Public Administration

Public administration is understood as the set of systems and procedures through which a state organizes a series of services to citizenship. In this way, the government of each nation is responsible for organizing and managing the general interests of citizens, for which a legal norm is needed that specifies all the activities and services of the administration. It can be said that it acts as an intermediary between citizens and the state.

More about public administration

it is a concept in the area of ​​law that describes the set of agents, services and bodies established by the State with the aim of managing certain areas of a society, such as Education , Health , Culture , etc. it also represents the set of actions that make up the administrative function .

Public administration aims to work in favor of the public interest , and the rights and interests of the citizens it administers. Most of the time, public administration is organized in order to reduce bureaucratic processes. Administrative decentralization is also common, in the case of indirect public administration, which means that some interested parties can effectively participate in the management of services.

An individual who works in public administration is known as a public manager , and has a great responsibility towards society and the nation, and must manage and administer public matters in a transparent and ethical manner, in accordance with the stipulated legal norms. 

Many people apply for public service exams when they want to hold a position in public administration.

General aspects

Each country has its own private bodies that make up the set of public administrations. In general terms, we can highlight three different structures: the central state, regions, federations or autonomies and local entities or city halls.

In democratic nations the power of public administrations is limited by laws, that is, by the rule of law . This mechanism is intended to prevent any hypothetical abuse by the state‘s public bodies.

Each administrative structure or body has its own resources , from which financial donations are obtained from the annual budgets of the state. At the same time, each agency has its own organizational chart and human resources. Employees or civil servants are the workers who carry out the management of the it

In recent years, the bureaucratic systems of public administration are being complemented by electronic administration.

The most characteristic public services within public administration

Although each national constitution establishes its criteria on which the public services assumed by the state should be, the most common and main ones are the following: sanitary, educational services, related to citizen safety , public transport, social services, public housing plans, civil protection, public media or postal services.

These and other services form the so-called welfare state of nations.

Welfare state models determine the services received by citizens. In any case, the services and services managed by public administrations aim to serve the whole of the citizenry, which is why universalism is spoken of .

Many of the daily actions are related to some public administration. Thus, a birth certificate, a traffic fine, an urban planning permit or a social subsidy are concrete steps taken by it.

Direct and indirect public administration

Public administration can be direct or indirect. Direct public administration is carried out by the Powers of the Union, by the States, Federal District and Municipalities. These bodies do not have their own legal personality. Expenses inherent to administration are included in the public budget and administrative deconcentration takes place, which consists of delegating tasks.

Indirect public administration is the transfer of administration by the State to other legal entities, and these legal entities can be foundations, public companies, private organizations, etc. In this case, administrative decentralization occurs, that is, the administration task is transferred to another legal entity.