PAD 103 Course Outline

ABIA STATE UNIVERSITY

MJCE FACULTY OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCE

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

Course Outline

Course Title: Administration in New and Emergent States

Course Code: PAD 103

Office Hours: 8am-4pm, Monday to Friday

Credit Unit: 2

Course Duration: ___ weeks

Lecture Day/Time:

Lecture Venue:

Lecturer: Emmanuel Shebbs

Email: emmanuel.shebbs@abiastateuniversity.edu.ng

Phone Number:   +234-806-340-0402

RECOMMENDED TEXTBOOK:

Njoku, Davidson. (2009), Elements of Public Administration. Lagos: Ronnie

Publishers. ISBN 97825791175

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Emergent states, also known as Third World States, are laced with series of arbitrariness which constitute a challenge to its development. Scholars have associated the cause of these development challenges to various factors while the solutions remain at large. Found in Emergent States are administrative structures which forms a framework for most operations and institutional activities within the state.

This course seeks to examine the role administrative institutions founded within the administrative structure can play to ensure that emergent states, like Nigeria, gravitate from their low-level status to a higher and developed level. The course seeks to engage an academic enquiry that will push the boundaries of administration to accommodate new and dynamic changes that are peculiar with emergent states in order to create innovative approaches towards development. The contents of this course focus on the basic institutions of the state, the rules that guide the administrative institutions, the way in which administrative staff perform their duties in the public institutions and how these duties can cohesively guarantee development of the Nigerian state.

Essentially, the course examines the basic foundational concepts in administration, dichotomy between politics and administration, ecology of administration with particular emphasis on the Nigerian state. The course equally examines the concept of Bureaucracy, public policy, development from third world’s perspectives.

In addition, such key issues about a state and its basic components such as sovereignty, territory, etc are discussed. The variants of states in the categories of first, second and third worlds are equally emphasized with reference to their distinctive attributes historically, economically and politically.

The course examines the connection between the political culture of states and the levels of responses of its citizens to political ideas, consciousness and responsibility. Additionally, the challenges of Administration in emergent are examined.

However, below is a breakdown of the specific topics to be treated:

COURSE CONTENTS

Section A

Introduction

Definition of Administration

Features of Administration

Basic terms and application

Nature and Scope of Administration in New and Emergent States

Politics and Administration Dichotomy (Woodrow Wilson)

Woodrow Wilson (Professor of Political Science) in 1887 introduced an academic distinction between politics and administration. In view of the prevailing activities and action of states and government, is Wilson’s submission still tenable in present-day administration?

Ecology of public administration (Fred. Riggs)

Frederick Riggs (in 1961) gave an expository analysis of the ecology of public administration. What is the relationship between the ecology (environment) of administration and the administrative institution itself?

Political environment

Social environment

Economic environment

Can environment influence administrative functions in emergent states?

Bureaucracy in public administration (Marx Webber)

- Major arguments of Bureaucracy according to M. Webber

- Critical analysis of Bureaucracy from Nigerian perspective

Key concepts of Administration

- Open and closed systems

- Public policy

- Development administration

- Administration of development

Section B

What is a state?

Definition

Features

Theories

New states (emergent states or third world states)

Meaning

Features

Scholarly approaches

Political culture and emergent states

Meaning of political culture

Typologies according to Gabriel Almond (Participatory, Subject and Parochial)

Section C

Specific Studies About Administration in Nigeria

Civil service

Public service

Merit system versus quota system

Service experience versus academic experience

Challenges of administration in Nigeria

+New Public Administration: Approaches and principles