Abstract:

Public Administration’s long history as a concept is as old as the very notion of government itself. Its foundations as a discipline can be traced back to the 20^th century writings of Max Weber, Woodrow Wilson and Frederick Taylor. Their ideas found overt expression in the administrations of European and American societies which had organised forms of governments. Most pre-colonial African societies were organised according to traditional structures governed by chiefs, councils of elders and kings. However, with the political decolonisation of most African states, post World-War II, the United Nations advised that there should be public administration and public service which should, in every real sense, belong to the society they serve. Public bureaucracies came to be viewed as the vehicles through which the struggle toward development and nation building could be achieved. This paper seeks to give an overview of how the classical approaches have been applied in post-colonial African states. It will also review how the new public management approaches were (un)successfully implemented in these very states. Using qualitative research and descriptive and exploratory methods, this paper will explore the nexus between African bureaucracy and public administration approaches.

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