PHILOSOPHY OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION origin, history

1. PHILOSOPHY OF PUBLIC
ADMINISTRATION 601
CHAPTER 9 : Government Goals and Objectives
Josephine Bond
PHD Public Administration and Governance

2. ORIGINAL GOALS
• The original approach to the
obligations and related activities
of the state apparatus emanated
from the laissez-faire idea.
• Governments were
expected only to
maintain law and order
and to protect the life
and private property of
the individual.
The social and economic activities of
individuals were controlled by a
system of free association and a free
economic market, while differences
and disputes between them were
settled by independent courts of law
according to common law principles.
3D Models
.
• Under the laissez-faire
system, governments were
expected not to intervene in
the private economic and
social activities of the
individual citizen.

3. The origin and meaning of laissez-faire
The reign of Louis XIV of
France
 political rulers realised that their financial
wealth and prosperity depended on the
economic prosperity of their taxpayers.
 Louis XIV sent his Minister of Finance, Jean
Baptiste Colbert, to a meeting of private
businessmen to ask them what the government
could do to enhance their economic prosperity,
aptly advised
“Laissez nous faire!” which means “Leave us
alone”.
The respondent thus gave a name, laissez-faire, to
both a condition and an ideology

4. 18th Century
 In france the sayings laissez-faire (let
people make or do what they choose)
and laissez-passer (let us pass or go)
were the formulae into which some of
the champions of the cause of liberty
compressed their programme.
 Their aim was the establishment of an
unhampered market society. In order
to attain this end, they advocated the
abolition of all laws preventing more
industrious and more efficient people
from outdoing less industrious.

5.  Descriptively the terms generally refer to situations
where there is minimum government intervention in
the lives and activities of private citizens, particularly
in their economic activities.
 The government provides the basic conditions for free
competition among its citizens by maintaining law and
order, enforcing contracts, protecting private property,
and defending the nation against attacks by other
nations. Within these limits, it allows competition to
function freely and without regulations. It neither
holds back the successful nor supports the
unsuccessful.
18th Century

6. Laissez-faire as an ideology
John Locke 7th & 8th Century
“government is best that
governs least”
According to Adam Smith publish in 1776.
Describe government attitude to the welfare or
the people.
“Society, like the physical universe, is a
rationally designed, sensible, orderly
mechanism governed by natural laws”.
He also believes that government should
regulate production and consumption in
whatever ways necessary to ensure adequate
defence against foreign attack.

7. 1. the maintenance of law and order;
2. the enforcement of contracts by independent
courts of law;
3. the protection of the private lives of individuals
and their private property; and
4. the defense of the national community against
foreign aggression.
Goals of the laissez-faire system
The government creates and ensures the circumstances for free
competition among all individuals within the national community. This
is done through:

8. SOCIAL WELFARE
GOALS
nineteenth-century capitalism
through modernization and
industrialization, greater
awareness of the needs of the
less privileged employees and
their unequal position visà-vis
the more prosperous capitalists
emerged.

9. 1 : any of various economic and
political theories advocating
collective or governmental
ownership and administration of
the means of production and
distribution of goods. 2 : a
system of society or group living
in which there is no private
property.
Socialism is an ideology that
has a range of economic and
social systems characterized
by social proprietorship and
democratic control of the
means of production as well
as the political beliefs,
theories, and movements
that aim at their formation.
Meaning of
socialism Socialism as an
ideology

10. Karl Marx and
Frederich Engels
“Ten Commandments”
Their ten propositions as
stated in the Communist
Manifesto of 1848 are the
following:

11. Abolition of property rights for land and
utilization of all income from rents for
public purposes;
A heavy progressive or graduated income
tax;
Abolition of inheritance rights;
Confiscation of the property of all
emigrants and rebels;
Centralization of credit in the hands of the
state, by means of a national bank with
state capital and an exclusive monopoly;
Equal
obligation on
all to work.
Establishmen
t of industrial
armies,
especially for
the
agricultural
industry;
Extension of
factories and
instruments of
production
owned by the
state, the
cultivation of
wastelands,
and the
improvement
of the soil
generally in
accordance
with a
common plan;
Centralisatio
n of the
means of
communicati
on and
transport in
the hands of
the state;

12. Integration of agriculture with manufacturing industries gradual
blurring the distinction between town and country by means of a more
equitable distribution of the population over the country;
Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of child
factory labour in its present (1848) form. Combination of
education with industrial production.

13. Socialism vs
Capitalism
Adam Smith wrote Wealth of nation Karl Marx wrote Communist
Manifesto & Das Capital….

14. Social Welfare State Social Welfare as an
Ideology
assistance, not only financial, but also in many
other ways, should be given to the poor and the
less privileged to enhance their quality of life;
the causes of poverty and destitution should be
identified so that their continued existence can be
counteracted; and
the circumstances or factors that cause the
poverty and destitution should be eradicated.
The government
in which the
state plays a key
role in the
protection of
the economic &
social well-being
of its citizens.

15. In the field of public finance, the system is
characterised by: excessive government
spending; unprecedented increase in
taxation; accumulated budget deficits;
and unparalleled accumulation of public
debt, converting once prosperous countries
into insolvency.
In the economic field the most conspicuous
results are: almost unmanageable balance
of payment problems; accumulated
foreign debt; high interest rates in the
midst of a large and artificially created
money supply; unprecedented inflation
rates in spite of dragging recessions and
even deep depressions.
In the political field the notable results are: smoldering
hatred between social classes; friction between the
government and the citizenry which eventually erupts
into large-scale political unrest, political and economic
instability, with the total collapse of the state as the
result.
In the field of public administration the results are:
inefficiency and ineffectiveness corruption and
maladministration.
Social Welfare Goals

16. Economic Welfare state Economic welfare state as an
ideology
A Personal economic welfare and
independence from the state for one’s
personal social welfare creates a sense
of pride and personal achievement. It
enhances a person’s dignity.
• They are like the two sides of the same coin,
inseparably connected to each other and
complemented with equity, justice and the
tenets of the rule of law. Its value system is
characterized inter alia by representative
government; freedom of thought; freedom of
speech; freedom of the press and other
communication media; private property rights
for land and other production factors; and
freedom of trade and profession.

17. production factors such as land,
natural resources, labor and
capital are in particular private
possession without any sign of
communal or government
ownership or control over such
resources;
the owner of such production
factors is free to utilise them for
any purpose to his or her personal
advantage, provided that such
utilisation does not infringe upon
the rights and freedoms of other
individuals;
the interaction of the utilisation
ratio of private production factors
is regulated by a free-market
mechanism, where every
individual takes his own decisions
independently and without
government interference;
the demand for, and the supply
of, goods and services determine
the ways in which the production
factors are utilised, and not the
government; and
the legal relationships among
individuals are determined by an
independent court of law in terms
of common law principles and
not by administrative tribunals,
politicians and bureaucrats who
do not explain the reasons for
their judgements.
Objectives of the economic
welfare state

18. A good quality
of life for all
A rational approach towards identifying
the goals of present-day civilized
governments is to learn from the
mistakes of the past and to identify and
bring together the positive aspects of
all approved and successful systems.
the broad goals of modern governments can be
none other than the creation of a good quality of
life for each of their citizens
The attainment of a
good quality of life by
each individual demands
an environment that
provides equal
opportunities for each
individual to develop,
maintain and enjoy a
satisfactory quality of
life without threats and
constraints from outside
his personal
environment.
THE STATE OFFERS
Protection
Order
Justice
Foreign Trade
Facilitation of inner state
in exchange for this
loyalty
GOALS OF THE MODERN CIVILISED STATE

19. Types of Modern State
• Monarchy
• Democracy
• Communist