Over the last ten years, the world has been gripped by rapid, wide ranging changes. The world today is a society that is experiencing and living a new world order, which many today refer to as the “global and digital society”. Rapid advancements in information technology have made territorial boundaries no longer relevant in relations among nations. Today global values can easily permeate the society in remote areas. Consequently, marginalized people, who are often considered to be very far from the centre of power, also have access to drivers of global developments.

Local population has easy access to information on global politics taking shape in other countries. Meanwhile, local phenomena is easily picked up by international community to become international issues. The most recent issues such as terrorism, human trafficking, cybercrime, are examples of some of the issues that can be regarded as being global and local at the same time. Within the context of the above change, what is the actual position and role of public administration?

Based on the general perception of public administration science experts, public policy is often regarded as the product of the interaction among domestic actors such as bureaucrats, politicians, members of business and civil society community who conduct their work based on conventional mechanisms. The reality is that there many international actors who play various roles in public policy process of any given country. Donor agencies (IMF and World Bank), Multi-National Corporations, international non-governmental organizations, regional bloc organizations (ASEAN, AFTA, etc) are institutions that often influence policy in a certain country.

To that end, issues and problems which any government face today have changed as well. What problems do governments face today?; which public will influence and be influenced by policy?; what institutional mechanisms can be used to solve social problems that governments face today?; To what extent can local institutions collaborate with global institutions in resolving public problems? The International IAPA Conference attempts to explore and delve into the above issues in order to enrich extant research on this theme in the realm of public administration science.