PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN THE AGE OF GLOBALIZATION AND LIBERALIZATION

(New Public Management, Good Governance)

OBJECTIVES

Public Administration as a subject of inquiry as well as practice cannot remain isolated from the developments in the real world. As throughout the last century the political, economical, and social changes were engulfing the human life all over the world, these changes also influenced the public administration. Decade of eighties brought fundamental change in the orientation of public administration in the western world. These changes are owing to the wave of globalization. In this unit we are broadly entrusted with the task of understanding the impact of the globalization and liberalization on the public administration. Narrowly we will fulfill following objectives.

• To understand the meaning and dynamics of globalization and liberalization.

• To understand the concept of New Public Management

• To understand the concept of Good Governance.

GLOBALIZATION

Historically human societies across the globe are connected with each other in pursuit of trade, education, art, literature, religion etc. However the pace of their interaction has dramatically increased in the last century owing to the advancement in the technologies like aromatics and communication. Time and space dimensions have shrunk like never before and the world became more interdependent than ever.

Very recent changes in the eighties of the twentieth century are unprecedenting owing to the complexity and speed which characterize them. Along with the improvement in the means of transportations like airplanes, ocean going vessels, development in Information technology, computers, satellite phones have established close links among the societies all over the world. Multinational corporations manufacture products in many countries and sell to consumers around the world. Money, technology and raw materials move more swiftly across national borders. Along with products and finances, ideas and cultures circulate more freely. As a result, laws, economies, and social movements are forming at the international level. These changes with their economical, ideological, political, cultural dimensions are called as globalization.

Globalization means

• “Integrating and connecting cultures and communities in new space-time combinations, and ‘making the world in reality and in experience more interconnected” Hall

• “Globalization is the integration of markets, finance and technologies in a way that is shrinking the world from a size medium to a size small and enabling each of us to reach around the world farther, faster and cheaper than ever before. Like all previous international systems, it is directly or indirectly shaping the domestic politics, economic policies and foreign relations of virtually every country.”

Friedman

Check your progress

1. Globalization implies compression of time and space in terms of communication, information, trade, culture. True/False 2. Globalization is uni-dimensional i.e. only economical True/False