UKAPA is committed to working towards a fair, just and sustainable society, with a particular interest in the role of public administration in achieving this. As an association, we welcome and value participation from all groups and individuals, including minoritised ones, with a scholarly interest in public administration. We aim to provide a platform for a diversity of voices, and for our events to be safe, open spaces in which everyone can contribute.
We understand the colonial history of our discipline and how participation continues to be structured along gendered, ethnic, class, ableist, ageist, linguistic and other lines, and that not everyone has an equal chance to be heard. We support our members and operate to create equitable and equal opportunities and ‘decentre’ the field of public administration. We stress the significance of developing a truly pluralist perspective which facilitates a repositioning of the canon of scholarly research to include marginalised theories and experiences. We aim to promote critical and integrative approaches to research and teaching so that no concept, practice / praxis or value system is beyond the reach of critical reasoning, at least when it comes to discussing implications for society and human life.
Public administration should be the means by which society is organised and governed. It should ensure that services and support are delivered, and institutions are created, upheld, or disrupted, in order to create conditions for a socially just society. UKAPA has a particular role to play in raising the visibility of public administration. We are committed to ongoing discussion and welcome contributions from colleagues working in this area.
For further information, please contact Abena Dadze-Arthur, UKAPA’s VC for EDI:
a.f.dadze-arthur@bham.ac.uk.
