Unit 5. Public administration

5.1 THE TERM “PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION”

Ø 1) What do you know about the profession of a civil servant? What adjectives can you use to describe this profession?

Ø 2) Check the pronunciation of these words in a dictionary: a feature, central, an employee, executive, honorable, judiciary, scientific, technical, provincial, a career, legal, censure, a superior, a hierarchy, a privilege.

Ø 3) Be careful with the translation of these words: public administration, the policies of governments, government operations, the body of public administrators, the home civil service, a state, a nation, public corporations, to have qualifications a technical field, the acts of administration.

Ø 4) Study the words and expressions from the text and give examples with them: problematic relationships, highly trained specialists, to work full time, senior posts, by custom, pyramid-fashion hierarchical lines, well-defined duties.

The term “public administration” means determining the policies and programs of governments and their implementation. Specifically, it means the planning, organizing, directing, coordinating, and controlling of government operations.

Public administration is a feature of all nations, whatever their system of government is. Public administration is practiced at the central, intermediate, and local levels. The relationships between different levels of government within a nation are often problematic.

The employees in public administration are mostly highly trained specialists of administrative, executive, or directive levels. The body of public administrators is usually called “the civil service.” It is very honorable to have such a responsible and a valued profession nowadays.

Traditionally the civil service is contrasted with the military, the judiciary, and the police services which also work for the state full time. There are scientific or professional civil services which provide technical rather than general administrative support. There is the home civil service and the employees engaged abroad on diplomatic duties. To sum up, a civil servant is a person who is directly employed in the administration of the internal affairs of the state and whose role and status are not political, ministerial, military, or constabulary.

In most countries the civil service does not include local government or public corporations, for example in the United Kingdom. In some countries, for example in the United States, it is different. Some provincial staffs are civil servants because provincial administration is part of the central government there.

In some countries it is necessary to have qualifications in technical fields such as accounting, economics, medicine, and engineering to enter a career in the higher civil service. In other countries legal training is necessary, and in others no specific technical or academic discipline is required among candidates for senior posts. Whatever their qualifications, senior civil servants should use their experience of public affairs to advise, warn, and assist those responsible for state policy and to provide the organization for implementing it.

The responsibility for policy decisions lies with the political members of the executive branch. By custom, civil servants are protected from public blame or censure for their advice. The acts of their administration may, however, be subject to special judicial controls from which no member of the executive can defend them.

Civil services are organized upon standard pyramid-fashion hierarchical lines. This command implies obedience to the lawful orders of a superior. In order to support this system, the hierarchy of offices is marked by fixed positions with well-defined duties, specific powers, salaries, and privileges.

Ø 5) Answer the questions on the text:

a) What does the term “public administration” mean?

b) At what levels is public administration practiced?

c) What does the term “civil service” mean?

d) How can civil service be classified?

e) Is the classification of civil service the same in all countries?

f) What qualifications are necessary for civil servants?

g) What is the role of civil service in a country?

h) Are civil servants responsible for policy decisions?

i) What are the distinguished features of civil service?

j) What are the advantages and the disadvantages of being a civil servant?