Public Policy Network and Structure and Organisation of Government Conferences Joint Session 27th January 2012
Public policy and public management in 'the Asian Century': Construct and Conduct
Outline of session
PPN and SOG share a concern to improve our understanding of the relationship between public policy and public administration or management. This joint session focuses that concern on an issue of growing importance to scholars, policy makers and public servants - the implications of 'the Asian Century', a term coined in the late 1980s but now almost ubiquitous in public discussion of the future balance of global hard and soft power. This issue speaks to PPN members' specific interest in the changing dynamics of public policy in Australasia. It also connects with the theme of the SOG conference - exploring the changing linkages between public policy and public administration internationally.
In Australia ongoing public debate about 'the Asian Century' focuses principally on the content of future public policy. This is evident in the terms of reference of the federal government's terms of reference for a White Paper on 'Australia in the Asian Century', and is also reflected in much academic discussion. Both concentrate on the implications for Australia's foreign and economic policies, along with the future role of regional institutions, and some examination of what 'the Asian Century' might mean for domestic cultural and (less often) education and social policy.
By contrast relatively little attention is paid to the implications of 'the Asian Century' on either the construct of public policy (what we think public policy is and consists of) or the conduct of public policy (how public policy is made and realised). This also applies to the construct and conduct of public administration or management, and consequently to the likely future dynamics between public policy and public administration or management.
This joint session will examine the proposition that increasing influence from Asia (particularly but not exclusively focused on China and India) will unsettle academic categories and concepts like 'public policy' and 'public administration or management' as dominant ideas are challenged and new ideas generated about what public policy is and how it is made and managed. This could generate a paradigm shift in how we understand public policy and administration/management equivalent to the impact of neo-liberalism and the New Public Management at the end of the 20th century.
The discussion will consider this proposition with reference to some or all of the following domains:
- Values domain: which values will dominate public policy and administration/management; who has influence over them; how do they influence the reach of policy, e.g. distinguishing between ideas about public and private?
- Governance domain: which governing mechanisms will inform public policy and administration/management; what is the relationship between hierarchies, markets and networks; will the preoccupation with network governance be challenged?
- Institutional domain: which rules and norms will shape action?
- Issue domain: which policy ideas will take precedence; how will they shape the possibilities for other ideas, e.g. what will social policy be for?
- Practice domain: what will policy makers do; what activities will they perform and which objects will they use?
- Performance domain: how will performance be understood and judged; will dominant models of performance management be replaced?
- Political domain: where will policy ideas come from; will the debate between evidence and values persist?
- Democratic domain: how will decisions be made, legitimised and accounted for; what role will citizens, NGOs, the media (including social media) and business play?
The aim of the discussion is to identify future lines of enquiry for research and possible publication opportunities.
The session will be chaired by Professor Glyn Davis (VC Melbourne). Contributors include: Professor Jon Pierre (Gothenburg), Dr Gao Jia (Asia Institute, Melbourne) The Hon John Brumby (ex-premier Victoria and Vice- Chancellor’s Professorial Fellow, Melbourne and Monash), Dr Bina Fernandez (SSPS, Melbourne), Professor John Halligan (Canberra)