Contemporary Debates on Politics and Public Administration in the Postmodern Era
Summary
Excerpt
Table Of Contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication Page
- About the editors
- About the book
- Citability of the eBook
- Contents
- List of Contributors
- Introduction: Contemporary Debates on Politics and Public Administration in Postmodern Era
- Part I Politics
- Postmodern Political Perspective
- Modern Democracy Theories
- To Think about Democracy and Civil Society in the 21st Century
- Woman, Society and the State: Woman’s Empowerment in Society
- Contemporary Discussions in International Relations: International Migration and Security
- Climate Change in Global Politics in the Postmodern Era: A New Challenge and Responses
- Post-Fordism and Urban Policy
- Part II Public Administration
- To Re-Think Waldo in Public Administration
- An Overview of University Ombudsman on the Axis of Postmodern Public Administration Approach
- Building Trust in the State: What the Declining Trust Tells
- An Evaluation on Neo-Weberian State and New Public Management
- Governance and New Trends in Public Administration: From E-Government to D-Government
- E-Governance Concept in Public Administration Theory
- An Evaluation on the Development of the Metropolitan Area Management: The Case of Turkey
- The Waste Management in the Context of Sustainable Urbanization: The Case of Hatay Metropolitan Municipality
- The Effectiveness of City Councils in Local Politics in Turkey: The Case of Gümüshane City Council1
- The Decentralization of Regional Authorities in Spain: Administrative and Fiscal Transformation
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
Asst. Prof. Ömer Ugur:
Gumushane University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, omerugur@gumushane.edu.tr, Gumushane, Turkey.
Assoc. Prof. Kadir Caner Dogan:
Gumushane University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, kadircanerdogan@gumushane.edu.tr, Gumushane, Turkey.
Asst. Prof. Emre Cengiz:
Gumushane University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, emrecengiz_58@hotmail.com, Gumushane, Turkey.
Asst. Prof. Ismail Dursunoglu:
Bayburt University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, idursunoglu@bayburt.edu.tr, Bayburt, Turkey.
Asst. Prof. Atıl Cem Cicek:
Kafkas University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, atilcemcicek@yahoo.com, Kars, Turkey.
Asst. Prof. Fatma Okur Cakici:
Karamanoglu Mehmetbey University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, fatmaokur80@hotmail.com, Karaman, Turkey.
Asst. Prof. Kadir Sancak:
Gumushane University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of International Relations, kadirsancak@gmail.com, Gumushane, Turkey.
Res. Asst. Hasan Bozkurt Celik:
Gumushane University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, hbozkurtcelik@gmail.com, Gumushane, Turkey.
Asst. Prof. Tekin Avaner:
Gendarmerie and Coast Guard Academy, Security Sciences Institution, Department of Public Administration, tekinavaner@hotmail.com, Ankara, Turkey.
Phd Student Coskun Sayman:
Ankara University, Faculty of Political Science, Department of Administrative Sciences, Ankara, Turkey.
Assoc. Prof. Erhan Orselli:
Necmettin Erbakan University, Faculty of Political Science, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, eorselli@erbakan.edu.tr, Konya, Turkey.
Lecturer Zekeriya Bilici:
Necmettin Erbakan University, Meram Vocational School, zbilici@erbakan.edu.tr, Konya, Turkey.
Asst. Prof. Sukru Mert Karci:
European University of Lefke, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Public Administration, skarci@eul.edu.tr, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
Res. Asst. Dr. Dilek Dede:
Istanbul University, Faculty of Political Sciences, The Department of Political Sciences and Public Administration, dilekdede@istanbul.edu.tr, İstanbul, Turkey.
Asst. Prof. Ahmet Tunc:
Kahramanmaras Sütcü Imam University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Political Science and International Relations, ahmetmalatyatunc@gmail.com, Kahramanmaras, Turkey.
Asst. Prof. Aziz Belli:
Kahramanmaras Sütcü Imam University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Public Administration, azizdarende@hotmail.com, Kahramanmaras, Turkey.
Asst. Prof. Abdullah Aydin:
Hatay Mustafa Kemal University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of International Relations, aaydin@mku.edu.tr, Hatay, Turkey.
Asst. Prof. Vedat Yilmaz:
Van Yuzuncu Yıl University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Public Administration, vedatyilmaz1977@gmail.com, Van, Turkey.
Asst. Prof. Hasan Mahmut Kalkisim:
Gumushane University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, hkalkisim@yahoo.com, Gumushane, Turkey.
Asst. Prof. Gokhan Zengin:
Trakya University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Public Administration, gokhanzengin@trakya.edu.tr, Edirne, Turkey.
Ömer Ugur and Kadir Caner Dogan
Introduction: Contemporary Debates on Politics and Public Administration in Postmodern Era
Modern day society is called as the information society, and the value given to the information is much more than the other ages. Humanity has passed from the feudal age to the industrial age, and now to the information age/society. This transition is being realized much faster when compared to the other periods.
The idea of Enlightenment, the industrial revolution, the emergence of modern nation-states, and the developments in the modern sciences in the 17th century brought about significant transformations in the political, social, and economic sphere. Again, the modernism movement, which is integrated with the above-mentioned dynamics, has also been the root of the discourse that accelerated the process at this stage. Many new scientific disciplines, theories, and ideologies developed along with modernism. Besides, the urbanization phenomenon advances in the democratic regime, and market system interrogations rank among the topics following the process. Moreover, the 17th and 18th centuries symbolize an age in which mass production commenced in the economy and international trade spread to the global area. Developing capitalism and capital accumulation based on it at this stage have started mass production and stock-based work emerged in prodigious factories. Production is no longer manufactured for the fulfillment of personal needs, but to make the sale in international markets.
During the 18th and 19th centuries, destructions caused by capitalism and liberal democracy on the economic and social/cultural sphere tried to be eradicated, imperialist struggles started between different states, and the states adopted social policy and security issues as a public policy. In the 20th century, the world’s capitalist system, especially the wars of the past and the economic crises created by them, was driven to a stalemate. Two major world wars erupted in the first half of the century, and the major global economic crises increased the questioning of classical liberalism particularly in the policies of states, and generally in the financial/political order. In order to prevent the crisis created by the system in the United States and Continental Europe, the social state approach began to dominate. Although the new system continued with social consensus and social welfare until the 1970s, a new economic/financial crisis ←11 | 12→stemming from finance, stock market, monetary policy, and banking emerged afterwards. This was followed by the oil crises, and thus the capitalist economic system became questionable again. As a way out of this crisis, neoliberal financial policies based on the new right ideology were discussed. These initiatives, which started in the Anglo-Saxon world, led by the United States and Britain, spread rapidly around the world with the impact of globalization and information technologies. After that, the principles of classical liberalism started again to determine the world’s financial agenda with a different comment.
The expression of the above-mentioned financial transformation in terms of politics, sociology, and public administration can be described by the emerging paradigm changes and the different theories and approaches that try to explain or analyze the period. Similarly, especially after World War II, modernism has come to an end, and it is often mentioned that the postmodernist movement must leave its mark on the period. Postmodernism seriously criticizes the epistemology, methods, and understandings of modernism. According to postmodernism, the knowledge generation method based on meta-narratives should be changed, historically progressive understanding should come to an end, and comments rather than truths should be included in scientific discussions.
Postmodernism’s dominance or its being discussed in social sciences coincides with the late 1970s. Postmodernism deeply questions discourses, theories, and approaches that are related with the modern era and tries to develop a perspective that appropriates today’s information society. At this point, the basic theories, approaches, and principles of political science and public administration are discussed again. In political science, basic concepts such as sovereignty, democracy, legitimacy, representation, negotiation, civil society, and human rights are explained according to the conditions of the period. Again, deep paradigm shifts are observed in the field of public administration, and change over from traditional public administration to the new public administration is stated. New theories specific to the conditions of the period are developed in the field of urban, environmental science and international relations, and these theories affect the public policies of countries.
With the postmodern politic discussions, policy-pursuing styles of the homogeneous totalitarian nation-states of the modern era are questioned, and today’s prevailing issues such as multiculturalism, micro-nationalism, and identity politics come into prominence. Besides, the sovereignty systems of the states are re-spoken, and it is stated that the sovereignty structures of the nation-states are shared by international organizations. This shows that the states’ sovereignty within themselves, the bond of democratic legitimacy born of grassroots, and the bridge of trust are eroded. Citizens of the state are now insecure about the ←12 | 13→legitimacy of the government or political power and they cannot predict which political formation hands their fate.
In postmodern public administration, there is a great transformation in the fields like bureaucracy, hierarchy, and secrecy regarding the modern period public administration. Concordantly, it is understood that flexibility, openness, and network-related electronic applications become prominent instead of these fields. At this stage, the two most important theories that have left their mark on public administration are new public management and governance. Governance is a democratic-based public administration theory of political origin, which has become a dominant paradigm in public administration after the 1990s as an advanced stage of new public management. The theory of governance has a postmodern feel and refers to a way of doing policy based on participative joint management.
As it is understood, in the postmodern period, a great transformation is observed in every part of social sciences, especially in politics and public administration. The postmodern era brings out the different debates and inquiries in the field of science and philosophy, in the public policies of the states, in the world’s financial system, and in the global culture and social sphere.
The main purpose of this study is to include contemporary debates and opinions in the context of the deep transformation mentioned above in political science and public administration, especially in the postmodern period. Within this framework, in this study, the chapters, written by academicians in different fields, discuss the following topics: postmodern political discourse, modern democracy theories, contemporary approaches to democracy and civil society concept, the position of women in society, current debates in international relations, climate change policy and urban theories, postmodern public administration and its pioneers, trust in the state, new public management, governance, e-government, city councils, sustainable urbanization and waste management, metropolitan area management, and regional management.
Details
- Pages
- 274
- Publication Year
- 2019
- ISBN (PDF)
- 9783631801840
- ISBN (ePUB)
- 9783631801857
- ISBN (MOBI)
- 9783631801864
- ISBN (Softcover)
- 9783631796337
- DOI
- 10.3726/b16122
- Language
- English
- Publication date
- 2019 (November)
- Keywords
- Postmodernism Transformation Politics
- Published
- Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Warszawa, Wien, 2019. 274 pp., 2 fig. b/w, 23 tables.