Public Administration Towards the Future
| Published date | 01 December 1961 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002085236102700401 |
| Author | André Molitor |
| Date | 01 December 1961 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Public
Administration
Towards
the
Future
(*)
by
André
MOLITOR,
Professor
in
the
University
of
Louvain.
UDC
35.06.071.2
INTRODUCTION
I
have
been
asked
to
talk
to
you
this
evening
about
Public
Administration
Towards
the
Future.
In
agreement
with
the
Officers
of
your
Association,
I
have
chosen
a
subject
which
goes
beyond
the
interests
of
any
par-
ticular
country
and
provides
an
opportunity
for
the
comparison
of
general
views
on
a
topic
of
importance
for
the
future
of
the
world.
The
matter
at
issue
is
public
administra-
tion
towards
the
future,
and
not
the
public
administration
of
the
future.
I
have
neither
the
ability
nor
the
inclination
to
be
a
pro-
phet,
and
feel
that
one
ought
to
be
diffident
in
that
respect.
In
spite
of
the
more
perfect-
ed
forecasting
instruments
at
our
disposal
-
to
which
I
shall
refer
again
later
-
we
are
able
neither
to
scan
nor
to
describe
the
fu-
ture.
But
what
we
can
do
is
to
attempt
to
assign
a
place
to
public
administration
in
terms
of
the
prospects
before
us
from
various
aspects
of
world
evolution,
and
indicate
at
least
the
main
lines
of
the
problems
involved.
But,
if
we
select
too
general
a
background,
it is
sometimes
dangerous
to
express
opinions
on
any
given
problem.,
because
our
statements
are
then
liable
to
be
so
vague
as
to
be
mere
commonplaces.
To
avoid
coming
to
grief,
I
think
I
may
divide
this
talk into
three
separate
parts,
which
will
make
it
possible
to
some
extent
to
define
our
scope
of
inquiry.
In
the
public
administration
of
today
and
tomorrow,
specific
problems
are
and
will
be
set,
first
to
the
industrialized
and
economic-
ally
developed
countries,
secondly
to
coun-
tries
in
the
process
of
development,
and
third-
ly
on
the
level
of
international
and
supra-
national
administration.
May
I
suggest
that
we
should
conduct
our
inquiry
in
those
three
directions
in
turn.
It
will,
of
course,
be
a
cursory
inquiry
but
will
nevertheless
open
up
certain
prospects.
This
survey
will
conse-
quently
deal
with
the
problem
of
administra-
tion
towards
the
future
on
those
three
paral-
lel
planes,
on
which
are
found
the
major
patterns
in
which
present-day
public
admin-
istration
is
embodied.
These
three
embodiment
A
of
public
administration
doubtless
have
much
in
com-
mon.
But
in
each
case
their
peculiar
features
involve
ndividual
problems,
so
that
it
is
appropriate
for
us
to
examine
them
separate-
ly.
I.
-
The
Problems
of
Public
Administration
in
Industrialized
and
Economically
Developed
Countries
In
this
first
group
of
countries,
I
include,
among
others,
the
Union
of
Soviet
Socialist
Republics
and
the
European
People’s
demo-
cracies
as
well
as
Northern
America
and
the
Western
European
democracies.
In
spite
of
the
extreme
differences
in
poht-
ical
systems
and
economic
structures,
the
countries
of
Europe
arrayed
under
Soviet
allegiance
appear
to
me,
as
far
as
public
administration
conditions
are
concerned,
closer
to
the
Western
democracies
than
to
the
countries
in
the
process
of
development.
I
would,
however,
point
out
that,
since
I
have
not
enough
first-hand
experience
of
the
Com-
munist
systems,
I
am
forced
to
take
the
Western
democracies
as
the
starting-point
for
my
thinking
and
as
the
source
of
any
support-
ing
examples.
If
I
were
to
attempt
to
put
in
a
nutshell
the
fundamental
problem
that
has
to
be
faced,
today
and
in
the
near
future,
by
the
public
administration
of
industrialized
and
econom-
-----
(*)
Lecture
delivered
at
the
Third
Israeli
National
Public
Administration
Conference,
Jerusalem,
11
January
1961.
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