Jos Raadschelders
13 May 1999

Before presenting my workplan for the coming year, I would like to thank Jennifer Coston, former chairperson, on behalf of the SICA membership for all that she has done in the previous year. The various meetings with her as well as with other SICA members during the ASPA conference recently, assured me that SICA is fortunate to have an enthusiastic, voluntary membership as well as substantive support. I would also like to thank Richard J. Stillman II, of the University of Colorado, for his willingness to serve as SICA's chair in the year 2000-2001. His wide experience both in terms of research and teaching as well as in terms of service to ASPA will be a benefit to SICA. A tentative version of this workplan was presented on April 16 for comments to the members of the executive committee of SICA, as well as to Ferrel Heady, Fred Riggs, and Erik Bergrud. Their comments have been very useful in putting this workplan together.
 

Objective for the Year 1999 - 2000

To further develop SICA as an active forum for sharing experience and knowledge acquired by practitioners (both government officials as well as independent consultants) and academics on development management and comparative administration in both the non-western and the western world. There are six interrelated ways to pursue this objective.
 

1. Membership Representative of the Globe

At present (6 April 1999) SICA has 249 members, which is about half of what it was ten years ago (so I have been told). We should strive to enhance the membership this year with at least 50 people. The SICA-directory (compiled by Jennifer Coston) shows that our membership of practitioners and (comparative) scholars from Africa, Asia, Europe, and Contraband Latin America could and should be improved. At the SICA business meeting during ASPA Jennifer Coston has agreed to coordinate the membership mailing and the elections mailing. Tjip Walker has offered to update our website and provide the institutional home for it.

Action: SICA-members should help to increase the membership by actively approaching people in their networks and detailing to them the benefits of membership.

2. Accessibility and Visibility: Flyer and Website

Potential members would like to be informed about the benefit of membership. On the basis of an earlier SICA flyer and in cooperation with Erik Bergrud and Jennifer Coston I will develop a one-page flyer that contains the major objectives of SICA and some basic contact- and membership information. The flyer should be available as early as possible but not later than September 1999 and preferable as early as possible. At the SICA business meeting during ASPA Tjip Walker has also offered to update our website and provide the institutional home for it.

Action: Let me know what you would like to see mentioned in the flyer.

3. Global Network

One of the benefits of membership, and a way to keep members, is to assure that there is at least one - if not two - newsletter(s) per annum.

Action: Jennifer Coston and I will contact Phil Morgan to inquire if the Monterey Institute for International Studies can be the institutional home for our Global Network.

4. Gold Scholarship

In honor of prof. David Gold, who died in the 1989 Lockerbie plane crash, the University of Pittsburgh (where he worked) and SICA decided to award four graduate students annually to encourage them to take an interest in the field of international and comparative administration. 'Pitt' and SICA each provided $600.- to the scholarship. At the SICA meeting during ASPA it was decided that Jennifer Coston and I would

Action: Jennifer Coston and I will write to Dr. Carolyn Ban and see whether 'Pitt' is willing and able to pitch in (already sent).

5. Revive the Publication Series

The publication of edited volumes through Kumerian Press and occasional papers has more or less come to a halt. While the proceeds (royalties) of book sales are not staggering, they do provide an extra source of income to SICA. Members are asked to submit papers for the occasional series. In view of the mailing costs involved we need to investigate whether these should be distributed as hard copies or electronic mail or be posted on the web page A book project can be started this year and completed under the next chairperson (see 6 below).

Action: Find potential papers for the occasional series (see also item 6).

6. ASPA-2000

Comparing is inherent to the nature of people. When in academia we talk about comparative research we generally think of crossnational comparisons. This is an obvious choice but our understanding of society and government would be incomplete if cross-level, cross-policy, and cross-time comparisons were missing.

The body of knowledge in the international and comparative field is large, so large that it has become compartmentalized according to occupation (practitioner vs. academic), according to approach (development management vs. comparative research), according to discipline (anthropology, political science, public administration, economics, etc.), and according to geographical area (regional specialization, but also western vs. non-western). Seeking to help getting these various bodies of knowledge toward exchange would strengthen and advance public administration which incidentally happens to be vision 1 for ASPA 2000 (see p.112 ASPA-program 1999). SICA can contribute to this in two ways:

A) Workshop: International Development Management and Policy

For 17 years already SICA has provided this opportunity to its members during the ASPA annual conference. Given the interest in this effort we will continue to provide this workshop.

B) Four panels under the SICA umbrella

I propose that under the SICA umbrella four panels will be organized for ASPA-2000 and the scenario outlined below was endorsed by the members of the executive committee as well as by Ferrel Heady and Fred Riggs.

Four panels are envisaged but this time organized around a particular topic determined by the panel convener. Each panel should strive to explore this topic at least from two out of the four types of comparison. In the table below I have outlined examples of topics for each panel, but naturally other topics within each panel are just as welcome.

With the model, outlined below, in the back of my mind I have also talked with possible conveners and paper givers. The advantage of this scenario is that a particular topic is approached ideally from four different types of comparisons. This provides coherence in terms of approach to the panel, yet at the same time allows for a large range of different topics.

There are some extra considerations to this scenario:

1. The papers should be made available to convener and discussant one month before the conference, so that the discussant has ample opportunity to prepare a comment. It is the discussant's task to compare the way in which the papers/approaches shed light on the topic of the panel. It may be too much to hope for compliance with a 1 March 2000 deadline for the papers, but it does not hurt to try.

2. Panel conveners should disseminate the SICA proposal for ASPA-2000 to potential paper givers and emphasize that preferably each of the panels includes attention for:

• non-western and a western country;
• practitioner and academic viewpoints, and
• the development management and the comparative perspectives.

It is easy to see that one paper may satisfy several requirements.

3. SICA has always emphasized the cross-national comparisons and international administration. These will continue to identify the particular niche that SICA developed. However, in our globalizing world we are more then ever aware of what happens in various different countries. Cross-national comparisons are made of cross-level issues, of cross-policy issues, and of cross-time issues. That is why I believe that these four should be included in our preparation for ASPA-2000. We should, however, avoid possible overlaps and conflicts with other sections.

4. Each panel includes at least three papers. This may include one by the convener but he or she is not required to prepare a paper. The convener's most important task is to put a good panel together.

5. Once ASPA-2000 is over the papers should be prepared for publication by, e.g., Kumarian Press, and edited by a SICA member. Who the editor(s) of that volume shall be can be determined at SICA's business meeting during ASPA-2000.

Action 1: develop and follow-up on a proposal for SICA panels at the ASPA-2000 conference in San Diego (see above)

Action 2: approach potential conveners (has been done since the ASPA conference in Orlando, and I have several people interested; I hope to finalize a four panel program by September at the latest; the cross-time panel will be organized by myself, and I have two papers so far).

Action 3: find a publisher potentially interested in putting a volume together.

Request and Action:

In view of the fact that SICA can only be successful if the membership will take up the variety of challenges outline above. I hope for detailed suggestions, especially with respect to ASPA-2000 (e.g. suggestion of paper givers and conveners; any other suggestions).