Four meetings, three hours each. Dates: To be announced
Instructor
Prof.dr. J.C.N. Raadschelders
Literature
Jos C.N. Raadschelders (2011). Public Administration. The Interdisciplinary Study of Government. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (ISBN 978-0-19-969389-4; $85,-)
The student will receive a copy of the inaugural lecture by Prof. Raadschelders, to be delivered on June 18, and titled “An A-Disciplinary Study of Public Administration for a Diverse Society: Historical, Ontological, Epistemological and Axiological Considerations.”
“A disciplinary field can hardly attain the sophisticated level of scholarship which is worthy of graduate education if it is not capable of critically developing from within itself its epistemological foundations.” (Ramos 1981, 102)
The study of public administration caters to both academic and career civil service audiences, and (perhaps to a lesser extent) to those in the non-profit and NGO-worlds. Much of its academic research is focused on providing insight and solutions to practical problems through empirical and evidence-based research. There is less attention for reflections upon the nature of the study, and yet that is exactly what we should do if we desire to outline a future for the study that is both sufficiently comprehensive and has a clear epistemological identity. As the twentieth century progressed, public administration’s academic identity was questioned. At least three solutions to this identity crisis have been suggested: organizing the study around a core concept, advancing methodological rigor, or becoming a professional school, but none generated a sufficient, let alone, large following. The central question in this course is: What is the nature of the study of public administration? In its attention for ontology (or better: ontologies) and epistemology it provides a counterweight to the lopsided attention for methodology and methods in the study of public administration and, more generally, in the social sciences. Research has shown that practitioners and scholars find ontological and epistemological reflections as useful, if not more so, than training in and use of methodology.
This course is given in an intensive format of four evenings of three hours each. Every topic will be introduced by means of a lecture and followed with discussion of topics raised by the students and/or the instructor. The following themes will be addressed:
Week 1: The Nature of Scholarship
Contrasting early and contemporary definitions of scholarship (Raadschelders, ch.2)
Comparing the natural sciences, the social sciences and the humanities (ibid.)
Week 2: The Unfolding of the Study of Public Administration in Time
The background: emergence and growth of government (Raadschelders, ch.1)
Four intellectual traditions (Raadschelders, ch.6)
Week 3: Does the Study of Public Administration have an Identity Problem?
Of schools, approaches, theories, and concepts in all branches of knowledge (Raadschelders, ch.1)
On the fragmentation of knowledge and possibilities of integration (Raadschelders, chs. 3, 4, 5, and 7)
Week 4: Philosophical Foundations for Dealing with Public Problems
There is more than methodology, I: why is awareness needed for ontology and epistemology? (Raadschelders ch.8; inaugural lecture)
There is more than methodology, II: how important is axiology? (ibid.)
Assignments
During each of the first three weeks the student will submit, prior to class, a reflection of 1500-2000 words based upon the literature prescribed for that week. The students will receive this back with comments the next week, and the instructor will briefly and in general terms address the content of the papers. In the fourth week the student is expected to submit a reflection of 1500-2000 words upon the question: do you believe understanding of the philosophical foundations to public administration (the study) and to government (the practice) is important for (future public servants)? Argue why/why not.
Schedule:
Tuesday: 5/6, 12/6, 19/6 and 26/6
Time: 14-17 hrs
Location: Room Buitenhof, in Stichthage