Editorial Note
| Author | Lloyd Edmonds |
| Published date | 01 September 1988 |
| Date | 01 September 1988 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/014473948800800201 |
EDITORIAL
NOTE
This
edition
of
Teaching
Public
Administration
begins
with
an
article
by
Alan
Doig
exploring
the
uncharted
waters
of
the
standards
of
conduct
applied
to
officials
employed
in
Non-Departmental
Public
Bodies.
Despite
attempts
to
limit
the
role
of
Quangos
they
continue
to
thrive,
perhaps
because,
as
the
article
indicates,
they
meet
a
very
real
administrative
need
in
the
grey
area
between
the
public
and
private
domains.
The
wide
variety
of
staffing
arrangements,
and
the
fact
that
many
of
the
very
small
quangos
had
difficulty
in
even
understanding
Doig's
questions,
much
less
being
able
to
describe
their
standards
of
conduct
for
their
staff,
demonstrates
once
again
the
remarkable
flexibility
and
responsiveness
of
public
administration
in
Britain.
Royce
Turner,
in
his
article
on
representation
and
power
in
Britain's
one
party
states,
provides
a
fascinating
case
study.
My
own
experience
with
one
party
states
in
the
Developing
Countries,
and
in
particular,
Kenya
and
Tanzania,
is
that
within
the
ruling
party
there
is
a
great
deal
of
internal
argument
and
discussion,
and
there
is
much
public
airing
of
differing
views
within
the
party,
before
decisions
are
made.
Once
the
decision
is
made
criticism
ends.
These
states
are
relatively
new,
facing
a
wide
range
of
complex
issues,
and
trying
to
create
a
nation
state
out
of
a
variety
of
ethnic
and
tribal
groupings.
This
does
not
apply
to
local
authorities
such
as
Barnsley.
The
article
by
Paul
Griffiths
explores
a
topic
that
is
important
for
all
who
teach
public
administration;
the
pressure
for
more
'relevant'
specialisms.
He
describes
the
generally
favourable
response
of
police
officers
to
participation
together
with
other
employees
from
local
government
in
a
generalist
course
at
the
Polytechnic
of
Wales.
Howard
Elcock
and
John
Fenwick
describe
their
experience
with
the
establishment
of
a
northern
network
for
public
policy,
based
upon
a
similar
network
in
the
west
of
England.
The
network
brings
practitioners
and
academics
together,
and
allows
for
a
mutually
advantageous
sharing
of
information
and
experience.
These
regional
networks
appear
to
offer
substantial
benefits
to
both
officials
and
academics.
Please
continue
to
send
appropriate
articles,
shorter
notes,
case
studies
and
book
reviews
for
publication
in
TPA,
the
value
of
the
journal
depends
on
an
adequate
flow
of
relevant
material.
(ii)
Lloyd
Edmonds
September,
1988
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