What Is Public Administration

Ifeoma Amakom

MPA 500

What is Public Administration, bureaucrat and public interest and why a career in public Administration.

  In an attempt to answer these questions I will draw not only from my knowledge but also from my experience growing up and living in Nigeria.

To the best of my understanding public Administration is the study of government, its processes and structure. The ever expanding governmental administration, the policy functions of government and the accompanying demands on practical administration.

Public Administration is also the art and science of management as applied to the affairs of state (Waldo, 1955). Woodrow Wilson defined public administration as “detailed systematic execution of public law,” every particular application of general law is an act of public administration.

Public Administration is concerned with ‘the what’ and the ‘how’ of government. The ‘what is the subject matter, the technical knowledge of a field which enables an administrator to perform his task. The ‘how’ is the technique of management.

A bureaucrat is used to describe a person with an official position in the government, or a person who is in a position of power and is more concerned with procedure or policy than with people’s needs, an official who is rigidly devoted to the details of administrative procedures. Most of this people can be found in the civil service or most government offices. The civil service is a permanent institution that is saddled with the responsibility and functions of implementing and enforcing government policies, it is equally expected to ensure the continuity of the government and its services.

In defining public interest I will like to quota a statement made by George Mason during the debates over the legislative branch of government.” To make representation real and actual, the number of representative ought to be adequate, they ought to mix with the people, think as they think, feel as they feel, ought to be perfectly amenable to them, and thoroughly acquainted with their condition”.(Rohr,1986,p.40).

Every day we put our faith in the government and its policies, believing that they have our interest at heart, that all the policies and laws they make are so that we can have better and easier lives. This starts on the micro level with the mayor holding a cleanup day so citizens can take pride in their cities to the federal government raising minimal wage or improving access to affordable healthcare. The people who make government decisions are suppose to act in the best interest of the public rather than for themselves, political parties or private corporations.