CSS Syllabus for Public Administration is vast. You cannot cover the entire course from a single book. There are different books that cover different portions of the syllabus, for example:
1. Public Administration (Authors: Simon, Smithuburg & Thompson)
2. Public Administration (Authors: Pfiffner and Presthus)
You can get any one of them. Both are very good books and are available at all big stores nationwide (e.g: Saaed Book Bank in Islamabad). From these books, you can cover most of the syllabus. If you want an easy version of the subject, you can buy the following book:
3. An Introduction to the Public Administration (Author: E.N. Cladden)
This book also covers almost the entire course
Please Note:
In public administration, there are many schools of thoughts and mechanisms. It is not that you will be asked about a certain topic and you will explain it and that's it. The examiner is expecting you to analyse the topic and provide an intelligent logic (where applicable). Of-course, s/he doesn't want to know that you have opted the subject because you had no other option, majority does that and that's seriously very lame, but s/he wants to know if you have an adequate command over the subject or not. There are a few questions that will be asked for sure as they constitute the backbone of Public Administration which include (I) Bureaucracy, and (II) Administrative Control and Accountability. There are a number of books on Bureaucracy, but I will suggest you to get the following one:
4. The Bureaucracy of Pakistan (Author: Charles F. Kennedy)
The plus point of this book is that here you will learn about the concept and theories of Bureaucracy, and how is it working in Pakistan from the beginning to this date. So, instead of learning the concept, theory and its implications from various sources, it is advised to get this one book and learn the subject by heart. Your focus should be on "Its Application on Pakistani Administrative Machinery" and not on cramming
Now If you don't want to get all these books, and want a single book which covers the entire course and has good examples, you can get the following book:
5. Public Administration: Theory and Practice (Authors: Fesler and James)
Still you would require further study to cover the whole syllabus because these books are not written for the CSS aspirants. There are many books in stores which are specially designed for the preparation of CSS but these are not of good quality. Most of the writers are those who once tried at CSS but couldn't clear, and those who are teaching at various academies and a few writers are those who have degrees in Public Administration. So there are many books out there but I won't suggest you to go for them or you will waste your time and attempt as well. But there is one book, which is quite good as compared to the rest from the local writers, that is:
6. Public Administration (Author: Dr. Sultan Khan)
This book is specially designed for the PMS and CSS aspirants. This is a detailed, accurate and reliable book. Time required to learn from this book is about two weeks (8 hours daily). If you study from here, you would not need to study from any other book, however a newly introduced topic, New Public Management is not covered in this book, but you can get that easily from the Internet. This book is only recommended if you need a short cut. Rest assured, if you learn all the topics seriously, studying from any of the above mentioned books won't harm you at exam
In the end, get at least two books on objectives of the Public Administration. Learn the objective part of the past papers as well, and you are all set to get good score
Hope it served the issue, GoodLuck!
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No Retreat - No Surrender
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