Plain-language explanation.
Public administration studies how governments are organised and how public services are delivered. Governance examines how societies are steered by networks of public, private, and third-sector actors.
Core concepts and standard treatment.
Core public administration covers bureaucracy theories (Weber — ideal type — hierarchy, specialisation, merit, rules, impersonality, career employment; Merton — dysfunctions — goal displacement; Niskanen — budget-maximising bureaucrat; Lipsky — street-level bureaucracy — discretion at delivery), the policy cycle (Lindblom — muddling through — incrementalism; Simon — bounded rationality; Kingdon — Multiple Streams — agenda setting — policy entrepreneurs; Baumgartner and Jones — punctuated equilibrium; Pressman and Wildavsky — Implementation — complexity of joint action; Elmore — backward mapping), new public management (Hood 1991 — seven NPM doctrines; Next Steps Agencies — executive agencies — DVLA, HMRC; compulsory competitive tendering; PSA — Public Service Agreements; balanced scorecard — Kaplan and Norton in public sector), and accountability (principal-agent — ministers vs civil servants; PAC — Public Accounts Committee — NAO VFM; judicial review of administrative decisions; FOI 2000 — proactive publication; Ombudsman — PHSO — maladministration).
Deeper theory, debates and edge cases.
Advanced public administration covers contemporary governance (Rhodes — governance as self-organising networks — hollowing out of the state — MLG; Kickert, Klijn, Koppenjan — network management; Osborne and Gaebler — Reinventing Government; co-production — Ostrom; digital government — GDS — GOV.UK — agile — service standard 14 points; platform government — Estonia X-Road; algorithmic decision-making — GDPR Art. 22 — right to explanation; CDEI — Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation), regulatory governance (Black — really responsive regulation; Ayres and Braithwaite — responsive regulation pyramid; Hampton Review 2005 — risk-based; RPC — Regulatory Policy Committee — impact assessments — EANDCB; regulatory sandboxes — FCA Innovation Hub), and public financial management (HMT — Spending Review — RDEL, CDEL, AME — DEL — departmental expenditure limits; NAO — regularity, propriety, VFM, feasibility; OBR fiscal framework; IPSAS; Whole of Government Accounts; local government finance — Section 114 notices — Thurrock, Slough, Birmingham insolvencies).
How it is applied in practice.
At the senior civil servant and public management professor level, practitioners contribute to Public Administration; lead UK civil service reform (Cabinet Office National Leadership Centre; Civil Service Reform — Declaration on Government Reform 2021; UK GOAT; Government Finance Function; DDaT profession; IPA — GMPP Government Major Projects Portfolio; Permanent Secretary appointment — OCPA); advise on service design (GDS service design manual — discovery, alpha, beta, live; Service NSW digital benchmarking; Estonia once-only principle; UN E-Government Development Index; GOV.UK One Login digital identity); contribute to international public administration (OECD PUMA; UN DESA public institutions for SDGs; Commonwealth CAPAM; IASIA); and develop leadership (Top 200 SCS; Sunningdale Institute public service leadership; Next Generation programme; Nolan Principles — CPAGO NI).