13th Annual 2018 International Conference on Public Administration Call for Papers and Participation

November 30 – December 2, 2018
UESTC-Qingshuihe Campus, Chengdu, P.R. China

Conference Website: http://icpa.uestc.edu.cn/

Partners:
ASPA
Syracuse University's The Maxwell School

2018 ICPA Theme: Improving Agility of Government Organizations

Important Dates and Deadlines for 2018 ICPA:
Paper Abstract Due: August 15, 2018
Presentation Notification: September 15, 2018
Invitation letters will be provided upon request: After September 15, 2018
Deadline for submitting full papers for those who wish to be considered for the "Best Paper" Awards and recommendation for PAR Journal Review: Before October 15, 2018

2018 ICPA Sponsors
University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC), P.R. China
American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), USA

2018 ICPA Supported by
Chinese Public Administration Journal (CPA), P.R. China
Public Administration Review Journal (PAR), USA
The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University

2018 ICPA Hosts
School of Public Affairs and Administration, University of Electronic Science and Technology of
China (UESTC), P.R. China
PA Information Research Center of UESTC, P.R. China

2018 ICPA Committee
Honorary Chairpersons
Professor XIA Shu-zhang, SUN YAT-SEN University, P.R. China
Professor Zhanjiang Liu, Vice President for Research, Syracuse University, USA
Professor Zhu Xiaoning, School of Public Affairs and Administration, University of Electronic
Science and Technology of China (UESTC), P.R. China

Conference Chairpersons
Dr. Jane Pisano, 2018-2019 President, American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), USA
Mr. William Shields, Executive Director, American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), USA
Dr. Gao Xiaoping, Fellow, Vice-President and Secretary-general of Chinese Public Administration Society (2004-2016), P.R.China
Professor Tang Zhiwei, Dean of School of Public Affairs and Administration, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC), P.R. China
Professor Zhao Shurong, School of Public Affairs and Administration, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC), P.R. China

Conference Executive Chairpersons
Steve Lux, Director of Executive Education Program, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, USA
Dr. Xueyi Chen, China Program Director, Executive Education Program, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, USA
Dr. R. Paul Battaglio, Co-Editors-in-Chief, Public Administration Review Journal (PAR), USA
Dr. Malcolm Oliver, Program Director, Master of Public Policy and Administration Program, School of Management, California Lutheran University, USA

2018 ICPA Academic Committee
Senior Academic Chairperson:
Thomas H. Stanton, Past President, Association for Federal Enterprise Risk Management (AFERM) and Fellow, Johns Hopkins University, USA

Academic Chairperson:
Professor Zhou Zhiren, Secretary of the Party Committee, School of Government (2012-2016), Peking University, P.R. China

2018 ICPA Keynote Speakers
Professor David Van Slyke, Dean, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, USA
Professor Jiang Xiaoping, Cheung Kong Scholar Professor, Party Secretary of School of Public Administration, Sichuan University, P.R. China

Workshop organized by Public Administration Review Journal (PAR): Keynotes for Academic Writing and Publication
Moderator: Professor Tang Zhiwei, Dean of School of Public Affairs and Administration, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC), P.R. China
Speaker: Jeremy Hall, Co-Editors-in-Chief, Public Administration Review Journal (PAR), USA

2018 ICPA Theme
Improving Agility of Government Organizations
New technologies are combining to permit leading private companies to become more agile in their selection and adaptation of strategies and approaches to delivering goods and services. While the role of government differs from that of a private company, governmental organizations face the risk of increasingly falling behind in the operational quality of their activities. Increased deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) may increase the operational gap between the public and private sectors.

Private sector agility builds on increasing capacity to absorb data and analyze relevant information and to apply that information to adjust market focus, deploy resources flexibly and more effectively, and adapt goals and objectives to deal with uncertainties and opportunities. To be agile, an organization must combine stability and flexibility. Stability is needed so that an organization doesn’t simply shift its focus rapidly and unpredictably from one area to another without a coherent mission; flexibility is needed to ensure that the organization doesn’t simply become entrenched in increasingly outdated ways of providing goods or services.

By contrast to the private sector, government faces potentially greater constraints, from stakeholder preferences for familiar services and ways of delivering them, differences in perspectives between career civil servants and political appointees, and the way that government budgets may limit an agency to conducting business and providing services in outmoded ways. The important question is whether, and in which respects, government organizations can improve their ability to respond with greater agility to new public priorities and other changes in the operating environment.

2018 ICPA will address this difficult question by inviting papers from academics and practitioners that highlight successful approaches to improving agility of governmental organizations and lessons learned. How can governmental organizations improve their ability to detect and respond to major changes in the operational environment? Do leaders of governmental organizations need to evolve from traditional management approaches, for instance to become more collaborative across organizational boundaries and to encourage improved flow of information from inside and outside the organization? Are some organizational forms more likely to be agile and effective than others? To what extent is agility facilitated by building trust with stakeholders to remove impediments to adopting new ways of delivering public
services?

Papers and proposals that address Improving Agility of Government Organizations are welcome, especially those that use case studies and comparative analyses to illustrate promising practices and significant lessons. Perhaps most important, papers are invited that derive lessons rather than merely describing theory or isolated experiences. While we are especially receptive to proposals that focus on the sub-themes below, we encourage all submissions that bring new ideas to any aspect of the overall conference theme.

Sub-Themes, Topics, Questions
  • “Smart Government” and Lessons Learned
  • Promising Practices in Detecting and Responding to Changing Risks and Opportunities
  • Balancing Costs vs. Benefits of Improved Agility: Lessons Learned
  • Agility in Upgrading Delivery of Public Services: Lessons Learned
  • Where Agility Works Best: Types of Government Activity That Best Lend Themselves to Improved Agility
  • Leadership to Promote Agility of Governmental Organizations: Lessons Learned
  • Agile Acquisition of IT Systems: Lessons Learned
  • Public Private Partnerships: Do they Make Government More or Less Agile? Under What Circumstances?

2018 ICPA Best Papers Awards
The 13th ICPA will select and recommend the best papers for publication in one of the following journals subject to blind reviews:

Public Administration Review—the best paper that focuses on identifying and analyzing current public administration trends in theory and practice.
Public Administration Review is the premier journal for the field of public administration, published by the American Society for Public Administration with a history dating back 79 years. The journal serves
academics, practitioners, and students interested in public sector management and provides a factual basis for decision-making, discussion, and literature in the field in an easily accessible format.

Chinese Public Administration—the best paper that focuses on international comparative study.
Chinese Public Administration is the journal of Chinese Public Administration Society and has been the top tier journal in public administration and political science in China since its establishment in 1982. It is a window for scholars and practitioners outside China to understand the history and development of Chinese public administrative science and a bridge that connects China and the world.

Chinese Public Administration Review—the best paper that focuses on public administration and public policy topics with significant theoretical and practical implications.
Chinese Public Administration Review is the official journal of the Section on Chinese Public Administration (SCPA) of The American Society for Public Administration (ASPA). Published by the School of Public Affairs and Administration at Rutgers University-Newark, CPAR is a peer-reviewed journal with a very strong international editorial team. While CPAR is the first international journal specifically addressing the issues of Chinese public administration, riding on the rise of China, Asia and increasingly global interconnectedness, CPAR is expanding its focus beyond China to embrace Asia and the whole Pan-Pacific region.