Comparative Public Administration
February 12, 2025
We have come across a number of times during our exploration of the topic, that it is somewhat difficult to define public administration in concrete terms. It has close association, interaction and influences from several fields of studies like law, political and social science administrative science and human relations and even behavioral science for that […]
The Behavioural Approach came into existence during early twentieth century as a response to the then much discussed about Psychoanalytic theory. Since, Psychoanalytic theory lacked scientific approach and could not be subjected to experimental techniques for making predictions. On the other hand, behaviourists reckoned that different behavioural predispositions can be explained scientifically. Behavioural approaches have […]
The definition of operational risk has been narrowed down. This has helped organizations better manage their operational risks. All operational risks can now be traced to four basic causes viz. people, processes, systems, and external events. However, merely stating a risk as a systems risk does not provide too much information. There is no actionable […]
The Advocacy versus the Activist Role Non-profits around the world typically are divided into those that undertake grassroots activism and those that advocate ideological positions and those that combine these two aspects to work for the betterment of society. This means that many nonprofits like the Red Cross and Oxfam are activist and advocacy oriented […]
A common platform where individuals work in unison to earn profits as well as a livelihood for themselves is called an organization. A place where individuals realize the dream of making it big is called an organization. Every organization has its unique style of working which often contributes to its culture. The beliefs, ideologies, principles […]
The public budgets are different from other forms of budgets in many ways; here the voters delegate the power of spending their money to the politicians or the elected representatives. Now having understood the concept of budget in the last article, let us understand the different kinds of budget that are there in the public financial management:
It relies on three aspects of understanding of the final outcome, the strategies formulated to reach those final outcomes and the specific activities that were carried out to achieve those outcomes. With a very detailed and objective analysis, this budgeting process is very result oriented in its approach.
The budgets in the parliamentary kind of system similar to what exists in a country like India become a tool of political negotiations where the budgeting powers are delegated to the Finance Minister of the country.
In a single party government, the entire party shares the same views regarding the spending of the resources however; the disagreement arises when individual members may differ on the cost of the distributive policies and would want the government funds to be diverted to their respective electoral constituencies.
In a coalition government, the differing opinions are tackled through compromise and contracts approach where the coalition parties keeps the check on the budget process ensuring that it lies within the boundaries of the agreed contract. The infamous fallout between the ruling UPA and the Trinamool Congress over the Railway Budget last year is worth citing in reference to the current discussion.
In the presidential kind of system too, the executive plays a somewhat similar process. A significant change that happened in US regarding the budget process was the Budget Enforcement Act passed in 1990s under the Bush administration, which protected the budgetary parameters against later modifications once cleared in the budget summit between the president and the legislature.
The budget process in different systems of government may vary but they are all aligned to achieve the relevant economic and social goals of that country. With increasing globalization and interdependent economies, several external considerations also come into play when the budgets are designed. We shall learn about the budget process in the next section.
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