Public Administration Foundations

This course is available for on-campus & remote (online) learning. All students participate in interactive, real-time classes. This course explores the theory and practice of public administration. It will introduce students to a variety of historical, political, legal, organisational and emerging perspectives on public administration, and apply these perspectives to issues public administrators encounter in their day to day professional practice. The course will engage students in classical and contemporary debates and problems of government, including the relationship between the state and civil society, the state and the market, and the state and the law. Key themes will include power and legitimacy, equity and engagement, and the impact of structural reform on citizens and the public service workforce. Students will consider how public administrators negotiate the regulatory and organisational contexts that structure, and at times constrain, their fields of action and authority.