New Developments in Public Administration and Governance

A special issue of Administrative Sciences (ISSN 2076-3387).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2025 | Viewed by 960

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Public Administration and Policy, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
Interests: public administration and governance; leadership in the public sector; strategic management in the public sector
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Governments and the wider public sector are facing many challenges. This is true worldwide. Some say that the world is becoming more volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. Some refer to the visions of sustainable and inclusive development that can set an agenda for global partnerships and public–private cooperation. Some call for new capabilities and mindsets in the governments and public sectors of the future. And some want experiments with new strategies, digital transformations, and social and policy innovations.

This is a time for research and study of new developments in the world of public administration and governance, developments that may raise the quality of performance of government organization and the public sector, including those involving collaborations with the private sector and civil society. Accordingly, it is important that contributions to the Special Issue analyse new developments in terms of what is happening and what the consequences are, as well as offering conceptual frameworks and theoretical insights. It is also crucial to place the new developments in their context and explain the challenges that prompted them.

The overall aim of the Special Issue is to survey what new developments are happening in the field of public administration and governance using a social science perspective. This is a particular section of the administrative sciences field and has not only similarities but also differences from other sections. It aims to provide evidence and facts on new developments, rigorous analysis, and new insights into what administrative and governance developments might form promising possibilities in the future. The aim is also to be practically significant and theoretically interesting. Finally, the aim is to be truly international in scope, with the result that successful new developments in public administration and governance in different and varied countries can provide inspiring models that might be adapted for differing national contexts.

This Special Issue intends to be inclusive in terms of the new developments addressed. That said, the scoping of the Special Issue has identified at least five critical new developments which should be addressed:

  • New developments in strategic leadership.
  • New approaches to strategic management.
  • Agility: government and public sector organizations.
  • Digital transformation and Artificial Intelligence.
  • Public and private sector collaborations.

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Paul Joyce
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Administrative Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • strategic leadership
  • agility
  • strategic management
  • digital transformation
  • challenges

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

16 pages, 298 KiB  
Article
Building a Decentralization Index in Portugal: A Proposal on Conceptual and Methodological Foundations
by Helena Teles, Temístocles Oliveira Júnior and Joaquim Caeiro
Adm. Sci. 2025, 15(5), 187; https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci15050187 - 20 May 2025
Viewed by 165
Abstract
Decentralization is a process that allows local governments to play a more active role in decision-making and the management of public policies. This process involves transferring responsibilities, resources, and authority from central to local governments, bringing the decisions and provision of public services [...] Read more.
Decentralization is a process that allows local governments to play a more active role in decision-making and the management of public policies. This process involves transferring responsibilities, resources, and authority from central to local governments, bringing the decisions and provision of public services and policies closer to the needs of citizens in each region. Portugal established a regime for asymmetric, multi-level, and multi-sectoral decentralization governance that is primarily focused on the policy (administrative) dimension. This study proposes conceptual and methodological foundations for building a decentralization index in Portugal aimed at measuring and comparing its outcomes across municipalities and policy areas of the social domain. The conceptual foundations enable a model that combines the state capacity concept with the three-dimensional decentralization theory, defining a framework of dimensions, objectives, and principles with potential indicators for a future index. The methodological cornerstones provide a qualitative scheme for determining the indicators that should comprise the decentralization index, data collection, processing methods, and analytical strategies. Although decentralization in Portugal dates back to the mid-2010s and the transfer of competences is formally complete as of 2023, at least in the social domain, its evaluation falls short of what is needed, including measuring its results in this domain. This study aims to present proposals that address these gaps and encourage a critical debate on decentralization, its frameworks, processes, and results. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Developments in Public Administration and Governance)
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