Public administration in the Australian Journal of Political Science: A review

Abstract

This article reviews publications on public administration in the Australian Journal of Political Science (AJPS). A distinction needs to be drawn between public administration as a discipline and as a field of inquiry that engages specialists from several areas. The latter has been more significant in Australia in contrast to Europe and the United States. The questions discussed in the AJPS cover changes in the field and practice of public administration; the state and government; the structures of local government, public organisation and federalism; interfaces between public administration and other sectors and institutions; and issues with public sector reform and accountability. Despite the emphasis on governance in discourse and practice, the role of government continues to be central, and what emerges from experiments in new governance is that the authority of government and the significance of hierarchy (compared to markets and networks) very often remains pivotal.

本文对《澳大利亚政治学杂志》中论述公共管理的文章进行了梳理。需要区分作为学科的公共管理与作为不同领域专家进行探讨的公共管理。相对于欧美，后者在澳大利亚更显重要。《澳大利亚政治学杂志》中所讨论的问题涵盖公共管理学科及实践的诸多变化；国家与政府；地方政府的结构；公共组织与联邦主义；公共管理与其他部门及体制的交集；公共部门改革及问责等等。虽然话语及实践中的治理是个重点，但政府的角色一直处于核心位置，从新治理的试验中显现的是，政府的权威及等级制（相对于市场和网络）往往还在起着关键的作用。

Keywords:

• Australian public administration
• accountability
• local government
• public sector reform
• politicians and public servants

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 See the journals: Public Administration (UK), Public Administration Review (US) and the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory (US).

2 Public administration is acknowledged as one of three major gaps in Aitken's Surveys of Australian political science (1985), although the index identifies it with a discussion of the state under the chapter on radical political science.