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Core course: State of the Art - Public Values

Vak
2010-2011

What is ‘public’ about public administration? Is ‘efficiency’ a core value for public managers? Does ‘the public interest’ exist? Can ‘public administration’ be described in a value free manner? Is ‘integrity’ a special value for the public sector? Or ‘client-orientedness’? These questions concern the very nature of public administration and they all relate to normative ideas. On the one hand, attention for values in the study of public administration is as old as the field itself, but on the other hand attention seems to be booming if we take into consideration the growing interest, among practitioners as well as academics, in administrative ethics and public values (in both policy-making and in management), and the increased awareness that the very concept we use to describe and discuss administrative matters are value-laden.

This course will focus on the normative foundations of the study of public administration in a broad perspective: what values are central to public administration and its study? The subject is a broad, in-depth introduction to the core issues regarding the (public) values used in administrative thought, with a focus on the most recent developments and debates.

The specific objectives of this course are:
1. To familiarize students with the value based origins of (the study of) public administration.
2. To provide students with a overview of classic and contemporary research on (public) values in PA theory.
3. To present the students at an advanced level the theory-based analysis of normative questions and issues relating to the public sector.
4. Learn to write a brief critical review of a text.

The objectives will foster the students’ ability to interpret and evaluate research on public values, as well as provide a basis for an informed choice of approaches for the area of values research for the students own research.

Coordinator
Dr. P. Overeem

Teaching format
Lectures, (sub)group discussions, and assignments

Study material – Bozeman, B. (2007). Public values and public interest. Counterbalancing economic individualism. Washington: Georgetown University Press. – Digital Reader

Examination
Assignment
Schedule
Lectures
Week 1: Wednesday 2/2 in SB45
Week 2-7 (11/2-18/3) Fridays in 1A20 exept 11/2 in SC01
Time 9-12u

This schedule is subject to change.

Latest update: January, 2011