RELIGION AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
An Introduction
Genre:
Economy & Politics
Author:
Edoardo Ongaro and Michele Tantardini
Publisher:
Edward Elgar
Language:
English
AUTHOR BIO:
Edoardo Ongaro, Professor of Public Management, the Open University, UK and Michele Tantardini, Assistant Professor of Public Administration, Penn State Harrisburg, US
Pages:
262
Publication:
2023
Rights available:
All except sold
DESCRIPTION:
Exploring the manifold relationships between religion and public administration, this topical book conceptualises and theorises the diverse influence of religions on the functioning of public administrative systems across the globe.
International and comparative in approach, this book analyses the social and public dimensions to religion and its interplay with public administration as a field of social scientific inquiry and an area of professional activity. Taking methodological agnosticism as its sociological perspective to the study of the religious experience, chapters focus on Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Shintoism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam to examine diverse religious compositions across both secularised and non-secularised societies and political regimes. The book uses a distinctive theoretical lens to analyse the influence of religions on organisational fit, public service motivation, individual and organisational behaviours and values, bureaucratic discretion, government funding, the delivery of public services, and the dynamics of social cohesion overall. It provides a fresh perspective on religion as a source of legitimacy and basis of accountability, responsibility, and delegation of power in public administration, institutional quality, and ethics.
Students and scholars interested in the religious dimensions to public administration, policy, governance and management will find use in this book’s theoretical analyses. Its empirical findings will also be valuable to policymakers working in public administration and leaders of faith organisations engaged in public services.
Contents:
1. Introduction: a framework of analysis of the relationship between religion and public administration 2. Religions and religious regimes across the world
3. A PA-focused introduction to Asian religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Shintoism
4. A PA-focused introduction to Judaism, Christianity and Islam
5. Religion as a personality system and individuals’ motivation and behaviour in public services
6. Organisational level themes
7. Religion as ideational basis: reflections on religion as source of legitimacy and basis of accountability, exercise of responsibility, and power in (politics and) public administration
8. A research agenda on religion in public administration: in dialogue with theologians
References
Index
REVIEWS:
‘This book is a revelation about both the influences of religion on public administration and how the field could be enriched from deeper scholarly attention to religion. I am struck by the breadth of the relevance of religion to public administration. The authors illuminate the relevance of the world’s great religions to the field as a whole and to prominent research streams, such as public service motivation. Ongaro and Tantardini offer new perspectives for all public administration scholars to consider and embrace in their research and teaching.’ – James L. Perry, Indiana University, Bloomington, US ‘Religion and Public Administration draws a welcome and comprehensive picture of the ways through which religions influence motivations, behaviours, the ideational basis of a society and ul...
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