Identity and Europeanization : a quantitative analysis of European Public Administration curricula

Abstract

The paper gives an overview of a statistical analysis exploring Public Administration university programs in twenty-four European countries. The two basic questions of the research involved (i) the disciplinary character of program curricula, and (ii) the degree, to which they reflect to the growing globalization of the administrative praxis by emphasizing subjects of an international character. With regards to the first question multivariate statistical analyses identified three distinct clusters of countries. The three groups correspond to the three classical European approaches to the study of Public Administration: a number of Continental European countries are characterized by a broad and significant political science component; the Nordic countries put a stronger emphasis on Business Administration, while most south European countries and a number of post-communist countries are distinguished by the predominance of Law in program curricula. The dynamic aspect of the picture is such that in the process of reforming/creating their constitutional and administrative frameworks newly independent post-communist countries have switched from their legalist tradition to the managerialist strand, while the rest of them having a less abrupt development path in their constitutional and administrative transition still are characterized by the predominance of Law. Mediterranean countries, on the other hand, seem to be gradually switching from the Legal approach to the Continental mainstream . With regards to the global character of program curricula analyses offer two general insights. First, both comparative and especially European subjects are surprisingly under-represented in program curricula. Second, there is little variance with regard to the global character of programs: the majority of countries are located in a relatively narrow interval.