Public Administration: Development Administration & Administrative Development

I. Development Administration (DA)

• Definition: Administration-driven societal development. Examples include infrastructure development (roads), financial aid to the poor, agricultural support, technical assistance, and social development initiatives.
• Edward Weidner's Definition: Goal-oriented and work-oriented system.
• Basic Definition: A part of administration supporting social, economic, political, cultural, technical, and administrative development of society.
• Origin & Promotion:
  • Post-World War II: Emergence of newly independent nations needing development strategies.
  • Economic and technical assistance from superpowers (US & Russia) to influence newly independent nations.
  • Failure of Western development models in developing countries.
  • Contribution of the Comparative Administrative Group of the American Society of Public Administration.
  • First mention of the term in 1955 by Yule Goswami in his article "The Structure of Development Administration in India".
  • George Gant considered the "Father of Development Administration," author of "Development Administration: Concepts, Goals, and Methods".
• Features:
  • Multi-dimensional approach.
  • Goal-oriented.
  • Time-oriented.
  • Change-oriented (social and economic transformation).
  • Dedicated and committed administration.
  • Client-orientation and public participation.
• Four Ps of Development Administration (Stone, 1967): Plans, Policies, Programs, Projects. These are tools for achieving societal development.
• Objectives & Motives:
  • Identification of development plans and schemes based on available resources.
  • Plan formulation, execution, and review.
  • Administrative changes and innovation to achieve objectives.
  • Ensuring public participation in development programs (using media, advertisements, social media).
• Media/Instruments: Central government, state government, civil servants, constitution, media, NGOs.
• Importance:
  • Medium for socio-economic change.
  • Fulfillment of public welfare needs.
  • Medium for administrative development.
  • Enrichment of public administration content.
  • Promotion of research and development work.
  • Enhanced survival and relevance of public administration.
  • Supplementary to police/regulatory state functions; also performs public welfare functions.
  • Formulator, implementer, and reviewer of public policies.
  • Medium for administrative reform and innovation.

II. Traditional Administration vs. Development Administration

Feature	Traditional Administration	Development Administration
Focus	Maintaining status quo in society	Over-all societal development
Objectives	Simple, easily defined	Complex, multi-faceted
Power Structure	Centralized, top-down	Decentralized, participatory
Role of State	Police/regulatory state	Public welfare state (also police/regulatory)
Public Participation	Lack of public participation	High level of public participation
Approach to Change	Resistant to reforms and changes	Focus on innovation and reforms
Rules & Regulations	Rigid adherence to rules and regulations	Flexible application of rules & regulations
Time Orientation	Not time-oriented	Time-oriented
Values Orientation	Negligible	High value orientation
Function	Maintain law & order, revenue collection	Maintain law & order, public welfare activities
Hierarchy	Rigid hierarchical structure	Flexible hierarchical structure

III. Administrative Development (AD)

• Definition: Structural and behavioral changes/reforms in administration to achieve the goals of development administration. It's the development of the administration, not development by the administration.
• Media/Instruments: Formation of commissions/committees (e.g., ARC), innovation (CCTV, biometric attendance, 360-degree performance reviews), and auto-development (organic, self-driven improvements within organizations).
• Need & Reasons:
  • Essential for the success of development administration.
  • Achieving the goals of DA.
  • Addressing colonial legacies in administration.
  • Overcoming traditional methods hindering development.
• Problems: Corruption, red tape, lack of coordination, insufficient political will, resource scarcity, limited technical innovation, conflicts between ministers and civil servants, lack of public awareness, traditional rules and regulations, and lack of proper training programs.
• Ideal Conditions: Absence of corruption, strong political will, effective coordination, sufficient resources, technical advancements, public awareness, proper training programs, and flexible, adaptive systems.

IV. DA vs. AD vs. New Public Administration (NPA)

Feature	Development Administration	Administrative Development	New Public Administration (NPA)
Focus	Societal Development	Administrative Reform	Citizen-centric governance
Origin	Post-WWII, developing nations	Ongoing	1968, US, developed nations
Target	Developing countries	Any administration	Developed nations
Bureaucracy	Dependent on bureaucracy	Aims to improve bureaucracy	De-bureaucratization

V. Additional Topics to Review:

• Governor
• Chief Minister
• Council of Ministers
• Directorate vs. Secretariat