Public administration

Public administration, or public policy and administration refers to "the management of public programs", or the "translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day", and also to the academic discipline which studies how public policy is created and implemented.

In an academic context, public administration has been described as the study of government decision-making; the analysis of policies and the various inputs that have produced them; and the inputs necessary to produce alternative policies. It is also a subfield of political science where studies of policy processes and the structures, functions, and behavior of public institutions and their relationships with broader society take place. The study and application of public administration is founded on the principle that the proper functioning of an organization or institution relies on effective management.

The mid-twentieth century saw the rise of German sociologist Max Weber's theory of bureaucracy, bringing about a substantive interest in the theoretical aspects of public administration. The 1968 Minnowbrook Conference, which convened at Syracuse University under the leadership of Dwight Waldo, gave rise to the concept of New Public Administration, a pivotal movement within the discipline today. Provided by Wikipedia