Saturday 3 September 2011

‘The advent of the concept of ‘roll back of the state’ since the nineteen eighties has been altering the role of public administration but certainly not diminishing its central place in human society.’ Discuss.

Rahul Says,

Public administration till recently was monopoly of state, it was under state control, more a socialistic pattern of administration. However, in nineteen eighties there was a paradigm shift in the administrative facet. This was further reinforced by failure of USSR which then created doldrums in economies of the erstwhile socialistic countries. This setback became pretext for the advent of a novel concept ‘roll back of the state’ from the administrative aspects. Hereafter, role of state receded drastically in the public administration aspect.

This approach has certainly altered the role of state to a greater extent; greater transparency and accountability was seen in the administration. Decentralization and debureaucratisation of administration was taking place. This however, not has reduced the touch of public administration on human values. It still has the greater niche in the human society. State has reduced its authoritative control giving a free hand to market and private players. But retained the huge powers of regulating and controlling so as to see the interests of the society are well catered and not deprived by its actions.

Moreover, society still has a greater adherence to policies of state and respect towards the policy making systems of the state. Thus this clears the ambiguity that though state role has diminished certainly it didn’t lost its central place in human society.


Pooja Says,

In the aftermath of World War II, most of the third world countries and capitalistic countries adopted socialistic principles. By mid 80s it was evident that socialism is a powerful ideology, but for administration it was not effective. As such many nations adopted changes, hence a new paradigm started: LPG. Many nations began to ‘roll back the state’. Intervention of markets began in the society and state was retreating. Despite this, public administration is still the centre; though its activities have come down and those of the market have gone up.

Even under LPG, public administration is playing an important role. The following reasons can be stated to justify:
  • Market is mostly profit oriented, but state is public oriented
  • State monitors and ensures that services are provided. Exploitation of resources is monitored by the state
  • Any activity causing inconvenience to the society will be rectified by the state. It takes appropriate measures and enforces rules to avoid problems.
  • At times of crisis, it restores normalcy
  • It is an instrument of socio-economic change
20th century being an era of catastrophe, mankind is being protected by public administration. It is more vigilant today compared to a scenario 20-30 years back. Public administration plays a central role in the society. Public administration is the ‘modern God’, stabilizing force in the society.

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