1

Meaning, Scope and Importance of Public Administration

Public administration consists of the activities undertaken by a government to look after its people, or to manage its affairs. Before discussing the various interpretations of the concept of public administration, it is pertinent to understand the meaning of the terms ‘public’ and ‘administration’ separately.

The word ‘public’ stands for the people of a definite territory or state. As the will of the people of a state is represented by the government of the state, the word ‘public’ also has a specialised, governmental meaning. Therefore, the acts of administration performed by the government are called ‘public administration’. Those acts which are undertaken by individuals in their own ...

Get Public Administration now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.