Editorial
| Author | Mahendra Prasad Singh |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/00195561221114511 |
| Published date | 01 September 2022 |
| Date | 01 September 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Editorial |
Indian Journal of Public
Administration
68(3) 339–340, 2022
© 2022 IIPA
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DOI: 10.1177/00195561221114511
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Editorial
Up till now, the innovation literature on governance has focused primarily on the
private rather than the public sector and on innovations which improve organisa-
tional performance through product and process innovations. Public sector
innovations seek to improve social performance through re-organisations of
cross-sector decision-making, financing and production systems.
The acknowledged move from Traditional Public Administration (TPA), over
the New Public Management (NPM), then to the current shift towards new public
governance, has spurred an increased awareness on the role of external stakeholders
in developing public services, and hence the way public sector innovation takes
place (Hartley, 2005). Public sector innovation is now more dependent on joint
processes based on cross-sectoral collaboration, which implies that public
innovation has become complex and dynamic, since citizens’ multifaceted needs
require several actors to coordinate their efforts.
Governance innovation refers to new forms of citizens’ engagement in
innovation, and rhetorical innovation, which means new language and concepts in
a service domain. Hartley suggests that rather than speaking of types of innovation,
such as radical and incremental, governance or rhetorical, it may be more correct
to treat innovation, particularly complex innovations, as multidimensional
processes since the different types are connected in practice (Hartley, 2005).
There are four major theories regarding how a state originates; evolutionary,
force, divine right, and social contract. Liberal theory of state, which is
characteristic of democracies, is predicated on the social contract theories of
Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau. In the Hobbesian theory, the members entering into
a contract surrender all their rights to the state except the solitary right of self-
defence or preservation.
In the Lockean theory, the state emerges through a double contract, the rst
creating the civil society and the second, the state. Individual and group rights
have a liberal tone and temper within it. In the Rousseanic contract, the civil
community emerges as the all-powerful entity and it cannot be disobeyed or
dislodged. The sovereign state thus created is all-powerful and beyond any other
power within and outside that community.
The major changes have been the transformation in the respective roles of the
state, the market and the civil society. The contours and contents of these changes
are thoroughly analysed by this special issue of our journal.
Articles in this issue of the Indian Journal of Public Administration analyse
some new developments in administration and public policies.
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