Public administration and the citizen: administrative burdens, policy effects and the art of the impossible

Abstract

This dissertation examines the effect of public administration on the citizen-client, citizen-community and bureaucrat-citizen. The first chapter, “Hostages to Compliance”: Towards a Reasonableness Test for Administrative Burdens, examines how the use of administrative rules and burdens affects citizens. It provides a reasonableness test for bureaucrats to use when applying administrative requirements to citizen-clients. The second chapter, The Indian Child Welfare Act’s Preferential Placement Mandates and Permanent Outcomes for Children, assesses the effect of the Indian Child Welfare Act’s preferential placement mandates on the likelihood of an American Indian or Alaska Native child being permanently placed out of the foster care system. The paper demonstrates the need for data collection in order to understand the effects of public administration on a particular community of citizens. Lastly, the third chapter, “Wishy-Washy Chocolate Hearts”: The Art of the Impossible Job, centers on how public administration structures and expectations affect public administrators. I found that focusing on the process of administration as the product helped bureaucrats feel like they had achieved a measure of success in an impossible job.