Title: Development of an Efficient and Effective Public Administration System (P5-0093)
Head of the research group: prof. dr. Aleksander Aristovnik
Today’s changing societal environment requires public administration systems to continually develop if they are to successfully identify and put in place public policies, strategies, mechanisms, legal, financial, and information-based foundations and other resources to address the complexities of modern dimensions such as multi-level public governance, digitalization, migrations, nationalism and interstate conflicts, environmental change and several others. It is thus no surprise that national public administration reforms are a key priority of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, post EU 2020 strategy, and EU member states’ national strategies. Accordingly, the main purpose of the research programme will be to develop a comprehensive framework for developing a modern efficient and effective public administration system. It would be based on gradual improvement, concentrating on those levels, policies, dimensions and domains of the Slovenian and European administrations perceived to be weak or as providing a basis for synergistic effects. This will be achieved through: 1) concrete and verifiable research goals (establishing the theoretical framework; empirical application, encompassing Slovenian, EU and global administrative space and the key PA challenges; in-depth validation and optimization of the findings; establishing guidelines, facilitating the research findings’ absorption in administrative practice; ensuring a large-scale social impact via a wide range of publications, professional meetings and conferences; ensuring policy implications, based on a multi-level systemic approach and collaboration between stakeholders); 2) a set of comprehensive methodological approaches (classification based on interdisciplinary approach, required for holistic, efficient and effective frameworks/models for PA reforms: philosophical approach, legal approach, historical approach, scientific approach, case method approach, institutional and structural approach, behavioural approach, consensus approach), and 3) including all societal subsystems and stakeholders at the macro (society), mezzo (government) and micro (individual PA entities) levels of governance. The key content of the research will therefore be constituted by the search for a framework for an efficient and effective public administration system, including the preparation of expert guidelines for the design of modern public administration models, the evaluation of operations and the implementation of reforms of selected segments of the wider public sector and the identification and proposal of measures and ways of implementing them to create a better business environment co-created by the public administration and the broader public sector in order to improve Slovenia’s international competitiveness. Once prepared, the guidelines will enable the transition to a highly efficient and successful governance model as a driver of large-scale social innovation and sustainable development.
Duration (from/to):
- 1. 2019 – 31. 12. 2027
Contracting Authority:
Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
Financing:
The project is being financed with 2786 yearly hours (B price category) for 6 years.
Members of the research group:
prof. dr. Aleksander Aristovnik (head)
izr. prof. dr. Valentina Franca
doc. dr. Sanja Vrbek, raziskovalka
Kaja Godec
dr. Matej Babšek (from 15.1.2024)
dr. Zoran Aralica (from 11.3.2024)
Miha Lebič
Luka Vavtar
Programme phases and their realization
Goals:
The research group, based on its already mentioned strong interdisciplinary nature, which is one of the fundamental characteristics of administrative science, will continue its research in four key and closely interconnected areas: administrative-law, economic, organizational, and informational fields. The common denominator of the research conducted so far within the program has been the theoretical and empirical development of quantitative and qualitative indicators and metrics for measuring the effectiveness and success. These will be further enhanced within the continuation of the program by evaluating the existing management of public administration and establishing a basis for introducing new methods of its management and optimizing its functioning. Based on connecting elements, the program group will pursue the following research goals (RG):
RG1: Establishment of a theoretical framework covering the fundamental challenges of public administration, models, key elements, and trends of efficient, successful, and accountable public administration.
RG2: Empirical application of normative, comparative, macroeconomic, and other analyses, encompassing the Slovenian, European, and global administrative space, addressing key challenges of public administration.
RG3: Ensuring thorough validation and optimization of findings using mixed contemporary methods.
RG4: Establishment of guidelines and promotion of the implementation of research findings into administrative practice through legal, economic, organizational, and other measures that will have a significant impact.
RG5: Ensuring social impact through numerous publications, expert meetings, and conferences.
RG6: Ensuring implications for the appropriate design of policies arising from a multi-level systemic approach and collaboration between state representatives and civil society actors.