Department of Political Science


Course Information



POLITICS 251 - INTRODUCTION TO CANADIAN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION


Special Notices

JANUARY 1, 1999 - A new styleguide for citations of electronic source material is available below or by clicking on this .

In 00-3 this course is being taught by Professor Michael Howlett,
AQ 6043 291-3082, email howlett@sfu.ca
Office Hours: Thursday 1:30-2:30

Class Time: THURSDAY 2:30-4:30
Class Location: AQ 5037

Outline:

This course provides an introduction to the study of public administration through the use of Canadian cases and examples. Topics covered include: Weberian and other theories of bureaucracy and bureaucratization; the similarities and differences found in socialist, developing, and western systems of public administration; the pattern of public sector growth in Canada; and questions of administrative responsibility and accountability in British Parliamentary systems of government.

Required Texts

John Shields and B. Mitchell Evans, Shrinking the State: Globalization and Public Administration "Reform" (Halifax: Fernwood, 1998)

Jacques Bourgault, Maurice Demers and Cynthia Williams eds., Public Administration and Public Management: Experiences in Canada (Quebec: Les Publications du Quebec, 1997)

Recommended:

Jon Pierre ed. Bureaucracy in the Modern State: An Introduction to Comparative Public Administration (London: Edward Elgar, 1995)

Evert Lindquist ed. Government Restructuring and Career Public Services (Toronto: IPAC, 2000)

Requirements and Marking:

1. There will be an in-class mid-term examination worth 20 percent of the course mark and a final examination worth 30 percent.

2. One ten-page paper is due at the end of term and is worth 40 percent of the class mark. An outline for the paper is due at the mid-term exam.

3. Ten percent of the course mark will be awarded on the basis of tutorial participation.

Paper Topics:

(1) Choose a developing or transitional-economy country. Outline the nature of recent changes in that country's system of public administration. Discuss the impetus for these changes and the implications for public administration in this country of recent efforts to reform the state.

(2) Examine the empirical record of the growth of government in a western country. How can this pattern be explained and what are its implications for traditional systems of administrative control.

(3)Choose a Canadian province. Outline recent efforts at reform of the system of public administration in that jurisdiction, and critically assess the merits and results of those efforts.


FOLLOW THESE LINKS FOR COURSE RELATED MATERIAL: