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Public policy can be described as the overall framework within which government actions are undertaken to achieve public goals (Hyde. 2007).
According to Woodrow Wilson, Public administration is the detailed and systematic application of law. Every particular application of law is an act of administration.
However Luther Gulick defines public administration as that part of the science of administration, which has to do with the government; it concerns itself primarily with the executive branch where the work of the government is done; though there are obviously problems also in connection with the legislative and judicial branches.
Policies are purposive courses of action devised in response to a perceived problem.
Public policies are filtered through a specific policy process, adopted, implemented through laws, regulatory measures, courses of government action, and funding priorities, and enforced by a public agency (Fessler. 2009).
Individuals and groups attempt to shape public policy through the mobilization of interest groups, advocacy education, and political lobbying.
Official policy provides guidance to governments over a range of actions and also provides mutual accountability links between the government and its citizens.
The policy process includes several key aspects: a definition of the problem to be addressed, the goals the policy is designed to achieve, and the instruments of policy that are employed to address the problem and achieve the policy goal.
Public policy is the heart, soul, and identity of governments everywhere, elected officials are voted into power by the sovereign citizens of a country due to those citizens’ desire to affect public policy (Denhardt, 2009).
Policy analysis describes the investigations that produce accurate and useful information for decision makers. The importance of sound public policy analysis in achieving various goals related to the growth and development of a nation and its citizens cannot be overemphasize.
Public policy is the study of government decisions and actions to deal with matters of public concern (Fadzlina Nawi, 2007).
Public policy is so important, not only for scholars and politicians but also for individuals themselves, so that an informed, educated public can advocate and hold politicians accountable.
Public administration is the implementation of government policy and also an academic discipline that studies this implementation and prepares civil servants for working in the public service.
Public administration is centrally concerned with the organization of government policies and programmes as well as the behavior of officials (usually non-elected) formally responsible for their conduct.
In 1947 Paul H. Appleby defined public administration as public leadership of public affairs directly responsible for executive action. In a democracy, it has to do with such leadership and executive action in terms that respect and contribute to the dignity, the worth, and the potentials of the citizen.
While Tennessee Valley Authority defined public administration as a public instrument whereby democratic society may be more completely realized.
The North American Industry Classification System definition of the Public Administration (NAICS 91) sector states that public administration comprises establishments primarily engaged in activities of a governmental nature, that is, the enactment and judicial interpretation of laws and their pursuant regulations, and the administration of programs based on them. This includes Legislative activities, taxation, national defense, public order and safety, immigration services, foreign affairs and international assistance, and the administration of government programs are activities that are purely governmental in nature (Jerome, 2009).
The goals of the field of public administration are related to the democratic values of improving equality, justice, security, efficiency and effectiveness of public services in a non-profit venue; business administration, on the other hand, is primarily concerned with expanding market share, generating revenue and earning profit. For a field built on concepts (accountability, governance, decentralization and clientele), these concepts are often ill-defined and typologies often ignore certain aspects of these concepts (Dubois & Fattore 2009).
Public administration consists of all those operations having for their purpose the fulfilment or enforcement of public policy”. As per White, this definition covers a multitude of particular operations in many fields the delivery of a letter, the sale of public land, the negotiation of a treaty, the award of compensation to an injured workman, the quarantine of a sick child, the removal of litter from a park, manufacturing uranium 235, and licensing the use of atomic energy. It includes military as well as civil affairs, much of the work of courts, and all the special fields of government activity-police, education, health, construction of public works, conservation, social security, and many others. The conduct of public affairs in advanced civilisations requires the employment of almost every profession and skill-engineering, law, medicine, and teaching; the crafts, the technical specialties, the office skills, and many others.
An over view of public administration and public policy in Africa
As developing countries emerged from their colonial status after the Second World War onwards, the transition from dependent territories to independent nations was greatly facilitated by the existence of colonial civil service institutions. The post-colonial administrative machineries had to grapple with a new ethos, reflecting new aspirations demanded by their citizens. The inherited public administration system emerged as the natural choice through which the struggle toward development and national building could be achieved. This gave rise to the emergence of public administration as a field of study in post-colonial African designed to reverse the socio-economic and political imbalances created by colonialism (Vyas-Doorgapersad, 2011).
A cursory examination of literature on developing countries’ managerial capacity or incapacity leads one to speculate that most developing countries seem to lack a well-coordinated central policy making machinery of government which has the capacity to set major objectives of government and ensure their consistency. In other words, most developing countries lack an administrative body capable of responding to the needs of accelerated development (Vyas-Doorgapersad, 2012). The central government machinery (central agencies, ministries and departments) in developing countries have tragically failed to initiate and maintain the economic development the people seek despite its rapid expansion over the years. Vyas-Doorgapersad (2011:238) explains that:
Most African countries have experienced the crisis of political turmoil, intolerance and harsh dictatorship; others have a military regime with highly centralised government processes. To name a few, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Libya, Ethiopia and Uganda are in dire straits, resulting in a marked degree of social disintegration and economic stress throughout the continent. Against this background, Otenyo (2006:2) highlights the need for African countries to prioritise development administration, nation building, and change management. The debate on why Africa is still rich in terms of natural resources but poor in terms of net worth bank balances is intriguing and has led some to highlight the lack of capacity in Africa to exploit the given natural resources in a beneficial manner. Some have even argued that managerial capability is some African countries have declined. Academics and consultants have tried, often painstakingly to explain why this paucity of managerial skills is rampant in the developing countries despite the massive increases in the number of management institutes and public service training centres in the various countries (Ojagbohumni, 1990).
Apart from that public administration in africa is also faced with a series of challenges including corruption this can be observed in many african countries like south Africa as reported by Transparency international (2012) which reported that In Africa public administration and public policy are faced with numerous challenges, this has hamperd public service delivery, Corruption in South Africa includes the private use of public resources, bribery and improper favouritism. The 2012 Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index assigned South Africa an index of 4.3, ranking South Africa 69th out of 176 countries (tied with Brazil and Macedonia). (access to parliament 2004). South Africa has a robust anti-corruption framework, but laws are inadequately enforced, two forms of corruption are particularly prevalent in South Africa; tenderpreneurism and BEE fronting.
It is heartening to note that African leaders have come to realize that something has to be done about the problems facing the continent. There have been attempts to address economic stagnation in a large number of African countries. The World Bank has been a leading actor in determining the nature and form of various country structural adjustments. The bank has found out over the years that one of the many factors contributing to project failure in SSA is the limited institutional and administrative capacity of the SSA states. A comprehensive plan that became known as The Joint Program of Action for sub – Saharan Africa was launched in 1984. It called upon African governments and the international community to help SSA meet the daunting development challenges facing the continent.
Relationship between public administration and public policy
The major concern of public administration and public policy is to properly organize men and material for achieving desired ends. As a co-operative group activity, administration is truly universal and operates in all types of public and private organizations. In other words, administration occurs in both public and private institutional settings. Its nature depends upon the nature of the setting and goals with which it is concerned. On the basis of the nature of the institutional setting, public administration can be roughly distinguished from private administration. Both public policy and Public administration is governmental administration concerned with achieving state purposes, determined by the state. Private administration, on the other hand is, concerned with administration of private business organization and is distinct from public administration.
Administration as an activity is as old as society itself. But as an area of study it originated, with the publication of Wilson’s essay on study of Administration in 1887. As a process, administration occurs in both public and private organisations. It occurs in such diverse institution as settings as a business firm, labour unions, religious or charitable organisations, educational institutions, etc. Its nature is affected by the sphere with which it is concerned. Administration is commonly divided into two types, Public and Private Administration. As an aspect of government activity it has existed since the emergence of political system(s). While public administration relates to the activities carried out by government, private administration refers to the management of private business enterprises.
It is important to understand the functioning of administration for on this lies the understanding of the government. In this Unit an effort has been made to bring the concept of administration, public administration in particular, closer to you. This understanding will take you through the entire course of Public Administration. In what follows, we will examine the meaning, nature and scope of public administration.
The other view is that administration is associated with performing routine things in known settings in accordance with certain procedures, rules, and regulations.
L.D. White observes that although public administration varies in form and objects, and although the administration of public and private affairs differs at many points, there is an underlying similarity, if not identity. As an integral aspect of such generic concept, public administration could be related to that type of administration, which operates within a specific ecological setting. It is a means to carry out the policy decisions made by political executive, this also similar to public policy which is also operates with in the same perspective.
To be seen along with it is the ‘Public’ aspect of Public administration and public policy which attributes a special character and focus to it, ‘Public’ can be looked at formally to mean ‘government’, So, public administration and public policy is government administration, government in action, or a socio-economic and politico-administrative confluence, the focus being especially on public bureaucracy. Encyclopaedia Britannica defines public administration as ‘the application of a policy of a state through its government.
Today, the role of public administration and public policy is towards more of governance, than of direct involvement, both public administration and public administration has to play enabling, collaborative, cooperative, partnership and regulatory roles. Coming to the core areas such as defense, law and order, foreign policy it has a direct role to play. In certain other areas such as telecommunications, airlines, insurance, etc., it has to compete with the private sector, for which there should be regulatory commissions to provide for equal level playing fields for both the sectors. There are other areas which it can have partnership with the citizens for efficient delivery of services, for example, maintenance of schools, hospitals, irrigation water and civic amenities. An example we can give is the ‘Bhagidari Scheme’ adopted by the Delhi Government. In certain areas like electricity, water and transport it can have partnership with the private sector. A number of states have partnership with the private sector in providing these services. Other such areas are protection of forests, empowerment of women, micro credit, health schemes, and awareness programmes, it can have partnership with the Non Governmental (NGO) and Voluntary Organizations.
In analyzing the emerging role of public administration and public policy in the new millennium, we are dealing with governance. And governance implies that public administration also has to operate in a wider context and coordinate efforts and activities of the governmental agencies at various levels with that of the market/the private sector, civil society groups, NGOs and contextual participant or elected local government bodies, self-help groups, etc. The role and character of public administration had seen a major transformation. Although it appears that it’s directly handled operations have declined in some of the non-traditional areas, public administration has to provide synergy and direction for many collaborative, cooperative and regulatory activities.
Both public policy and administration are affected by Globalization, The process of globalization not only includes opening up of world trade, development of advanced means of communication, internationalization of financial markets and services, growing importance of multinational corporations, population movements and, more generally, increased mobility of persons, goods, capital data and ideas, but also of infectious diseases and environmental problems like pollution.
Globalization implies the opening of local and nationalistic perspectives to a broader outlook of an interconnected and interdependent world with free transfer of capital, goods, and services across national frontiers. However, it does not include unhindered movement of labor and, as suggested by some economists, may hurt smaller or fragile economies if applied indiscriminately, according to James, Paul (2005), Democratic globalization is a movement towards an institutional system of global democracy that would give world citizens a say in political organizations. This would, in their view, bypass nation-states, corporate oligopolies, ideological Non-governmental organizations (NGO), political cults and mafias. One of its most prolific proponents is the British political thinker David Held. Advocates of democratic globalization argue that economic expansion and development should be the first phase of democratic globalization, which is to be followed by a phase of building global political institutions.
Both public policy and public administration operate fully in Liberalization of the government activities a process of freeing the economy, from various Governmental regulations such as industrial licensing, controls on pricing and distribution of products and services, imports and exports and foreign exchange regulations; control of capital issues by companies; credit controls, restriction on investment, etc., so that the development and operation of the economy is increasingly guided by freely operating market forces.
Public administration and public policy both are involved in a Dynamic Process: Policy making is a process that is a continuing activity taking place within a structure; for sustenance, it requires a continuing input of resources and motivation. These are dynamic process, which changes with time. The sequences of its sub-processes and phases vary internally and with respect to each other. Most of the government policies may change due to emergencies for environment challenges and financial crisis may make the government design policy to help in the management of government programmes , According to the New Vision (10th August 2013), The landslide struck villages on the slopes of Mount Elgon, including Nameti, Kubewo, and Nankobe, with 85 homes being destroyed in Nameti. Many areas in the affected villages were buried by the landslides, with houses, markets, and a church destroyed; many roads were also blocked. Officials and aid workers have warned that there may be further landslides, as heavy rain continues to fall in the region., however during this period of the government desighned various policies to help be in position to curb an emergency situation however in the process the government also establishes administrative policies to help in the management of an unexpected occurrence of a calamity, this therefore brings to light that public administration and public policy are dynamic.
Both public administration and public policy are mainly formulated by Governmental Organs, they are also directed in part, at private persons and non-governmental structures, as ‘when it calls for a law prohibiting a certain type of behavior or appeals to citizens to engage in private saving. But public policy, in most cases, is primarily directed at governmental organs, and only intermediately and secondarily at other factors. Both public administration and Public policy is the outcome of the government’s collective actions. It means that it is a pattern or course of activity or’ the governmental officials and actors in a collective sense than being termed as their discrete and segregated decisions.
Some of the examples of the government formulated policies include the decisions taken by the military of a given country, the educational decisions of a give country and the Health decisions of a given country.
Both public administration and public policy are designed for the good of the citizens of the country for example environmental policies of a given country, Actually the scope of public policy is determined by the kind of role that the State adopts for itself in a society. In the classical capitalist society, State was assigned a limited role and it was expected that the State would merely act as a regulator of social and economic activity and not its promoter. With the advent of planned view of development, State began tp be perceived as an active agent in promoting and shaping societies in its various activities. This was considered as a great change in the role of a State. Public policies expanded their scope from merely one of regulation to that of development. Expansion in scope led to several other consequences like many more government agencies afld institutions came into being in order to formulate and implement policies. In India, the Planning Commission and its attendant agencies came into being in order to formulate policies and develop perspectives that could define the direction which the country would follow, So, the first major goal of public policies in acountry like india has been in the area of socio-economic development. Wide ranging policies were formulated in the area of industrial and agricultural development. Many policies were converted into Statutes. like Industrial Development and Regulating Act or Land Tenancy Act. Others were kept as directives in the various plan documents. For all policy directions, the Five Year Plans became the major source. These policies were of two types, one of regulation and the other of promotion. Laws laid down what could be done or not done by the entrepreneurs. This could be in the larger area like what goods can be produced by the public or whether certain goods can be tided only by government agencies. Laws also specified how State agencies themselves were to provide goods and services like electricity, transport etc. The State undertook similar responsibility in the social sphere, from the above findings it is therefore clear that public policy and administration are designed for the good of the citizens of a given country.
Both public policy and administration Results in Action, Decision-making can result in action, in changes in the decision-making itself, or both or neither. The policies of most socially significant decision-making, such as most public policy making are intended to result in action. Also policies directed at the policy making apparatus itself such as efficiency drives in government are action oriented.
These policies are concerned with the general welfare and development of the society, the programmes like provision of education and employment opportunities, economic stabilisation, law and order enforcement, anti-pollution legislation etc. are the result of substantive policy formulation. These policies have vast areas of operation affecting the general welfare and development of the society as a whole. These do not relate to any particular or privileged segments of the society. Such policies have to be formulated keeping in view the prime character of the constitution socio-economic problems and the level of moral claims of the society.
Good public administration is an essential prerequisite for governments and institutions to achieve competitiveness and growth and fully functioning national public policy is also a prerequisite for effective democratic system. When a country has a strong public policy and administration it is able to achieve better economic performance and growth , this can be observed in the instances of some economies like in Botswana which has a strong and effective model public policy . In Botswana, the political leadership has been committed to the conception that proficient management of the economy depends on the quality of the public service. To achieve their development objectives, the political leadership made efficiency and effectiveness their major overriding goal. They set out to build a strong nucleus of top and middle level managers. Botswana’s system of public management has been commended as one of the most successful in Africa. Since its independence in 1966, the government of Botswana adopted various reforms in the form of decentralization, computerization of personnel management systems and human resource development under the ambit of New Public Management (NPM) (Dzimbiri, 2008). This led several studies to conclude that although Botswana is still a developing country, its bureaucracy stands out in several aspects (Hope, 2002; Dzimbiri, 2008; Marobela and Boy, 2012). Botswana has been commented for establishing a sound democratic system, separation of powers clearly specifying lines of authority, accountable bureaucracy and a strong foundation for prudence in the management of public finance.
It is therefore evident that effectiveness in public administration and executing the public policy well is essential in enabling a country achieve growth and development.
Given the wide acceptance of the ideas of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation, both public and private administrations have to compete in the same area to provide services to people. Here both are dealing with customers, who pay for their services, in such a situation it narrows down the differences between the public and private administration. New Public Management, which has come into prominence, recently, puts emphasis on managerial techniques, which are to be adopted by public administration for the efficient delivery of public services. But in providing pubic services in the field of social and welfare areas their exists a difference between public and private administration
With this brief characterisation, it could be stated that both public and private administration are placed in different environments. But this difference is more apparent than real. According to Waldo, The generalisation which distinguish public administration from private administration by special care for equality of treatment, legal authorisation of, and responsibility of action, public justification of decisions, financial probity and meticulousness, etc. are of very limited applicability,” In fact public and private administrations are the “two species of the same genus, but they have special values and techniques of their own which give to each its distinctive character.
Both public policy and public administration encourage transparency in the economy , According to Freedom House, (2012), The lack of transparency and accountability regarding how the money is spent, combined with the government’s failure to investigate and punish high profile corruption cases, has raised doubts among donors as to whether direct budget support can generate the reforms and improvements the country badly needs. For instance, in August 2012, the Office of the Auditor General reported that approximately 12 million Euros in aid channelled through direct budget support were allegedly transferred to private bank accounts of officials from the Ugandan Prime Minister’s Office (Auditor General, 2012; Transparency International, 2012b). These funds were supposed to support the Ugandan government’s plan for peace-building and development in the Northern region. As a result, Denmark, Norway, and Ireland suspended their assistance to the country, requiring the Ugandan government to repay the allegedly stolen money (Foreign Policy, 2012). Therefore the above shows that both policies in public administration and public policy are designed to encourage transparency in the system.
The importance of public administration and public policy are to efficiently deliver public services. In this context, Wilsonian definition of the subject as efficiency promoting and pragmatic field was the first explicitly articulated statement on the importance of a separate discipline of public administration. During the first half of the preceding century, a numbers of countries have appointed committees to look into the problems of administration and recommended suitable administrative machinery to respond to diverse public needs. The Haldane Committee Report (1919) in Britain; the President’s Committee on Administrative Management (1937) in the United States; A.D. Gorwala Committee’s and Paul H. Appleby’s Reports in India are some of the examples of the efforts by various countries to make changes in public administration. During the last four decades also, a number of reports, produced by committees/commissions appointed by governments in various countries or multilateral agencies, and books published by scholars have enriched the discipline and provided new perspectives to public administration to tune it to the changing needs of the times. They include: Report of the Committee on the Civil Services (Fulton Committee Report, U.K., 1968); various reports of the Administrative Reforms Commission (India, 1967-72); Reinventing Government (U.S.A., look by David Orborne and Ted Gabler, 1992), Governance and sustainable Development (UNDP, 1997) and World Development Report: Building Institutions for Markets (The World Bank, 2002).
Both public policy and Public administration has a special status in the developing countries. Many of these countries, after independence from the colonial rule have stressed upon speedy socio – economic development. Obviously, these countries have to relay on government for speedy development. The latter requires a public administration and public policy to be organised and effectively operated for increasing productivity quickly. Likewise, social welfare activities have to be effectively executed. These aspects have given birth to the new sub-discipline of development administration. The emergence of development administration is indicative of a felt need for a body of knowledge about how to study the third world administration and at the same time to bring about speedy socio-economic development with government’s intervention. Development administration has therefore, emerged as a sub-discipline to serve the cause of development.
Both public policy and Public administration, as witnessed holds a place of significance in the lives of people. It touches them at every step. For most of their needs, the citizens depend upon public administration. In view of the important role of public administration in the lives of people, the citizens of a country cannot ignore. Therefore, its teaching should become a part of the curriculum of educational institutions. People must get to know about the structure of government, the activities it undertakes and the manner in which these are actually performed. The study of public administration will contribute to the realisation of the values of citizenship
Conclusion
In the contemporary world, the burden of public duties on government has been steadily increasing. It seems that public administration is indispensable because contemporary civilization cannot progress without a sound administrative system.
Public Administration as a discipline has been closely associated with the increasing activist role of government everywhere. In the context of the newer and the wider duties and responsibilities thrown on the state, the role of public administration is more vital and important than of almost any other branch of government. As a growing field of knowledge and practice, Public Administration has attempted to meet this challenge.
Public policy is what the government actually decides or chooses to do. It is the relationship of the government units to the specific field of political environment in a given administrative system. It can take a variety of forms like law, ordinances, court decisions, executive orders, decisions.
Public administration is positive in the sense that it depicts the concern of the government ‘and involves its action to a particular problem on which the policy is made. It has the sanction of law and authority behind it. Negatively, it involves decisions by the governmental officials regarding not taking any action on a particular issue.
However in relation to service delivery Corruption in Uganda has hampered the government’s attempts to deliver quality service to the citizens of the country , this is because the country’s political elite swindle the government resources that could have otherwise have been used for national development hampering with the government ability to deliver its commitment and ensure that it meets the needs of the citizens, however corruption does not fail the government efforts alone other factors like poverty in Uganda , were most parts of the country is poor which hampers the government’s efforts to deliver services to the people due to too much constrained expenditure of the government and lastly Colonialism in Uganda also has an influence in the way the government designs its public policies and the way they are administered to the benefit of the citizens of a given country.
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