Disciplinary Rationale and Public Administration Field Development

Public Administration as a field of study is relatively new in the People's Republic of China. Nonetheless, it is quickly gaining popularity on China's university campuses, due largely to China's urgent need for managerial capacity building and reform guidance. Properly defining the mission of the discipline of public administration will have a profound impact on the future viability of the field, as well as on the process of social transformation in China. This paper looks into some of the basic questions related to public administration field development in China. Hopefully, it can contribute to discussions among interested scholars, and serve as a reference for public administration curriculum design and research agenda setting.