Introduction

This anthology addresses several of the most central ideas in the field of public administration. These ideas are as relevant to public budgeting as they are to performance measurement or human resource management.

Collectively and individually the essays explore what Dwight Waldo referred to as the “political theories” of public administration: issues that are ultimately unresolvable yet crucial to understanding the nature of public administrative practice.

Key Questions

How can democracy and efficiency be balanced? Can there be a science of administration? How should we think about administrative accountability? What is the nature of the relationship between citizen and state? Is professionalism an adequate mechanism for ensuring accountability? How efficient can or should bureaucracy be? What is proper leadership by administrators hoping to address political democracy and managerial efficiency?

Purpose of the Volume

This ASPA Classics Volumes serves to connect the practice of public policy and administration with the normative theory base that has accrued and the models for practice that may be deduced from this theory.