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The Development of Public Administration as a Field of Study in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
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The purpose of this study was to investigate the evolution and development of the field of public administration in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Factors which brought about programs of public administration and which have been influential in the development of these programs were analyzed. Although the historical roots of Saudi public administration are traced to the recapture of Riyadh by the late King Abdulaziz Al-Saud in 1902, modern public administration in the Kingdom actually began in 1953 with a royal decree which established the Council of Ministers. Factors that led to the establishment of the Institute of Public Administration and the birth of public administration programs at major Saudi universities include the country's rapid socioeconomic growth, rapid administrative expansion, and policies of administrative reform, higher education development, and the ambitious Five-Year Plans. Despite the fact that attention to the field of public administration in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia dates back to the establishment of the College of Commerce at King Saud University in 1959, the real start of teaching public administration in Saudi universities is considered recent. The field of public administration is paralleled with the establishment of the Departments of Public Administration in King Abdulaziz University in 1971, followed by similar steps at King Saud University in 1978. This study revealed that the Saudi Institute of Public Administration and institutions of higher education offering programs of public administration have played a highly influential role in the development of public administration in the Kingdom. However, current research in the field and practice of public administration at the university level is narrowly focused on faculty promotion. The research conducted for this study did not clarify the degree to which efforts are being made to bring theory closer to actual practice. However, a greater need for coordination between university-based public …