Public Administration 500

Spring 2006   Midterm

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Midterm Exam

 

The core analytical materials for this course involve 54 contributions from leading thinkers in public administration over a period of time extending over the past 15 decades.  These “classic” contributions to the theory and practice of public administration represent a broad spectrum of substantive issues, methodological approaches, and theoretical orientations. 

 

The goal of the midterm is to provide the student with the opportunity to select one of the articles drawn from the first 30 contributions and consider this article in detail from the point of view of three criteria:

 

  • What is the main objective or thesis of the article?   In other words, what is the author trying to achieve or what is the main proposition of the article?

 

  • What is the importance of the context of the article?  For instance, Woodrow Wilson’s article is written in the context of the progressive movement’s effort to raise the standards of integrity of public sector management.   How does the context influence the writer? 

 

  • What is the importance of this article for the present day?  Are the problems addressed in the article still issues of concern in present circumstances? 

 

Concretely, the student should select an article, analyze it is terms of these three criteria, and compose a succinct essay on the subject.  The essay should be prepared in a standard electronic format (for instance, in a .doc, .rtf, or .pdf format) and emailed to gleasong@unm.edu no later than February 14th.  The email message should clearly identify the sender and the return email address.  Upon receipt, the instructor will immediately respond with a confirmation of receipt.  If the student has received no confirmation of receipt by February 16th, she or he should get in touch immediately with the instructor.   The midterm results should be available by February 20th. 

 

*  Reading material identified for this class is intended for purposes of analysis; there is no endorsement of material on other servers.

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