UNIT5: PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REFORM (2)

UNIT5: PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REFORM (2)

Activity 11: Prepositions

Without looking at the previours text, insert an appropriate preposition into each of the blanks:

The overall renovation of Vietnam has been initiated……………. The Communist Party and the Government …………… the focus on economic reform.
The success of the economic reform has revealed the weaknesses……………….. the state administration.
The reform of administrative institutions focuses ………………. The development ………….. the socialist democracy.
It is required that sectoral and area management are combined…………………. An effective manner.
Administrative reform is a difficult task because it touches ……………. The machinery, people, viewpoints and working methods.
Public administration reform has an important role……………… enhancing the scientific level and practical capacity required to build a modern public administration …………….. a democratic regime.

Activity 12: Rewriting

Now use your own words and expressions to rewrite the text into a paragraph of 6 – 8 sentences.

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HOMEWORK

Exercise 1: Complementary reading

Read the following text carefully and answer the questions that follow:

Tendencies and Problems in Public Administration reform

In industrialized countriesm several Public Administration reform have been completed, especially in the last two decades, and others are currently being carried out. On the whole, the objectives usually pursued are to increase efficiency, that is, to do more at less cost within the existing institutional framework. Examples of this type include the civil service reform in the US in 1976, New Zealand reform in 1984 and the decentralization policy in France in 1982.
Generally speaking, these reform have been undertaken within the existing political framework of the countries concerned, aimed at improving the performance of public sector agencies. They are not in that sense considered to be as “ revolutionary” as most of the reform being currently proposed in development and transitional countries. The many different objectives and methods, their incremental nature and their unfinished business, make these reform experiences not directly applicable to countries in transition in their initial stage, when a strategy of PAR has not been clearly defined.
With regard to PAR in developing countries, at the present time two main tendencies seem to exist. The first is a comprehensive approach to reform and the second a partial/ reductionist approach, sector by sector.
The Comprehensive Approach to PAR covers all aspects: institutional, structural. Personnel, procedural. This approach tends to be a more lasting one, having been around for more than three decades, and is still popular today, although it is now more sophisticated. In theory, this approach looks rational and logical. In practice, however, there does not seem to exist any clear case of success under this approach, mainly because it has never been fully implemented.
This approach has failed for several reasons. The main one is that it does not follow a clear and appropriate strategy of reform, with priority actions defined through a process of national consensus. There is a tendency to list a whole series of areas and activities in the public sector, all considered priorities. The implementation of thesr reform would require the mobilization to be able to afford them. More critical still is the tendency to approach PAR as if public administration was an end in itself, rather than a means of making life better for people.
The Stop- Gap Approach focuses on support of the development of capabilities of some specific structures, either within an existing ministry or created in parallel with the regular bureaucracy/ through measures such as exceptional procedures of purchasing and recruitment, external technical assistance, a special bonus to some individuals or groups, usually on an ad hoc basis, this approach has succeeded in getting a number of economic reform and related tasks implemented.
Although this approach has the virtue of linking PAR with economic reform, it has failed to sustain the investments made over time or to bring any lasting improvement in PA capabilities, because it did not give enough attention to the logic of the system.
Despite being quite different conceptions, thesr approaches share the same weakness. They are based on a strategy of reform that does not meet the criteria of rationality and feasibility.

Answer the following questions:

What are the main objectives of public administration reform in industrialized countries? Give a few examples to illustrate your answer.
What is the distinction between the public administration reform in industrialized countries and in most developing and transitional countries?
Can you clarify the comprehensive approach to public administration reform in developing countries?
Why has the approach failed?
What is the nature of the stop-gap approach to public administration reform?
Why has this approach also failed?
Do you agree with the arguments of the author? If you have different views, please srate them.
REVIEW TEST

You have 20 minutes to complete the following test. When you have finished, your teacher will give you the key and you will mark your own answer.

Test 1: Sentence building

Use the given words or phrases to build conditional sentences: