B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 4 Political Science (Public Administration) 2021 Oct (100 marks) Question Paper with Solutions

For full marks, cover: a definition of New Public Administration (NPA): the movement that began at the first Minnowbrook Conference (1968), turning the discipline from efficiency and economy towards relevance, values, social equity and change; Frederickson's four contrasts with the older public administration; the background of the American 1960s, with Waldo's and Golembiewski's words; the landmarks in its growth, in order: the Honey Report (1967), the Philadelphia Conference (1967), Waldo's "Public Administration in a Time of Revolution" (1968), Minnowbrook I (3 to 7 September 1968), Marini's Toward a New Public Administration (1971), Waldo's Public Administration in a Time of Turbulence (1971), Frederickson's New Public Administration (1980), Minnowbrook II (1988) and Minnowbrook III (2008); its main themes; its impact and the criticism of it; its relevance to India; a table of landmarks; a conclusion.

Background: the turbulent 1960s

The movement was born out of a crisis in American society. The 1960s saw what the e-PG module calls "social upheaval". Black Americans had been left out of the prosperity of the 1950s and early 1960s. There was political violence and war in South-East Asia. Public faith fell in institutions such as the family, the churches, the media and the government.

Scholars felt that their discipline had nothing to say about any of this. Dwight Waldo wrote that the 1960s were a "turbulent period besieged by numerous society problems, but public administration showed no sign of being aware of them, much less being serious to solve them". Robert Golembiewski put it more sharply: "For Public administration, the 1960's were like war."

Within the discipline there was also dissatisfaction with its "obsession with efficiency and economy". Young scholars found the management-centred courses irrelevant to the urgent problems of society.

4. The first Minnowbrook Conference, 1968. This was the decisive landmark. Waldo was then the Albert Schweitzer Professor of Humanities at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University. He worked with his junior colleagues H. George Frederickson, Henry Lambright and Frank Marini. Together they invited about fifty young scholars, all under 35, to the university's small conference centre at Minnowbrook in the Adirondack Mountains. They met from 3 to 7 September 1968. The mood was contentious and even revolutionary. Rosemary O'Leary later wrote that "The key word at this conference was 'relevance'." Out of these debates came the ideas called New Public Administration.

5. Marini's Toward a New Public Administration: The Minnowbrook Perspective, 1971. Frank Marini edited the conference papers into this book, which gave the movement its name and its standard text.

6. Waldo's Public Administration in a Time of Turbulence, 1971. This volume, edited by Waldo, carried the movement's concerns further and placed them in the context of a troubled society.

7. Frederickson's New Public Administration, 1980. Frederickson set out the movement's ideas systematically, with social equity at their centre.

1. Relevance. The discipline must address the real problems of society, such as poverty, race and urban decay. Management of agencies alone is not enough.

2. Values. Public administration cannot be value-neutral. Administrators make choices that affect people, and they should be open about the values they serve.

3. Social equity. Public administration should actively work for the under-privileged. Frederickson warned that an administration which does nothing to redress the deprivation of minorities is likely, in the end, to be used to repress them. Social equity was thus added to efficiency and economy as a test of good administration.

4. Change. Agencies often outlive their purpose. Frederickson wrote: "Change, not growth, has come to be understood as the more critical theoretical issue." Administrators must be ready to end outdated programmes and start needed ones.

Relevance to India

Many NPA ideas match the Indian Constitution. Article 46 directs the State to promote "with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people". Reservation in services under Article 16(4) applies social equity to recruitment. The 73rd and 74th Amendments of 1993 brought citizen participation through panchayats and municipalities. The Right to Information Act 2005 opened administration to citizens. The Second Administrative Reforms Commission titled its twelfth report "Citizen Centric Administration". In all these, Indian administration reflects the NPA demand for a responsive, value-conscious and equitable public service.

Table of landmarks

Conclusion. New Public Administration is the movement begun at Minnowbrook in September 1968. It turned public administration from efficiency and economy towards relevance, values, social equity and change. It grew out of the turbulent American 1960s, through the Honey Report and the Philadelphia Conference of 1967 and Waldo's article of 1968. It took shape at Minnowbrook I and in the books of Marini, Waldo and Frederickson, and was carried forward by Minnowbrook II and III. Critics found it weak in theory, but it moved the discipline from managing agencies to serving people. In India its ideas live in Article 46, reservation, decentralisation and citizen-centric administration.