Round table "Theories and Methods of Public Administration Research: Current Trends"

Evgeny Styrin, Head of the International Laboratory for Digital Transformation in Public Administration, took part in a round table on the topic "Theories and methods of public Administration research: current trends", organized by the journal "Issues of Public and Municipal Administration", including its editor-in-chief, Vice President of the Higher School of Economics L.I. Yakobson. 

Participants of the round table discussed the key issue of the state of public and municipal administration as a scientific discipline or research area. In the light of the objective processes of digital transformation of the state; changes in the role and mechanisms of civil society participation in the process of government decision-making, and the development of technologies that blur the usual state borders, the question of the place of the scientific discipline of Public Administration in the system of scientific knowledge remains particularly acute. The system of public administration as an object can be studied by analyzing its administrative and institutional components. But the organizational culture, changes in the processes and procedures of interaction between the state and external actors – citizens, businesses and NGOs - deserve separate consideration. In this case, questions arise in general about the existing values and guidelines that guide the state in its interaction with citizens. Thus, it is very difficult to delineate the boundaries of Public Administration as a scientific discipline. Separately, it should be noted the diversity and simultaneous use of research methods inherent in various disciplines within the social sciences: sociology, political science, management. A separate role is assigned to jurisprudence. It is interesting to analyze through the competencies of future government managers studying at various educational programs of Public Administration. Within the framework of the round table, leading Russian scientists expressed many ideas on how to synthesize the essence of the science of public administration and what can be the subject of study of this science. 

The journal "Issues of State and Municipal Management" will publish the materials of the round table in the next issues (https://vgmu.hse.ru/)