History of CPA
The emergence of CPA as a field is linked to the process of decolonization and the expansion of nation-states.
CPA in its origins attempt to help develop the administrative practice of developing nations.
CPA was a “cold war” strategy to contain communism.
CPA as a field became almost irrelevant after financial support dried out because it could not established itself.
CPA shifted from the development practice into academic debate
Changes around the world (foreign debt, neoliberalism, etc.) offer a great opportunity for the revival of the field.
WHAT IS CPA? “CPA
is the comparative study of institutions, process, and behaviors in many context. Context (or environment in comparative analysis generally refers to all external influences that affect management, such as societal values, norms, religion, political culture, and economy.” Jreisat (2002: 1)
“[Public]
Administration is concerned with means for the achievement of prescribed ends…found in political settings. Concerned primarily with the carrying out of public policy decisions made by the authoritative decision-makers in the political system.” (Heady 1991:2]
WHAT IS CPA? INSTITUTIONS
Branches of government (executive, legislative, judicial)
Bureaucracies
Political Parties
Military
Civil Society
PROCESSES
Policy making
Agenda setting
Decision Making
BEHAVIORS
Self-interested behavior (rent-seeking, utility maximization)
Socially motivated behavior
WHAT IS CPA? POLITICAL SYSTEM Democratic regime Authoritarian regime CULTURE Traditional Modern ECONOMY Market driven Command/planned Mixed
WHAT IS CPA? INSTITUTIONS
Branches of government (executive, legislative, judicial)
Bureaucracies
Political Parties
Military
Civil Society
PROCESSES
Policy making
Agenda setting
Decision Making
BEHAVIORS
Self-interested behavior (rent-seeking, utility maximization)
Socially motivated behavior
WHAT IS CPA? POLITICAL SYSTEM Democratic regime Authoritarian regime CULTURE Traditional Modern ECONOMY Market driven Command/planned Mixed
PARADIGMS AND CPA It
guides research on problems and solutions
A
paradigm governs in the first instance, not a subject matter, but a group of practitioners
A
paradigm commits the group of practitioners to a disciplinary matrix (methods, language, questions, values, etc.)
Paradigms
are formed to share examples that result in “tacit knowledge” acquired by doing science
It
is the common property of a group
Institutionalizes
the way knowledge is being taught and transferred
PARADIGMS AND CPA There
will be “paradigm shifts” or “paradigm competition” but never a lack of paradigm (s) unless the field becomes simply speculative and unscientific. To reject a paradigm without substitution is to reject science itself A theory is accepted by the scientific community when it can be said to explain the phenomenon of a field better than its competitors (more theoretical leverage) Becoming a better instrument for discovery Becoming a better instrument to solve puzzles Represents better what nature or society is really like.
PARADIGMS AND CPA 
CPA, as any other social science, is said to be preparadigmatic in the sense that the community of scientists has not committed to a single paradigm. That is, there is a paradigm competition.

PA scientific and professional community rely on the structural-functional dichotomy
PARADIGMS AND CPA
Structures are often associated with institutions (bureaucracies) and functions with activities (interest articulation, interest aggregation, rule making, rule application, communication).
The fundamental question of structural-functionalism is: “What functions are performed by a given institutions and how?” (M. Landau cited by Heady 1991:8)