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Public
administration (PA) is a neglected aspect of academic and
journalistic articles. For example, very little attention was paid
in articles on Mubarak’s overthrow to the fact that, without
improvements in PA, ordinary Egyptians will remain frustrated by the
lack of socio-economic progress in their country. Part of this
neglect may be due to doubts about the usefulness of PA, along the
lines suggested by a 2004 book by Francis Fukuyama: why, for
example, what works in one place and time does not work in another.
Political Elasticity (PE) theory is put forward as a way of
overcoming these doubts. In so doing, the author attempts to do for
the social sciences what Darwin did for the biological sciences.
Case studies (e.g., solid waste management failure in Lagos, as
against achievement in Tokyo; the inability of Ghana to improve
agricultural outputs, despite its progressive and democratic
government) are used to illustrate PE theory. At the conclusion, the
importance of motivation is emphasized, using Vietnam (in comparison
to Bangladesh) as an example of a country that has been able to link
PA to economic development.
Keywords: Political administration, political elasticity,
motivation, economic development. |
