York University
Department of Political Science
POLS 6155.03
DEMOCRATIC
ADMINISTRATION
Winter, 2004-05
Location: Verney Room, S674, Ross Building Web
Page: http://www.yorku.ca/igreene
Time: Wednesdays, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Instructors: Ian Greene & Thomas Klassen
Office Hours:
Ian Greene: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 10:30 to
noon, or by appointment
Office: 224 McLaughlin
College; ext. 77083; igreene@yorku.ca
Thomas Klassen: Wed. 12:30 to 1:30; Friday
10-11.
Office: S636 Ross; ext.
88828; tklassen@yorku.ca
Web pages:
Class:
www.yorku.ca/igreene/demad05
Thomas Klassen:
www.arts.yorku.ca/politics/tklassen
Ian Greene:
www.yorku.ca/igreene
Overview
The study of democratic administration is premised on a commitment to
the progressive extension of people's capacities to govern themselves
collectively. However, many of the principles of public administration
were developed prior to the democratization of the state, and one
result has been public administration and public policy-making
procedures that are unnecessarily hierarchical, inflexible, and
inefficient. During the 1990s, citizen political apathy, cynicism
and alienation from the state was met with a neo-liberal response that
has drastically altered the state public service through downsizing,
out-sourcing, privatization, and "new public management" approaches
that apply business administration tools to public
administration. Currently, however, there is increased citizen
demand for participation in the policy-making process, a higher
standard of public service ethics and accountability, and there have
been some innovative responses from the state to address important
public policy issues. If the challenges created by the dynamics
of the past two decades are to be met successfully, it will be
necessary to transcend the real factors that produce apathy and
alienation from the state. This seminar addresses these issues through:
an investigation of the bureaucratic
impediments to increased democracy
an examination of the promise and limits of
recent attempts by governments to overcome such impediments
an historical and comparative focus to better
understand the possibilities of citizen empowerment and the way in
which social and political contexts shape those possibilities.
The seminar will include readings on both the theory and practice of
democratic administration.
Texts
Required:
Janice Gross Stein, The Cult of Efficiency
(Toronto: Anansi, 2002).
Course kit, available from the Keele Copy
Centre, on the east side of Keele Street, across from the main gate of
York University (416-665-9675). [Copies will be brought to the first
two classes for sale at a cost of $55.]
In addition, some readings, as indicated below, can be found either on
the class web page, or on a link to an internet site on the class web
page.
Requirements
The requirements for this course consist of:
weekly seminar readings and participation
(25%)
oral presentation of final paper
(20%)
Draft outline for research paper (Feb.
9) (5%)
final research paper (due April 6)
(50%)
In the first class, students will have the opportunity to sign up to
help lead the discussion for one reading each week. In one of the
last two classes, students will have an opportunity to present their
final papers so that they may receive comments from the class.
(At this point, only a ten minute summary of the final paper is
needed. The purpose of the presentation is to obtain feedback
that may help to improve the quality of the final product.)
Seminar Outline
Items in Course Kit are shown with an asterisk.
I. Jan. 5
Introductions/Course Outline
•*L. Sossin, "Democratic Administration" in Handbook
of Public Administration in Canada (Toronto: Oxford, 2002), 77-99.
•*Carole Pateman, "Rousseau, John Stuart Mill and
G.D.H. Cole: a participatory theory of democracy," in Participation and
Democratic Theory (Cambridge: Cam. Univ. Press, 1970), 22-44.
•Andrew Stark. "What is the new public
management?" (Book Review Essay). Journal of Public Administration
Research and Theory, Jan 2002 v12 i1 p137 (15). [found through
electronic journals, YUL web site, or link on class web page]
II. Jan. 12
Democratic Administration and Innovation
•*J. Frug, "Administrative Democracy" 40 University
of Toronto L.J. (1990)
•*Eleanor Glor, "Conclusion: Is Innovation a
Question of Will or Circumstance?" in Eleanor Glor, Is Innovation a
Question of Will or Circumstance? The Innovation Journal:
2000, 172-182.
•Peter Gabor and Ian Greene, "Factors for Success in
Participative Community Planning: Lessons from a Case Study in Child
Welfare in the Province of Alberta," The Innovation Journal, Case
Studies, 06/07/02 (http://www.innovation.cc).
•*Michael Howlett, "Do Networks Matter?
Linking Policy Network Structure to Policy Outcomes" (35:2 Canadian
Journal of Political Science, June 2002, 235)
•*Joan Price Boase, "Beyond government? The
appeal of public-private partnerships," 43 Canadian Public
Administration, 75-92.
III. Jan. 19
Democracy and Regulation
•*Kenneth Kernaghan and David Siegel, Ch. 10,
"Regulatory Agencies," Public Administration in Canada (Toronto:
Nelson, 1995), 248-285.
•*"Governance, Development and the Ecology of
Administration" in Rethinking Public Administration: An Overview (New
York: United Nations, 1998), pp. 4-18
•*Peter Aucoin, "Independent foundations, public
money and public accountability: Whither ministerial
responsibility as democratic governance?" 46(1) Canadian Public
Administration (2003), 1-26.
•Stein, Chapters 1 & 2.
IV. Jan. 26
The Democratic Deficit in Public Policy and
Administration
•*M. Weber, "Bureaucracy" in H. Gerth and C. Mills,
From Max Weber, ch.8.
•*L. Sossin, "Law and Intimacy in the
Bureaucrat-Citizen Relationship." (Ottawa: Law Commission of Canada,
2000)
•*Caroline Andrew, "Women and the Public
Sector,"Handbook of Public Administration in Canada (Toronto: Oxford,
2002), 159-168.
•Excerpts from Ian Greene and David Shugarman,
Honest Politics: Seeking Integrity in Canadian Public Life.
Toronto: Lorimer, 1997, Ch. 1 & 2. [retrieve from class web
page]
•*Gary M. Woller, "Toward a Reconciliation of the
Bureaucratic and Democratic Ethos," 30(1) Administration and Society
(1998), 85-109.
•*Linda DeLeon and Peter DeLeon, "The Democratic
Ethos and Public Management," 34(2) Administration and Society, 229-250.
V. Feb. 2
The Politics of Discretion
•*L. Sossin, "The Criminalization and Administration
of the Homeless: Notes on the Possibilities and Limits of Bureaucratic
Engagement" 22 N.Y.U. Review of Law & Social Change (1996), 623-700.
•*C. Goodsell, The Case for Bureaucracy (1994), ch.5
•*"Public Administration and Ethics," in Gregory
Inwood, Understanding Canadian Public Administration (Toronto:
Prentice-Hall, 1999), Ch. 11.
•*Joel Bakan, "The Significance of the APEC Affair,"
and Philip Stenning, "Someone to Watch over Me: Government Supervision
of the RCMP," in W. Wesley Pue, Ed., Pepper in Our Eyes: The APEC
Affair (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2000), 77-116
•*"Judicial Discretion and Democracy," Excerpts from
Ch. 1 of Ian Greene, Carl Baar, Peter McCormick, George Szablowski and
Martin Thomas, Final Appeal (Toronto, Lorimer, 1998).
•L. Sossin, "The Politics of Discretion: Towards a
Critical Theory of Public Administration" 36 Canadian Public
Administration 364 (1993) [link on class web page]
•*A. Roberts, "Administrative discretion and the
Access to Information Act", 45(2) Canadian Public Administration
(2002), 45.
VI. Feb. 9 (outline due)
Reinventing Government: The Marketization of the
State?
•*D. Osborne & T. Gaebler, Reinventing
Government (1992), preface and introduction.
•*D. Savoie, Thatcher, Reagan, Mulroney: In Search
of a New Bureaucracy, (1994) chs. 4-8.
•*J.C. McDavid and E.G. Clemens, "Contracting out
local government services: the B.C. experience," 38 Canadian
Public Administration, 177-194.
•*D. Whorley, "The Andersen-Comsoc affair:
Partnerships and the public interest," 44 Canadian Public
Administration, 320-345.
•Stein, Ch. 3
•Ian Greene, "Lessons Learned from Two Decades of
Program Evaluation in Canada," Deitmar Braunig and Peter Eichorn
(Eds.), Evaluation and Accounting Standards in Public Management
(Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 2002), 44-53. [link on
class web page]
•*B. Guy Peters, "Governance Without
Government? Rethinking Public Administration," 8(2) Journal
of Public Administration Research and Theory (1998), 223.
•*Mark S. Winfield, David Whorley and Shelley Beth
Kaufman, "Public Safety in Private Hands: A Study of Ontario's
Technical Standards and Safety Authority," 45(1) Canadian Public
Administration, 24-51.
Feb. 16: No class -- Reading Week
VII. Feb. 23
Public Employees, Social Movements and Public
Participation
•* L. Panitch, "Globalization and the State" The
Socialist Register, 1994.
•*Eleanor Glor, "Ideas for enhancing employee
empowerment in the Government of Canada, 30 Optimum (2001), 14-26.
•*S.R. Osmani, Participatory Governance, People's
Empowerment and Poverty Reduction (Geneva: United Nations Development
Program (UNDP), 2000).
•*M. Flumain, "Redesigning Government around the
Citizen: The Creation of Nunavut" in S. Delacourt & D. Lenihan
(eds.), Collaborative Government: Is There is a Canadian Way? (Toronto:
Institute of Public Administration in Canada (IPAC), New Directions,
No. 6, 1999)
•"Ethics and SARS: Learning Lessons from the Toronto
Experience", A report by a working group of The University of Toronto
Joint Centre for Bioethics [retrieve from class web site]
VIII. March 2
Democratic Administration, Public Administration and
Democracy
Special
guests: Prof. Thomas Wilson, and possibly Prof. Richard
Phidd.
•Richard W. Phidd, "Democratic Administration:
Public Administration and Democracy," lecture notes prepared for
Democratic Administration class. [retrieve from class web page]
•*H.T. Wilson, "The Civil Service in Capitalist
Democracies," and "Bureaucratic Representation through Implementation
Processes," Chapters II and VIII of Bureaucratic Representation: Civil
Servants and the Future of Capitalist Democracies (Brill: Boston,
2001).
•*Greg McElligott, "Front-Line Workers and Public
Policy," and "State Workers and Democratic Administration," Chapters 7
& 8 in Beyond Service: State Workers, Public Policy, and the
Prospects for Democratic Administration (Toronto: U of T Press, 2001).
•*"Canadian Administrative Culture Between Past and
Present," Ch. 6 in O.P. Dwivedi and James Iain Gow, From Bureaucracy to
Public Management: The Administrative Culture of the Government of
Canada (Broadview, 1999).
IX. Mar. 9
International Development and Democratic
Administration
•*J. Barker, "Political Settings: An Approach to the
Study of Popular Action" (pp.27-56) and "Local Action and Global Power:
Shifting the Balance" (pp.238-250) in J. Barker (ed.), Street-Level
Democracy (Toronto: Between the Lines, 1999)
•*J. Shields & B. Evans, Shrinking the State:
Globalization and Public Administration "Reform" (1998) (Intro. &
Ch.1)
•*B. Guy Peters, "Globalization, Institutions and
Governance," G. Guy Peters and Donald J. Savoie, Governance in the
Twenty-first Century: Revitalizing the Public Service
(Ottawa: Canadian Centre for Management Development: 2000),
29-57.
•Chapter 6: Making State -Institutions More
Responsive to Poor People," World Development Report 2000/2001:
Attacking Poverty, Ch. 6 (World Bank, 2001)
(http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/wdrpoverty/report/ch6.pdf)
•Lorne Sossin, "Human Development, Law &
Democratic Administration" (Rome: United Nations Office for Project
Services (UNOPS), 2000 [link on class web page]
•"The Responsibility to Protect," [retrieve PDF file
from class web site] (Canadian government policy proposal on
international interventions, July 2003)
•Stein, Ch. 6
X. Mar. 16
Future Trends
•*M. Ogden, "Technologies of Abstraction:
Cyberdemocracy and the Changing Communications Landscape" in L. Pal
& C. Alexander (eds.), Digital Democracy: Policy & Politics in
a Wired World (Toronto: Oxford, 1998), pp.63-86
•*John Langford, "Partnering for e-government:
Challenges for public administrators," 44 Canadian Public
Administration, 393-416.
•*B. Barber: Strong Democracy: Participatory
Politics for a New Age (Berkeley: University of California Press,
1984), ch. 7
•* David Held, "Cosmopolitan Democracy and the New
International Order," in David Held, Democracy and the Global Order
(Sanford: Sanford Univ. Press, 1995) Ch. 12.
•*B. Guy Peters, "The Future of Reform," in G. Guy
Peters and Donald J. Savoie, Governance in the Twenty-first
Century: Revitalizing the Public Service (Ottawa: Canadian
Centre for Management Development: 2000), 425-436.
•*C. Fox & H. Miller, Ch. 6 in Postmodern Public
Administration: Toward Discourse (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1995)
•Stein, Chapters 4 & 5
XI. & Mar. 23 & 30
XII. Student Presentations (Papers)
Useful electronic sources of information:
http://faculty.maxwell.syr.edu/asroberts/foi/track/ (Canadian
access to information database)
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/ (Canadian social science
resources)
http://www.tecsoc.org/govpol/govpol.htm (site on egovernment)
http://www.elections.ca/ (another site on egovernment)
http://www.elections.ca/ (Elections Canada; voting results of federal
elections and by-elections; election income and expenses declarations)
http://www.ipaciapc.ca/ (Institute of Public Administration of Canada)
Other useful sources:
•Evert Lindquist and Tammy Sica, Canadian Governments and the Search
for Alternative Service Delivery and Financing: A Preliminary Survey
(Institute of Public Administration of Canada and KPMG Centre for
Government Foundation: 1996). JL 108 L55 1996.
•Gregory Albo, David Langille and Leo Panitch, A Different kind of
state? : popular power and democratic administration. Toronto : Oxford
University Press, 1993. (JF 1525 D4 D53 1993; out of print).