Public administration for development: trends and the way forward

Abstract

For more than six decades, Public Administration and Development has witnessed the way practitioners' and scholars' understanding of public administration for development has evolved. This issue has the objective of reviewing the general trends and knowledge gaps and pinpointing new research topics. Several key aspects of public administration for development were discussed in the 'Symposium on Public Administration for Development: Trends and the Way Forward'. It was held at Fudan University in Shanghai in May-June 2014 to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the journal. This opening essay captures the global trends, setting out its implications for the search into alternative models of public administration and development, particularly reflecting on Asia. The forthcoming Post-2015 Development Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) promoted by the United Nations will pose major challenges as the public administrations are ill-prepared to deal with it. The seven essays themselves engage in key areas of unfinished businesses in setting a research agenda for debates in the future. The authors present a comprehensive, state of the art of the knowledge and the main debates in their areas of expertise. In doing so, they cover a wide range of topics that are relevant for practitioners, students and scholars interested in public administration in both transitional and developing countries.