CS Intermediate Level
Public Sector Governance, Policy and Administration cheat sheet
Every chapter's key points, formulas and definitions on one page, for the last week before the exam. Each heading links to the chapter that explains it.
Administrative theory
- Public administration theory has moved from Wilson's politics-administration dichotomy, through Weber's bureaucratic model and New Public Management, to today's good-governance paradigm of transparency, accountability and citizen participation.
- Gulick's POSDCORB names the core administrative processes: planning, organising, staffing, directing, coordinating, reporting and budgeting.
- Judicial review examines the legality, not the merits, of an administrative decision, on the three grounds classified in the GCHQ case: illegality, irrationality and procedural impropriety.
- In Kenya, the Fair Administrative Action Act, 2015 gives statutory effect to the constitutional right to administrative action that is expeditious, efficient, lawful, reasonable and procedurally fair.
- Authority is the formal right attached to an office, power is the actual capacity to affect outcomes, and influence affects decisions through persuasion, expertise or relationships without either.
Key terms
- Authority
- The formally recognised right to make decisions and issue instructions, attached to an office.
- Power
- The actual capacity to affect outcomes or the behaviour of others, which need not be formally sanctioned (covered in CS Management Principles and Practice, under leading).
- Influence
- The ability to affect a decision or outcome without direct authority or coercive power, through persuasion, expertise or relationships.
The rest of the sheet covers
- Government organisation, functions and practices
- Theories and models of public policy
- Public policy and national development
- Public policy analysis
- Citizen participation and development planning
- Public sector governance
- Resource stewardship
- Management of public enterprises
- Public sector case studies
- Exam technique and revision
- Glossary