COMPARATIVE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION COMPARATIVE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION 1. HISTORICAL & SOCIOLOGICAL FACTORS AFFECTING ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEMS Comparative Public Administration (CPA), in the sense of comparisons among patterns of public administration in different Nation-States, evolved in 1960 from the Comparative Administration Group of the American Society for Public Administration. However, as an ideology, the emphasis for the need for comparative method in studying public administration is given long back by the foremost thinker of CPA, Woodrow Wilson in 1887. He elaborated, “We can never learn either our own virtues by comparing ourselves with ourselves. It is best on the whole to get entirely away from our own atmosphere and to be most careful in examining such systems as those of France or Germany.” He was the first comparatist who compared American government system to the cabinet system in United Kingdom to demonstrate that the U.S.A lacked unified authority in several fields of administration. Following Wilson, the requirement of comparison became apparent when an American scholar, Robert Dahl argued that, for public administration to be considered a science, it would be necessary for a set of propositions, assumptions, or generalized principles be made about administrative behaviour, that transcend national boundaries. Robert A Dahl outlined its usefulness in his essay, The Science of Public Administration (1947). He said “no science of public administration is possible unless… there is a body of comparative studies from which it may be possible to discover principles and generalities that transcend national boundaries and peculiar historical experiences”. Dahl emphasized the significance of comparison to construct a ‘science of public administration’. He said, “the comparative aspects of public administration have largely been ignored; and as long as the study of public administration is not comparative, claims for a ‘science of public administration’ sound rather hollow. The study of Comparative Public Administration contributes to a greater understanding of the individual characteristics of administrative systems functioning in different nations and cultures. Besides, comparative studies also help in explaining factors responsible for cross-national and cross-cultural similarities as well as difference in the administrative systems. The CAG (Comparative Administrative Group) defined Comparative Public Administration as “the theory of Public Administration as applied to diverse cultures and national settings and the body of factual data, by which it can be expanded and tested.” The theoretical thrust of the Comparative Public Administration movement is evident in what Fred Riggs has observed as the desirable character of ‘truly’ comparative studies. Riggs has stated that the term ‘Comparative’ should be restricted, strictly speaking, to empirical, nomothetic, and ecological studies. He highlighted three trends in the comparative study of Public Administration: (a) from normative towards more empirical approaches; (b) shift from Ideographic (individualistic) toward Nomothetic (universal), and (c) shift from a pre- dominantly non-ecological to an ecological basis for the study of Public Administration. ORIGIN OF CPA The main objective of comparative public administration movement, as Caldwell observed, has been “to hasten the emergence of knowledge concerning administrative behaviour–– in brief, to contribute to a genuine and generic discipline of public administration.” The other being to analyse propositions about administration of different nations and to build a theory in public administration for development. Comparison of administrative systems has had a long tradition. But a focus on this aspect of administrative studies is about fifty years old. Only after the Second World War and with the emergence of third world nations in Asia and Africa, a vigorous interest in comparative studies of Public Administration has evolved. Comparative Public Administration, in simple terms refers to a comparative study of government administrative systems functioning in