Gaylord George Candler

Particularism versus Universalism in the Brazilian Public Administration Literature

The author draws on the Brazilian public administration literature to discuss the conflict between the need to remain open to lessons from elsewhere, while at the same time remaining grounded in a particular local context. The article begins by presenting calls by a number of Brazilian public administration scholars for what might be termed an “administrative particularism,” or an assertion that universal lessons do not apply in the discipline. This is followed by a discussion of the challenges that these and other Brazilian public administration scholars identify. Further discussion will suggest these challenges, and many of the solutions most commonly offered for them, imply that, far from a uniquely Brazilian public administration, the country seeks to move closer to the model of public administration practiced elsewhere, especially in the developed world.

Linguistic Diglossia and Parochialism in American Public Administration: The Missing Half of Guerreiro Ramos's Reducao Sociologica

Diglossia refers to a situation in which there are two varieties of a single language used in different social contexts and in which one has higher prestige than the other. American academic public administration suffers from a reverse diglossia. Rather than being privileged by knowledge of the dominant global language, monolingual Americans are stuck in an academic provincialism brought on by their inability to engage other cultures. This case is made both conceptually and empirically, and suggestions for remedying the situation are offered. In closing, it is argued that language competence has to be seen as a personal ethical challenge for the American internationalist.

The Professions and Public Policy: Expanding the Third Sector

Professional associations are often seen as wholly self-interested actors, and/or as an integral, indistinguishable part of the privileged elite. As a result, the international third sector literature has tended to focus on the activities of social movements and NGOs. This article uses field research and the rich Brazilian third sector literature to assess these assumptions. The first part shows that numerous policy-relevant groups have long existed in Brazil, beyond the NGO/social movement ambit. The article then demonstrates the autonomy and policy relevance of professional associations. The final section shifts to the local level, using the activities of these groups in the state of Santa Catarina to show that the Brazilian third sector is best seen not in opposition to the state, but as part of dense policy networks including the state, business, and other nonprofit groups.

Interest Groups and Social Movements: Self- or Public Interested? Insights from the Brazilian Third-Sector Literature

By definition, interest groups are seen as self-interested, that is, organizations established to pursue the self-interest of their members. As such, this plethora of self-interested actors has been seen largely as a negative thing, cluttering the policy process, creating unmanageable demands, and leading to “iron triangles” of interest group/legislative/bureaucratic networks geared toward funneling benefits to narrow groups. In contrast, social movements, nongovernmental organizations, and the like typically are seen as positive, democratizing players in public policy. This paper seeks to muddy both sides of this neat distinction by bringing the Brazilian third-sector literature and field research on scientific and professional associations in the states of Sergipe and Santa Catarina to bear on the question of the self- versus public-interested stance of third-sector groups. On the one hand, social movements can be just as self-interested as the more traditional interest groups. On the other, interest groups often act wholly in the public interest.

Symposium—The Destiny of Theory: Beyond The New Science of Organizations: Introduction to the Symposium: Why Guerreiro?

A rare, 1997 symposium in Revista de Administração Pública titled “Guerreiro yesterday, Guerreiro today” illustrated the continued relevance that many Brazilian scholars see in the work of Alberto Guerreiro Ramos. Yet on his death in Los Angeles some twenty-five years ago, Alberto Guerreiro Ramos was hardly one of the central figures in American public administration. As a result, one might fairly ask why a symposium should be dedicated to his work, a quarter-century later. Guerriero Ramos remains important, though, for at least three reasons. First, he was one of the earliest scholars to point to the risks of a social science that took homo economicus as its referent. A solution that he offered for this dilemma was to recognize the importance of non-market settings in which people could pursue other, non-materialist interests. These issues are presented in the papers by Azevêdo and Albernaz; Salm, Candler and Ventriss; and Geczi and Ventriss. As José Salm points out, Ramos’s emphasis on the importance of human multidimensionality provides an alternative to homo economicus, and his social systems delimitation provides a conception of society that allows public administration to contribute to more substantive social outcomes. Second, as a self-described “in-betweener,” his work is an intellectual bridge-builder. As a poor Afro-Brazilian educated in the European (especially French) intellectual tradition, early attracted to the empiricism of the Chicago School of American sociology, and who was subsequently to spend the last fifteen years of his professional career in the U.S., Guerreiro Ramos bridged a wide range of both geographical and

THE THEORY OF SOCIAL SYSTEMS DELIMITATION AND THE RECONCEPTUALIZATION OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

Guerreiro Ramoss theoretical work on the Parenthetical Man (Azevêdo & Albernaz, 2006) emphasizes the importance of a multicentric society to realize human multi-dimensionality; and specifically his Theory of Social Systems Delimitation provides a conceptual framework for understanding this multicentric society. The theory and practice of public administration has subsequently recognized the importance of multiple social sectors in the delivery of public goods. This paper will especially highlight what the subsequent theory and practice of public administration has not addressed: the importance of multiple settings in which humans can realize personal fulfillment, and enjoy (non-economic) human associated life.

Symposium The Dismal (Delusional and Dangerous) “Science” of Economics and the “Capture” of Public Administration: Toward a Public-Spirited Public Management Economics

Economics shares with other approaches to human governance the potential to be “dismal, delusional, or dangerous” when dogma replaces reason in decisions about when to apply economic principles. A reading of the classical economic literature shows that even classical economics has not supported the indeed dismal, delusional, and dangerous turn that contemporary mainstream economics has adopted. What economists (and especially public administrators who engage the discipline) have forgotten is the original welfare economics tradition that has its roots at least in Adam Smith and other classic works in the field, and is far more relevant to public administration.

The study of public administration in India, the Philippines, Canada and Australia: the universal struggle against epistemic colonization, and toward critical assimilation

The study of public administration has been characterized as a strong international focus, as both governments and scholars have sought to learn from the experience of other societies. While in a perfect world, one would expect a sort of pragmatic universalism, instead, many scholars tend to bring lessons from one country, or from a single cultural reality. This modest contribution lies in showing a series of national experiences rarely brought to the discourse about public administration in Brazil: Canada, Australia, India and the Philippines. Special emphasis will be given to the following: the origins and the development of public administration; the influence of ideology; and the complex tension between global theory and local practices.

Alberto Guerreiro Ramos: the “in-betweener” as intellectual bridge builder?

Ao final de uma longa carreira, Alberto Guerreiro Ramos procurou reconceituar a ciencia das organizacoes, para que ela reconhecesse as dimensoes nao economicas da vida humana associada. Seu esforco repercutiu pouco, como se argumenta neste artigo, porque a sua influencia fora do Brasil foi razoavelmente menor. Contudo, este fato nao ocorreu devido a uma carencia intelectual de sua parte. Ao contrario, na America do Norte, onde Alberto Guerreiro Ramos realizou o que ele pensou ser o seu mais importante trabalho, o meio intelectual era, ao mesmo tempo, limitado em termos paradigmaticos e culturalmente insular.

The MPA Program in Small Markets: An Exploratory Analysis

Abstract The public administration/policy academic community has had little systematic data on which to base decisions about program location or expansion, especially in small markets. This study presents the results of a multivariate regression of MPA student numbers on eight independent variables.