: On Thinking about a Complex Relationship." from Ralph C. Chandler (ed.). A Centennial History of the American Administrative State. Free Press: New York, 1987.

ix). Wamsley, Gary et al. "The Public Administration and the Governance Process: Refocusing the American Dialogue." from Ralph C. Chandler (ed.). A Centennial History of the American Administrative State. Free Press: New York, 1987.

Grades for the course will be on an A-B-C-F scale. Pluses or minuses will be listed on grades assignments for advisory purposes only.

1. Participants are asked to write two short essays (each 7 to 10 pages typed double-spaced, not including references). The essays should be in response to two of the questions listed at the back of the syllabus; one from section A and the second from section B. Essays should be typed, concise and to the point. Participants at the doctoral level should cite, where relevant, authors and articles or books associated with particular arguments. The first essay is due on March 18, at latest. A revised draft of the first essay may be submitted by April 22. The second essay is due by May 6, 6 pm. (Each essay counts for 20% of your grade).

2. Participants are also asked to write a review on a book which I shall assign. Books assigned can be obtained through the University or Cleveland public libraries or through OHIOLINK. the review should summarize the major points addressed in the book and provide an assessment of its contribution to the public administration literature. Students may wish to consult Frank Sherwood's "The Half-Century's Great Books in Public Administration" (Public Administration Review, Vol. 50, 1990, pp. 249-264), among other sources, for some interpretive material on these texts. The review should selectively cite quotations from the author to support the points made. Participants should be prepared to make a 15 to 20 minute oral presentation of the review on the session assigned. The written review should run from eight to ten pages (double-spaced) each and is due April 22. Participants should also write a one page (single-spaced) summary of their reviews and make 10 copies for distribution to their colleagues (This assignment will count for 20% of your grade).

3. Participants at the doctoral level are asked to write a research paper on a research topic or question of interest to them. This paper should draw extensively on the readings in public admininistration to develop a theoretical argument that is relevant to their topic and should review the literature relevant to the argument. This exercise may be used to develop a literature review and theoretical framework for your dissertation prospectus.

In lieu of the research paper, participants may write a paper on the ideas of a major philosopher or political writer and their potential relevance to some important aspect or aspects of public administration. This paper again my be useful in developing a foundation for your dissertation prospectus. Possible writers might include Adam Smith, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Locke, David Hume, Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Hegel, August Comte, Adam Ferguson, Herbert Spencer. For attempts of my own to do this in respect to Friedrich Hayek and Edmund Burke, see "On Friedrich Hayek and Public Administration" in the March 1993 issue of Administration and Society and "Reason, Discretion, and Tradition" (written with A. Haque) in the March 1997 issue of Administration and Society.

Whichever option is selected, the paper should run from fifteen to twenty double-spaced typewritten pages. The paper is due by April 15. Participants should let me know in writing of their topic by February 4 and should be prepared to make an oral presentation of their paper and to distribute 10 copies of a one-page abstract on April 22 (30% of your grade).

4. Participants will be called upon each session and should be prepared to discuss questions on particular readings assigned. the quality of your responses will count for 10% of your grade.

This is a doctoral level course. As such, it provides an opportunity for you to engage in a structured program of reading and to participate in a discussion of ideas. It is important that you independently seek a grasp on these ideas and, therefore, you must take the time to read and think about the readings assigned. Each reading should be read at least twice. Lectures will be relatively few and will tend to focus on further applications of some of the ideas raised in the readings, taken from my own research. I will also discuss how I put together this research. In this way, I hope you may gain a better understanding the nature of the research process from at least one particular perspective and help you in your own research endeavors.

Readings are to be completed prior to the session for which they are assigned.

Session 1: Introduction.

Text readings: S & H, pp. 1-6, 63-70, 165-171, 307-318, 469-479

Reserve Reading:

Henry. "The Emergence of Public Administration as a Field of Study."

Session 2: Theoretical Frameworks (Joint Session here with Professor Ralph Hummel).

Text Readings: O, pp. 5-43, 438-461; F, Chapters 1-3

Session 3. Early public administration and the emergence of orthodoxy

Book Presentation:

F. Goodnow. 1900. Politics and Administration. New York: Russell and Russell.

Text readings: S & H, Readings 1 (Wilson), 2 (Goodnow), 3 (Taylor), 4 (Willoughby)

Reserve Readings: Mosher, pp. 82-92 (Goodnow)

Session 4: Public Administration orthodoxy and administrative reform

Book Presentation:

L. Gulick and L. Urwick. Papers on the Science of Administration. Institute of Public Administration. 1937.

Text readings: S & H, Readings 5 (Weber), 6 (White), 9 (Gulick), 10 (Brownlow), 19 (Hoover).

Session 5: Critics of Orthodoxy

Book Presentation:

D. Waldo. The Administrative State. Holmes and Meier. 1948.

Text readings: 15 (Appleby), 16 (Simon), 17 (Waldo); F, Chapter 4 (59-69)

Reserve readings: Mosher, pp. 51-65 (Waldo), 274-283 (Dahl), 296-301 (Long).

Waldo, "Politics and Administration: On Thinking About a Complex Relationship."

Session 6: Politics and Administration.

Book Presentation:

Frederick C. Mosher. Democracy and the Public Service. New York: Oxford University Press, 1968.

Text readings: S & H, Readings 8 (Herring), 18 (Selznick), 30 (Kaufmann).

Reserve readings:

Mosher, pp. 196-204 (Friedrich), 205-214 (Finer).

Session 7: Politics and Administration (cont'd.)

Book Presentation:

Lowi, T. J. The End of Liberalism. Second Edition. New York.: Norton. 1979.

Text readings: S & H, Readings 31 (Lowi), 32 (Frederickson), 36 (Krislov), 39 (Lipsky), 41 (Mosher); O (43-69).

Session 8: Organizational theory and management approaches

Book Presentations:

H. Simon. Administrative Behavior. Free Press. 1945

Text readings: S & H, Readings 7 (Follett), 11 (Barnard), 12 (Merton), 21 (McGregor), 38 (Allison); F, Chapters 5 (70-76, 83-85), 6, 11

Reserve Readings:

Mosher, pp. 261-273 (Simon).

Session 9: Budgeting and Policy Analysis

Book Presentation:

Aaron Wildavsky. Politics of the Budgetary Process. Little, Brown and Company: Boston (1984 or earlier edition)

Text readings; S & H, Readings 13 (Key), 22 (Lindblom), 24 (Schick), 27 (Dror), 29 (Wildavsky), 48 (Sharkansky); O (70-95)

Session 10: Reinventing Government and Privatization: The new wave of orthodoxy?

Book Presentation:

Vincent Ostrom. The Intellectual Crisis in Public Administration. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1973.

Text readings: S & H, Readings 45 (Moe), 47 (Barzelay), 49 (Joyce) 50 (National Performance Review), 51 (Kettl); F, Chapter 7.

Reserve reading:

Rosenbloom, "Have an Administrative Rx? Don't Forget the Politics."

Session 11: Other currents: Constitutionalism (Joint Session off-site with Professor Ralph Hummel and his class)

Book Presentation. To Run a Constitution. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. 1986.

Text readings: S & H, Readings 42 (Rosenbloom); O (465-487); F, Chapters 3 (50-59), 5 (77-83).

Reserve readings;

Green, Keller, and Wamsley, "Reconstituting a Profession for American Public Administration."

Rohr, "The Administrative State and Constitutional Principle."

Spicer and Terry. "Legitimacy, History, and Logic."

Wamsley et al. "The Public Administration and the Governance Process: Refocusing the American Dialogue."

Mosher, pp. 11-28 (Publius)

Session 12: Other currents: Interpretivism, Critical theory, and Postmodernism.

(Joint Session off-site with Professor Ralph Hummel and his class)

Book Presentation:

Charles Fox and Hugh Miller. Postmodern Public Administration. Thousand Oaks: Sage. 1995.

Text readings: S & H., Reading 46 (Stivers), F, Chapters 8-10, 12-14

Denhart. "Towards a Critical Theory of Public Organization."

Hummel. "Stories Managers Tell: Why They Are as Valid as Science."

Session 13: Student Presentations.

ESSAY QUESTIONS 

1. Public administration scholars have long debated the importance and relevance of the politics-administration dichotomy. Discuss the role that the dichotomy has played in the public administration literature, the criticisms levelled against it, and the reasons for what Waldo has termed its "perdurability."

2. The debate about how much discretion administrators should exercise within our system of governance and how they should exercise it have always been controversial within our field. Trace this debate through the intellectual history of the field.

3. Public administration writers frequently refer to what they term the "public administration orthodoxy" in early public administration writing. Discuss the major tenets of this orthodoxy and their limitations as discussed in the literature.

4. Discuss the idea of "bureaucracy" and the way in which it has shaped public administration discourse.

5. One of the important questions in American public administration discourse is the degree to which public administration is similar to or different from business administration. Trace this discussion through the intellectual history of the field.

6. Central to many of the writings in public administration is the idea that a science of administration is needed to guide practice. Discuss the evolution of this idea in the field. What are some of the difficulties posed in developing a science of administration?

7. Discuss the emergence of policy analysis as a major sub-field of public administration. Drawing on the relevant literature, what do you see as its strengths and limitations?

8. To what degree does the reinventing government movement represent a break from or a continuation of traditional public administration thinking? What are its strengths and limitations?

9. In what ways has the Constitution affected public administration practice and thinking? What are the advantages and disadvantages of using the Constitution as a means of gaining insight into public administration.

10. In what ways do interpretivist, critical theory, and postmodernist approaches lead us to think differently about public administration? Discuss the similarities and differences in these approaches.