IN-EAST News
06.10.2014 - 00:00
Guest Lecture, Prof. Dieter Grunow
Mon, October 6, 2014
We are pleased to announce that Professor Dieter Grunow, Professor of Political Science and Public Administration at the University of Duisburg-Essen, will give a guest lecture on
Innovation in the Public Sector
at the IN-EAST School of Advanced Studies.
Date: October 6, 2014
Venue: SG Building, Room 183
Time: 14-16
About the lecture
Innovation is a rather diffuse concept – an empty/overloaded signifier. It needs some general discussion, before it can be applied to a specific field of application and observation. The field under observation is the public sector and specifically public administration. The presentation is rather descriptive at this point, but has to be followed by some reflections about scientific analysis.
The presentation, therefore, will be organized in three parts:
- The first part deals with the use of the term “innovation” in different formats (descriptive, analytical, normative); the primary attention is given to its use in different scientific contexts and their methodological argumentation (esp. constructivism vs. new realism); special emphasis is given to the terminology used in the context of politics and public administration. Here, we find categories like revolution, transformation, reform, modernization much more often than innovation.
- The second part deals with changes (“innovation”) in the public sector, especially public administration; for this description a specific definition of innovation is used – which includes 3 dimensions: time – objects – social exchange. Changes in the public administration are elements of the “Verwaltungspolitik”: two examples will be described: the multi-level (federal) macro-architecture and the meso-/micro-elements of responsive (citizen-oriented) administration. It will be shown that scope and sustainability are important features of innovative developments.
- The third part deals with research issues and concepts, which are related to “innovation” in the public sector: policy/organizational learning, Gesetzesfolgenabschätzung (risk-analysis), multiple stream analysis, advocacy coalitions, path-dependency, long term trends of economic development etc.
Prof. Dieter Grunow is Professor (emeritus) of Political Science and Public Administration at the University Duisburg-Essen (Institute of Political Science). He covers a wide range of research fields: Empirical research in public administration, esp. citizens, participation and public administration (responsiveness); Research on implementation and evaluation. Prof. Grunow is specialized in policy fields as follows: Social affairs, health, environmental protection; Reform and modernization in the public sector; international comparisons of public administration (esp. China-Germany). Additionally to his research he has distinguished experiences in political consulting for various institutions from local to international level.
We look forward to seeing you at the lecture.