Public Administration is an indispensable subject for aspirants appearing in the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) Civil Services Examination. Over the years, it has gained significance, with an ever-increasing number of candidates opting for this optional subject. One of the key aspects of acing the UPSC Mains is a thorough understanding of the previous year’s question papers, which often serve as valuable guidelines for the examination’s pattern and the kind of knowledge expected from candidates. In this blog, we’ll embark on an insightful journey through the Public Administration optional subject by delving into the previous year’s questions from 2013 to 2023. By the end of this exploration, you’ll not only be well-acquainted with the recurring themes and topics but also be better equipped to navigate the challenging terrain of the UPSC Mains exam with confidence and precision.
As we dive into this comprehensive analysis of Public Administration’s previous year questions, we’ll uncover the evolving trends, the weightage of various topics, and the skills and knowledge that UPSC is keen on assessing. Whether you’re a seasoned aspirant or a newcomer to the world of civil services preparation, this blog will serve as a valuable resource, offering insights into the subtle nuances and intricacies of this optional subject. So, fasten your seatbelts, as we embark on a journey to unravel the mysteries of Public Administration in UPSC Mains examinations, from 2013 to 2023.
Introduction Public Administration – Previous Year Questions (UPSC CSE Mains Psychology Optional)
Meaning, scope and significance of public Administration
1. “The strength of Public Administration is in its exploration of the complexities and nuances of public policy making and implementation.” Discuss. (2020)
2. “Public Administration is constantly being reinvented because it is contextual.” Elaborate. (2019)
3. “The scope of the discipline of Public Administration is determined by what an administrative system does.” Does it mean that the scope of this discipline is boundaryless? Explain. (2018)
4. “Political and administrative systems have reciprocal relationship.” Discuss. (2018)
5. “Public Administration is the translation of politics into reality that citizens see every day.” (Donald F. Kettl and James W. Fesler) Explain. (2016)
6. “British philosophy of Administration is based on a unification of science of Administration with ethics.” Analyze. (2014)
7. How did traditional public administration “resolve a fundamentally irresolvable problem- creating an administration strong enough to be effective but not so strong enough to endanger accountability”? (2013)
8. “The study of administration should start from the base of management rather than the foundation of law.” Explain. (2010)
9. “Public and Private Administrations are two species of the same genus, but they also have special values and techniques of their own.” Comment. (2007)
10. “If public administration is to play a major legitimising role in governing our complex society, it needs to be more fully conceptualised.” Discuss. (2006)
11. “Though there ere certain points of similarity between public and private administration yet no private organisation can ever be exactly the same as a public one.” -Examine. (2002)
12. “publicness” of public Administration in an ideal democratic government remains the ultimate value in theory and practice.’ Elucidate. (2001)
13. “A science of administration would be a body of formal statements describing invariant relationships between measurable objects, units, or elements. Unquestionably, administrative research has produced definite precepts and hypotheses that are applicable to concrete situation.”- (Fritz Morstein Marx) Comment. (2000)
14. “What do you understand by the term under administration? What are the issues involved in it?” (1999)
15. “As long as the study of public administration is not comparative, claim for a ‘science of public administration ‘sounds rather hollow” Explain. (1998)
16. “The scope of administration is determined by the scope of government functions which is decided politically”. Comment. (1998)
17. “In the science of administration, whether public or private, the basic ‘good’ is efficiency.” Comment. (1997)
18. How far is it true to state that the bureaucratic state began to displace the administrative state; when the predominant function of the government changed from regulation to operation of business? (1996)
19. “The scope of public Administration is ever expanding.” Comment. (1996)
20. A theory of public administration means in our time a theory of politics also. Comment. (1995)
21. “The postwar formulations of White and Pfiffner reflect the new ‘public policy’ orientation-the conception of administration as a political process.” Comment. (1994)
22. How dose public administration differ in the developed and developing societies? How far can it modernise the traditional political culture of developing countries? (1993)
23. Waldo speaks of the fears of F.M. Mark that Public administration has grown so broad, and so much is involved at its periphery that it stands “In danger of disappearing completely as a recognizable focus of study.” Comment. (1993)
24. ‘The identity and scope of public Administration both as an academic discipline and government in operation, have always been matters of continuing debate and controversy.’ Discuss. (1991)
25. ‘Public Administration consists of all those operations having for their purpose the fulfilment or enforcement of Public Policy.’ Comment. (1991)
26. ……the development, if not survival of civilisation depends on the science and practice of administration.’ Comment. (1990)
27. “Popular belief is that ownership change from public to private brings about improved performance.” Comment. (1989)
28. Management of the flow of work upward & downward within human hierarchies and between human hierarchies is the art of administration. (Appleby). Comment. (1989)
29. Do you think that contemporary Administrative Theory supports the ‘art’ of public administration and generally tends to place less emphasis on the ‘science’ of public administration? (1988)
Wilson’s vision of Public Administration
1. “Even after 130 years of its publication, Woodrow Wilson’s essay ‘The Study of Administration’ continues to have great relevance even today.” Comment. (2017)
2. “The field of Public Administration is a field of business.” (Woodrow Wilson). (2009)
3. “Calling Woodrow Wilson, the father of Public Administration is doing injustice to equally or even more eminent contributions made prior to him.” Comment. (2008)
4. “Administrative questions are not political questions.” Discuss. (2005)
Evolution of the discipline and its present status
1. “With every major transformation in the applied world of Public Administration, the study of Public Administration has grown in scope and intensity.” Discuss the relationship between the evolution of the discipline and profession if Public Administration. (2017)
2. How would you trace the development of Public Administration in terms of different paradigms from the politics/ administration dichotomy of 1900-1926 to the rise of Public Administration as Public Administration after the formation of the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA)in the USA in 1970? (2012)
3. In the evolution of the discipline of Public Administration. Minnowbrook Conference I, II and III reflect the discipline’s reconceptualization and its changing values. Elucidate. (2011)
4. From Woodrow to Herbert Simon most writers on administration have taken the achievement of efficiency as the central objective. Justify the statement with references to the work of major writers. (2009)
5. Give an account of major landmarks in the growth of the discipline of Public Administration in the 20th century. What are the possible trends in its growth in first decade of 21st century? (2003)
6. “The advent of the concept of “roll back of the state” since the nineteen eighties has been altering the role of Public Administration but certainly not diminishing its central place in human society.” Discuss. (2003)
7. Describe the evolution of the discipline of public administration with special emphasis on post-1970 developments. (2002)
8. “……The paradigms of public administration may be understood in terms of locus and focus.” – Golembiewski. In the light of the above statement describe the “five- paradigms” of Nicholas Henry about the evolution of the discipline of public administration. (2000)
9. Examine the growth to the discipline of Public Administration as a response to the developing capitalistic system in the U.S.A. (1999)
10. “Most of the propositions that make up the body of administrative theory today share, unfortunately, this defect of proverbs.” Comment. (1994)
New Public Administration
1. Public administration has been viewed as a socially embedded process of collective relationship, dialogue and action. Examine the statement in light of the consensus achieved in the Third Minnowbrook Conference. (2021)
2. “The Phenomenological Approach advocated by the New Public Administration has obstructed the path of theory building in Public Administration.” Comment. (2018)
3. “The New Public Administration has seriously jolted the traditional concepts and outlook of the discipline and enriched the subject by imparting wider perspective by linking it closely to the society.” (Felix A. Nigro and Lloyd G. Nigro) Elucidate. (2016)
4. “New Public Management is dead; long live digital era of governance.” Comment. (2010)
5. “New Public Administration is … a revolution or radicalism in worlds, and (at best) status-quo in skills or technologies.” (2009)
6. Minnowbrook Conference in USA identified four features crucial to ‘new public administration; Explain. (2001)
7. “The themes developed at 1988 MINNOWBROOK conference (20 years after the first conference) largely focus on the current and future visions in the field of public administration.” Elucidate. (1998)
8. New Public Administrationist are likely to be forthright advocates for social equity and world doubtless seek a supporting clientele. Comment. (1995)
9. Explicate the theoretical premises of ‘New Public Administration’ and show how far their concerns were accommodated in Public Administration. (1994)
10. The essence of New Public Administration is “some sort of movement in the direction of normative theory, philosophy, social concern & activism.” (Waldo). Comment. (1989)
11. ‘Deductive – nomological and inductive- probabilistic approaches dominate new public administration.’ (Marini) Discuss. (1987)
Public Choice Approach
1. Discuss how the Public Choice Theory promotes the concept of ‘Steering’ and undermines the concept of ‘Rowing’ in administration. (2015)
2. What is administrative elitism? How does it evolve in public administration? Elaborate your response with reference to historical examples. (2013)
3. ‘On a more sophisticated plane public choice is concerned with “Pareto optimality”, or at least with “Pareto improvements”; Comment. (2012)
4. Whereas Downs’ model is largely dependent on a theory of psychological motivation, Niskanen’s model is framed by neo-classical thinking. In the light if the above, discuss the public choice approach to decision-making. (2011)
5. “Public Administration today Stands at the crossroads of public choice theory, pluralism, corporatism & elitism.” Discuss. (1989)
Challenges of liberalization, Privatisation, Globalisation
1. Regulation is an old but increasingly necessary mode of social coordination and political intervention into societal processes. Examine it in the context of globalization. (2021)
2. “Globalization has constructed the administrative state to save and serve corporate power structure.” Discuss how transnational corporations impact government and public administration in the contemporary era. (2019)
3. “Globalisation has transformed the nature and character of State from traditional administrative Welfare State to a Corporate State.” Analyse the changes in the nature of public administration in this context. (2015)
4. “In the globalized public administration, hierarchy creates more ethical problems than it solves ….” Comment. (2013)
5. “Public Undertakings have received a raw deal in the wake of liberalism and privatization. Comment. (1999)
Good Governance: concept and application
1. “Governance is about managing self- organizing networks.” Elaborate. (2021)
2. “The movement towards governance as an organizing concept for public administration and management is because the focus of administration has been shifting from the bureaucratic state to the ‘hollow state’ and ‘third-party government”.” Critically examine. (2020)
3. “Governance is neither a paradigm nor a panacea for all the ills of government. It may be a more useful approach when other methods fail in providing public service.” Critically evaluate. (2019)
4. With the entry of the concept of ‘good governance’ the discipline of Public Administration has shed its statist character. Explain. (2019)
5. “Good governance is ensuring respect for human rights and the rule of law, strengthening democracy, promoting transparency and capacity in Public Administration.” (Kofi Annan) In the light of the statement, critically examine the criteria of good governance as provided by United Nations and Nayef Al-Rodhan. (2016)
6. “Governance theory and the notion of governmentality have many points of convergence, but they run on parallel lines.” Comment. (2014)
7. Civil Servants must be social moralists in action, living up to Paul Appleby’s dictum that ‘responsible government is ethical government.’ Examine this statement in the light of good governance. (2011)
8. “Not merely governance but good governance is the key factor in achieving the United Nations Millennium Goals (2000).” Explain. (2010)
9. Democracy and good governance are contradictions in terms. Discuss with examples. (2004)
10. “Elaborate the World Bank’s concept of ‘Good Governance.” (1999)
New Public Management; New public service
1. New public service celebrates what is distinctive, important and meaningful about public service. Discuss. (2022)
2. Public Management takes ‘what’ and ‘why’ from Public Administration and ‘how’ from Business Management. Elaborate. (2022)
3. The new public service model approaches governance on the premises of an active and involved citizenship, wherein the role of public officials is to facilitate opportunities for citizens’ engagement in governance. Explain. (2021)
4. New Public Service emphasizes democracy and citizenship as the basis for public administration theory and practice. Elucidate. (2020)
5. “Accountability under New Public Management has undergone a radical change, although the focus has continued to remain on management.” Comment. (2020)
6. Has New Public Management failed in promoting a democratic polity? Analyse in the contexts of individual as a citizen and individual as a customer. (2019)
7. “New Public Service approach is an improvement over its predecessor, New Public Management,” Discuss. (2018)
8. New Public Management has been branded by certain scholars as ‘Neo-Taylorism’. Is it a justified comparison? What factors have led to the decline of NPM so soon after its birth? (2017)
9. “New public management and post new public management reforms initiatives ever affected the balance between managerial, political, administrative, legal, professional and social accountability.” Analyse. (2014)
10. “New Public Management may have neither been the saviour its enthusiasts promised nor the devil its critics worried it world be.” Discuss. (2013)
11. It is said that “the perspective of public administration, developed over a century, with a tradition of management of public institutions and services has received a jolt from the novelty of New Public Management.” Bring out the core values, approaches and assumptions of traditional public administration and show how the New Public Management has attempted to change or retain them, and to what extent. (2009)
12. “In the last two decades, almost all countries of the world have experienced transformations in their administrative systems.” Explain this phenomenon with examples from the developed and the developing nations in the context of New Public Management Movement. (2008)
13. “The ‘New Public Management’ (NPM)is an incarnation of a new model of public sector management in response of the challenges of liberalization, international competitiveness and technological changes.” Explain. (2003)
Entrepreneurial Government
1. .‘A crisis of credibility’ in the administrative system can be overcome only by ‘reinventing government’. Comment. (2011)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
FAQ: What is the significance of choosing Public Administration as an optional subject for the UPSC exam?
Answer: Public Administration is a popular choice for aspirants because it provides a comprehensive understanding of governance, policy-making, and the functioning of the public sector. It equips candidates with valuable knowledge and skills essential for a career in civil services.
FAQ: Are there any prerequisites for selecting Public Administration as an optional subject?
Answer: There are no strict prerequisites for choosing Public Administration. However, a background in social sciences or management can be advantageous as it can make it easier to grasp the concepts and theories in the subject.
FAQ: What are the key areas of study within Public Administration as an optional subject?
Answer: Public Administration covers a wide range of topics, including administrative theories, public policy, personnel management, financial administration, and administrative reforms. Aspirants should have a comprehensive understanding of these areas to excel in the subject.
FAQ: How can I effectively prepare for the Public Administration optional paper?
Answer: To prepare effectively, focus on studying standard textbooks, previous year question papers, and practice answer writing. It’s also essential to stay updated with current affairs and developments in the field of public administration.
FAQ: What are the scoring opportunities within Public Administration as an optional subject?
Answer: Public Administration can be a high-scoring subject if you have a strong understanding of the concepts and theories. Clear and concise answers, along with real-world examples and case studies, can help you score well in the UPSC Mains examination.
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