, Chapter 1
Defining Public Administration
Questions
Question #1
Why do we need to understand public administration as a political process?
PP: 5-7; 22-24
Question #2
What is an example of direct public administration?
PP: 7-8
Question #3
What is an example of indirect public administration?
PP: 7-8
Question #4
Privatization of government services became popular during which presidential
administration?
PP: 7
Question #5
Why do we think of public policy and public administration as two sides of the same
coin?
Why does public policy making not end with implementation?
What role does evaluation have in public administration?
PP: 8-9
1
,Question #6
Why is the definition of public interest a political process? How is public interest shaped?
How is the bureaucrat an interest-group broker? Does the bureaucrat need to maintain
autonomy from special interest groups to ensure that the public interest is not
compromised in the work of public administration?
PP: 8-9
Question #7
What is the legal basis of public law?
How is public administration bounded by rules and regulations?
Why can regulations be interpreted as a tool to reach the strategic goals of government?
PP: 10-12
Question #8
Why is judicial review so important?
PP: 10
Question #9
How does procedural public administration relate to administrative law?
PP: 10-12
Question #10
What is the basic mechanism of redistribution?
Why are government’s redistribution policies politically contentious?
PP: 12-13
Question #11
Why is Public Administration taught as a management discipline applicable to all levels
of government and even non-profits?
What are the roles of middle managers in public administration?
Why is one person’s “red tape” considered as another’s “treasured procedural safeguard”?
PP 13-15
2
, Question #12
How do the executive and legislative branches compete to influence public administration?
What is Alexander Hamilton’s understanding of the role of the executive in public
administration?
PP: 13-14
Question #13
Why does idealism draw people into the field of public administration?
PP: 17-18
Question #14
How did the field of public administration benefit from the contributions of Woodrow
Wilson?
PP: 18-19
Question #15
What were Leonard White’s four critical assumptions that formed the basis for the study
of public administration?
PP: 18-20
Question #16
Why is the field of public administration thought to be having an identity crisis?
PP: 18-22
Question #17
Why does the textbook claim that Public Administration is now more interdisciplinary as
a field of study and a discipline?
Why has public administration always been controversial as an independent academic
field?
PP: 18-21
3
Defining Public Administration
Questions
Question #1
Why do we need to understand public administration as a political process?
PP: 5-7; 22-24
Question #2
What is an example of direct public administration?
PP: 7-8
Question #3
What is an example of indirect public administration?
PP: 7-8
Question #4
Privatization of government services became popular during which presidential
administration?
PP: 7
Question #5
Why do we think of public policy and public administration as two sides of the same
coin?
Why does public policy making not end with implementation?
What role does evaluation have in public administration?
PP: 8-9
1
,Question #6
Why is the definition of public interest a political process? How is public interest shaped?
How is the bureaucrat an interest-group broker? Does the bureaucrat need to maintain
autonomy from special interest groups to ensure that the public interest is not
compromised in the work of public administration?
PP: 8-9
Question #7
What is the legal basis of public law?
How is public administration bounded by rules and regulations?
Why can regulations be interpreted as a tool to reach the strategic goals of government?
PP: 10-12
Question #8
Why is judicial review so important?
PP: 10
Question #9
How does procedural public administration relate to administrative law?
PP: 10-12
Question #10
What is the basic mechanism of redistribution?
Why are government’s redistribution policies politically contentious?
PP: 12-13
Question #11
Why is Public Administration taught as a management discipline applicable to all levels
of government and even non-profits?
What are the roles of middle managers in public administration?
Why is one person’s “red tape” considered as another’s “treasured procedural safeguard”?
PP 13-15
2
, Question #12
How do the executive and legislative branches compete to influence public administration?
What is Alexander Hamilton’s understanding of the role of the executive in public
administration?
PP: 13-14
Question #13
Why does idealism draw people into the field of public administration?
PP: 17-18
Question #14
How did the field of public administration benefit from the contributions of Woodrow
Wilson?
PP: 18-19
Question #15
What were Leonard White’s four critical assumptions that formed the basis for the study
of public administration?
PP: 18-20
Question #16
Why is the field of public administration thought to be having an identity crisis?
PP: 18-22
Question #17
Why does the textbook claim that Public Administration is now more interdisciplinary as
a field of study and a discipline?
Why has public administration always been controversial as an independent academic
field?
PP: 18-21
3
