Abstract
Looking back over 10 years to the March 2012 edition of the International Review of Administrative Sciences (issue 78(1)), we can see that it was a special issue. Edited by Albert J. Meijer, the issue explored Government Transparency. It included articles by Albert Meijer, David Heald, Stephan Grimmelikhusen, Gijs Brandsma, Eric Welch, Dacian Dragos, Alasdair Roberts and Itai Beeri. The special issue explored concerns of government transparency in terms of open government, the WikiLeaks controversy and various US and European examples. All the authors were from European, North American and Israeli institutions. Like the majority of the articles published in that and previous years, the focus was predominantly North American and EU centric (mostly northern and western European), with occasional forays into Australian and New Zealand arenas. Outside of this group of countries it was fairly rare to find a published paper or author.
The journal's special issues retain a particular emphasis on what are often wicked issues in global public administration. But now they also reflect the extent to which IRAS has become a sincerely global journal. For example, special issues published in 2021 included:
Testing the crisis: opportunity management and governance of the Covid-19 pandemic compared Building capacity for development: role of public administration in Asia and Latin America Reverse privatization and re-municipalization of local public services – incidence, causes and prospects International bureaucracy and the United Nations system
with each issue focusing to a greater or lesser extent on a global comparison as to how the concerns of delivery in public administration vary over time and place internationally and seeking to ensure there is a wide and diverse representation of authors, institutions and subjects, guaranteeing IRAS is widely international and addresses the best practice of public administration (and sometimes not so virtuous practice) in terms of good governance, in all its manifestations. In this issue there are articles that discuss local government in South Africa (drawing on international comparators and theory), Chinese citizen interaction with government, South Korean public enterprises, Moroccan regional development, and systematic reviews of work in a range of theoretical perspectives. The articles and authors from Europe and North American remain powerful and present, but they are joined in increasing numbers by scholars and practitioners from around the world and from a diverse set of backgrounds. At IRAS we see this as a positive trend, it is one we have sought to foster and will endeavor to broaden and deepen further over the coming years. In this we are ably assisted by our Global Editorial Committee, which draws on representatives from six continents and 22 countries and territories.
IRAS is unique in that, since 1986, it has been published in several languages; from 1986 in French and English and then from 2009 in Chinese. For part of this period, it has also been published in Spanish and Arabic. Our partner institutions have joined with the journal's parent organization, the International Institute of International Sciences, to support and structure the future agenda of public administration around the world by encouraging reflection on international comparisons, new techniques and approaches, the discourse between academics and practitioners, and debates about the future of the discipline.
This multi-lingual and multi-lateral approach reflects the global emphasis of the journal and its parent organisations, the international family of academics and practitioners in public administration. Founded in 1927, it is the oldest scholarly public administration journal specifically focused on comparative and international topics. It has matured and progressed as our understanding of public administration has evolved and implicit in much of its content are concerns over wicked issues. The delivery of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), is an example of the evolving international focus of public administration. In summary, the 17 SDGs are:
1: No poverty 2: Zero hunger 3: Good health and well-being 4: Quality education 5: Gender equality 6: Clean water and sanitation 7: Affordable and clean energy 8: Decent work and economic growth 9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure 10: Reduced inequality 11: Sustainable cities and communities 12: Responsible consumption and production 13: Climate action 14: Life below water 15: Life on land 16: Peace and justice strong institutions 17: Partnerships to achieve the goal
Articles published in IRAS increasingly reflect the issues thrown into sharp focus by the SDGs, but it is clear that even a brief reading of these leads us to realise that none of the first 15 are attainable unless we first achieve the last two, and in particular good, effective public administration to deliver the resources and draw on the networks necessary to deliver what is in essence good governance. This is about power and its application to gather, shape and deliver resources. But it is also obvious that there are no accepted universal definitions of what many of these SDGs are in practice. Dealing with climate change or a SARs outbreak demonstrates this recognisable point. They all remain contested and it is this contestability that is analysed, explored and debated by the disparate contributors to IRAS.