ИСТИНА

The register of public administration has always been multifaceted. This is why numerous text-books and manuals for PA students invariably manifest non-repeating themes and problems. Indeed, even the brief enumeration of aspects “puzzles the will”. To name just a few: Institutional Development, Organizational Behavior, Non-Profit Organizations, E-Government, Local Government, Think Tanks, Social Research, Digital Economy Benefits, Urban Studies, Public Services Management, Charity, Democracy and Accountability, Financial Management, Anti-Crisis Management, Strategic Management, Personnel Management, Statistics, Budgeting, Health Care Policy, Leadership Skills, Agenda Setting, Evaluating Impact, Data Analysis… Sometimes theme titles start with “how”: “How Government Decisions Are Made”, “How to Analyze the Nature and Causes of Social Problems”, “How to Fight Corruption” etc. At times a learner can encounter a somewhat metaphoric way of describing a topic – as in “Institutional Landscapes”, for example. Being essentially an eclectic subject, Public Administration has availed itself of making use of several disciplines and fields of knowledge, such as Political Science, Economics, Sociology, Law, Human Resources, Ethics, Computer Science. The gigantic diversity has made it extremely difficult to select the indispensable themes and topics and to “distil” the precious, carefully chosen “lexical minimum”. And yet this task remains vital since our students are waiting for a perfect text-book to be perused with love and care during the deplorably small amount of time granted to both teachers – and students.