With the founding of the Central and Eastern European Association for Public Administration [hereinafter referred to with the Hungarian abbreviation as KTE], we wish to continue and at the same time completely renew the content and operation of the highly successful cooperation in the science of public administration that we started in 2016, when we established the journal Public Governance Administration and Finances Law Review (with the generous support of Wolters Kluwer and then the University of Public Service, for which we would like to express our thanks once again).
Our primary goal was, and still is, to create a major forum for public administration, administrative law scholars, academics and key professionals of the “Visegrad countries” as part of a thriving and meaningful collaboration.
The time elapsed since 2016 has clearly shown that administrative law and public administration have become so complex in the context of the global world economy and modern state functioning that they can only be developed in a truly meaningful way through joint effort and comprehensive academic and research cooperation. Yet it has also become obvious that there is very strong demand for this kind of cooperation. Not only did excellent public administration theorists from the faculties of law in Hungary join forces to develop public administration studies in line with our times, but in the other Visegrad countries there was also a general interest in such joint work, and even resolve in this context that surprised us. The public administration scholars of the individual countries have taken up this cause without any “comments or questions”, thereby establishing an excellent network of contacts, which is not only unique but also very fruitful for the development of administrative law and jurisprudence.
Several significant results have already been achieved as part of this framework, including the conferences on Understanding Public Bureaucracy (2018) and Pandemic and Governance (2020), and the volume of studies entitled European Financial Law in Times of Crisis of the European Union (2019). As this international cooperation has developed and strengthened, more and more research networks have joined, such as the Information and Organization Center for the Research on the Public Finances and Tax Law in the Countries of Central and Eastern Europe, an institute affiliated to the Bialystok Law Faculty.
These successes have justified, and actually these very successes and experiences have increasingly demanded, that this “Visegrád” cooperation in public administration be elevated to a higher level, namely into a civilian organisational framework, emphasising even more the excellent human and professional cooperation that has been established so far. It is in this spirit and with this purpose that we have established the association with its registered seat in Győr.
One of the key objectives of the association is to ensure the high professional standing of the international journal of public administration, which was completely reorganised with (and because of) the foundation of the KTE: Institutiones Administrationis - Journal of Administrative Sciences
Within the organisational structure of the KTE we can raise the standards and organisation of the international journal, which primarily focuses on the cooperation of the Visegrád countries, and the events of the abovementioned high-profile professional network to an even higher level; besides, as a non-governmental organisation, we can also develop public administration research, education, and academic work in the Visegrád countries much more effectively.
The founding members of KTE are the faculty and staff of the Department of Public Administrative Law and Fiscal Law of Deák Ferenc Faculty of Law and Political Science of Széchenyi István University, but after the foundation, all the departments of public administration of Hungary’s faculties of law and the University of Public Service joined the association (as new members), and we are constantly receiving feedback from universities and research centres of the Visegrád countries about their intention to join.
We are confident that together we will be able to achieve these goals, whilst also enjoying ourselves. In other words, we also want this effort to be not only hard work, but also a collaboration in which every stakeholder is happy and willing to participate. In any case, we now have every opportunity to achieve our goal thanks to the excellent network of contacts already in place, and we have now received almost all the professional, human, and financial support we need to realise these goals and achieve success.
KTE Founding Members