Summaries of Articles on Venezuela publisbed in French and Spanish
| Date | 01 September 1972 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002085237203800315 |
| Published date | 01 September 1972 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
i
Summaries
of
Articles
on
Venezuela
publisbed
in
French
and
Spanish
The
Latin
American
Regional
Centre
for
Development
Administration
*
THE
COMMISSION
ON
PUBLIC
ADMINISTRATION
For
about
twenty
years,
the
Latin
American
countries
have
been
striving -- to
modernize
their
administration
because
of
its
significance
for
achieving
economic
and
social
development.
Although
the
results
differ,
some
are
clearly
positive.
For
example,
much
of
value
has
been
done
as
regards
the
training
of
personnel
or
the
introduction
and
use
of
new
techniques.
But,
all
in
all,
the
efforts
made
have been
inadequate.
Some
have
been
given
up,
while
others,
which
depended
too
directly
on
the
ill-advised
transfer
of
the
practices
of
more
developed
countries,
have
been
very
disappoint-
ing.
It
has
thus
become
obvious
that,
before
being
applied,
any
methods
and
tech--
niques
tried
and
tested
abroad
ought
to
be
revised
in
the
light
of
local
conditions.
The
above
Centre
will
soon
be
established
for
that
purpose
under
the
auspices
of
the
Vene-
zuelan
Government
and
with
the
support
of
thirteen
countries
of
the
Region.
With
headquarters
at
Caracas,
it
will
be
organized
on
similar
lines
to
CAFRAD
for
Africa,
and
ACDA
for
Asia;
it
will,
like
them,
be
supported
by
the
United
Nations.
Purposes
The
Centre
will
begin
by
trying
to
solve
four
types
of
problems
which
appear
urgent
and
important
in
Latin
American
development
administration .:
.
(a)
The
obstacles
to
the
transfer
of
admin-
istrative
reform
experiences
between
the
countries
of
the
Region;
such
experiences
have
so
far
generally
been
national
and
insufficiently
made known
for
the
benefit
of
all.
Exchanges
of
ideas
and
solutions
should
be
systematically
increased
and
an
effort
be
made
to
develop
a
common
theory
of
administrative
development
adapted
to
eco-
nomic
and
social
conditions.
(b)
The
need
for
research
in
the
field
of
public
administration.
Little
is
known,
for
instance,
about
the
real
impact
of
planning
on
the
operation
of
the
political
and
admin-
istrative
machinery;
the
education
and
train-
ing
of
officials
have
not
been
grounded
on
a
sound
and
genuine
assessment
of
the
admin-
istrative
situations
they
have
to
face;
and
most
of
the
technical
literature
is
based
on
the
translation
or
utilization
of
extra-regional
sources.
Instead,
the
production
of
original
ideas
and
works
and
of
regional
solutions
should
be
encouraged.
(c)
The
shortage
of
specialists
in
relation
to
the
regional
needs
and
characteristics,
which
limits
the
impact
of
modernization.
Decisions
are
still
often
improvised
and
action
taken
according
to
the
conventional
means
of
administrative
law.
Little
advantage
is
taken
of
the
ideas
and
possibilities
of
modern
management.
Some
progress
has
been
made,
but
more
needs
to
be
achieved
in
order
to
derive
full
benefit
from
modern
technology
and
foreign
experiences.
Very
useful
contri-
butions
have
been
made
by
foreign
experts
whose
work
should
now
be
taken
over
by
specialists
from
the
Region,
of
whom
there
will
not
be
enough
for
a
long
time
to
make
some
form
of
foreign
assistance
unnecessary.
(d)
The
inadequacies
of
administrative
training
in
relation
to
the
needs
are
obvious,
despite
all
that
has
been
done
everywhere
to
develop
administrative
training
and
the
progress
made
in
that
field.
The
present
resources,
however,
remain
insufficient
as
compared
to
needs
which
are
only
very
partly
met.
Latin
America
is,
of
course,
a
vast
and
diverse
continent
and
one
should
not
generalize,
because
the
needs
differ
widely
according
to
the
degree
of
economic
develop-
ment
and
industrialization.
But
a
regional
effort
is
required
on
behalf
of
every
country
to
increase
administrative
capability
and
en-
courage
modernization.
*
Since
this
was
written,
an
Agreement
for
the
establishment
of
the
Centre
has
been
signed
by
the
Governments
of
Mexico,
Peru,
and
Venezuela,
at
Cara-
cas
on
30
June
1972.
ii
Origin
The
Centre
is
due
to
Venezuelan
action
in
obtaining
the
assistance
of
the
United
Nations
and
specially
its
Public
Administration
Di-
vision,
besides
the
support
of
thirteen
coun-
tries,
including
three
in
the
Caribbean.
Every
effort
is
being
made
to
secure
the
co-operation
of
all
Latin
American
countries
or
territories.
Headquarters
’
Five
factors
have
favoured
the
choice
of
Caracas :
.
-
the technical
and
practical
contribution
the
Commission
on
Public
Administration ’
could,
on
account
of
its
means
and
experience,
make
to
the
programme;
-
the
presence
of
a
sufhcient
number
of
high-level
specialists
in
administrative
sciences;
-
a
favourable
geographical
position,
al-
lowing
the
Centre
to
keep
in
direct
contact
with
the
countries
it
is
intended
to
serve,
combined
with
good
international
transport
and
communications;
-
political
stability
and
conditions
under
which
people
of
all
opinions
can
study
together;
-
the
fair
distribution
of
regional
bodies
in
the
area
considered.
Objectives
Generally
speaking,
the
Centre
is
intended
to
assist
Latin
American
countries
in
increasing
their
administrative
capacity
for
speeding
up
economic
and
social
development,
and
its
immediate
aims
are :
-
to
promote,
conduct,
and
co-ordinate
research
into
and
comparative
studies
of
development
administration
problems
in
the
Region;
-
to
collect,
process,
and
distribute
in-
formation
on
development
and
its
adminis-
trative
aspects,
particularly
to
improve
the
transfer
of
techniques
and
the
administrative
reform
process;
-
to
provide
technical
assistance
in
develop-
ment
administration;
-
to
increase
the
administrative
capacity
of
civil
servants,
either
directly
through
seminars
or
working
sessions
of
varying
duration
for
higher-grade
officials,
or
through
assistance
to
national
training
institutes
so
as
to
improve
the
quality
and
quantity
of
programmes
centred
on
development
ad-
ministration
and
the
introduction
of
national
plans.
In
this
way,
the
Centre’s
work
is
determined
by
the
users’
needs
and
these
will
always
be
kept
in
mind
in
practice
when
dealing
with
specific
problems
and
co-operating
in
their
solution.
A
Latin
American
Model
of
Development
Administration
M. RACHADELL
Introduction
The
setting
up
of
planning
offices
in
Latin
America
in
the
1960s
is
due
to
concern
for
the
greatest
possible
rationalization
of
govern-
ment
action
for
economic
and
social
develop-
ment.
The
results
fell
short
of
expectations
and
some
people
blamed
planning,
though
the
difficulties
encountered
were
clearly
not
due
to
the
method
but
to
the
way
it
was
used.
Planning
is
still
required
to
support
system-
atic
action
by
public
authorities,
and
for
the
appropriate
mobilization
and
guidance
of
the
country’s
vital
forces
in
the
service
of
development.
Even
if
that
principle
is
recognized,
the
State
must
have
the
political
and
administrative
machinery
for
preparing
and
implementing
a
plan,
which
is
by
no
means
easy.
The
political
institutions
in
the
Latin
American
Region
are
not
always
able
to
determine
which
basic
objectives
coincide
with
the
public
interest,
and
are
j
left
to
grapple
with
the
conflicting
influences
’~
of
political,
economic
and
social
forces.
The
.
reform
of
those
institutions
therefore
appears
desirable.
As
the
State’s
administrative
capa-
city,
which
is
essential
to
the
promotion
and
achievement
of
development,
is
always
in-
suflicient,
the
theoretical
prerequisites
for
deriving
full
benefit
from
planning
are
far
from
being
met.
Planning
is
still
considered
a
side
issue,
and
has
not
spread
to
the
different
levels
of
administrative
action.
This
is
well
illustrated
by
the
attempt
to
introduce
pro-
gramme
budgeting,
which
has
remained
purely
formal.
Likewise
the
establishment
of
plan-
ning
offices
was
often
only
artificial
and,
in
some
cases,
their
disappearance
passed
almost
unnoticed.
In
short,
it
would
be
entirely
wrong
to
ascribe
the
shortcomings
of
ad-
ministration
to
overplanning :
just
the
op-
posite
is
true.
If
during
the
1960s
in
Latin
America,
emphasis
was
placed
on
the
importance
given
to
planning,
greater
attention
will
be
paid,
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