A Transatlantic History Of Public Administration

Intellectual traditions are commonly regarded as cultural variations, historical legacies, or path dependencies. By analysing road junctions between different traditions of public administration this book contests the dominant perspective of path-dependent national silos, and highlights the ways in which they are hybrid and open to exogenous ideas. Analyzing the hybridity of administrative traditions from an historical perspective, this book provides a new approach to the history of Public Administration as a scientific discipline. Original and interdisciplinary chapters address the question of how scholars from the U.S., Germany and France mutually influenced each other, from the closing years of the 19th Century, up until the neo-liberal turn of the 1970s. Offering a thorough analysis of the transatlantic history of Public Administration, the conclusion argues that it is vital to learn from the past, in order to make public administration more realistic in theory, as well as more successful in practice. Advanced undergraduate and postgraduate political science scholars will find this to be a valuable tool in understanding the foundations of transatlantic Public Administration. This book will also greatly benefit researchers on comparative and transnational history with a keen interest in public administration.

Essential History for Public Administration offers public affairs faculty and students a concise introduction to crucial elements of American history, creating a foundation for stronger discussion of current conditions in governance and management. It is designed as a brief supplemental text for use in public affairs courses rather than as a replacement for core assigned readings. The premise of the book is that enhanced knowledge of the history of the public sector can help students of public affairs design and manage successful programs.

Public administration is commonly assumed to be a young discipline, rooted in law and political science, with little history of its own. Likewise, teaching and scholarship in this field is often career oriented and geared either toward the search for immediately usable knowledge or guidelines and prescriptions for the future. Although most administrative scientists would acknowledge that their field has a history, their time horizon is limited to the recent past. Raadschelders demonstrates that public administration has in fact a long-standing tradition, both in practice and in writing; administration has been an issue ever since human beings recognized the need to organize themselves in order to organize the environment in which they lived. This history, in turn, underlines the need for administrators to be aware of the importance and contemporary impact of past decisions and old traditions. In seeking to go beyond the usual problem-solving and future-oriented studies of public administration, this volume adds greatly to the cognitive richness of this field of research. Indeed, the search for theoretical generalizations will profit from an approach that unravels long-term trends in the development of administration and government."Raadschelders approaches public administration history from a dual perspective, as trained historian and professor of public administration.... The volume is appropriately called a aehandbook' in view of its methodical listing of the literature on administrative history, together with summaries of numerous authors' principal theories. The second chapter is an essay on sources in the field, including an extended bibliography.... These parts of the book alone make it useful to scholars in the field.... Raadschelders is helpful in other ways as well. The third and fourth chapters offer a highly sophisticated discussion of methodological problems encountered in writing administrative history, including the issue of perceiving 'stage

In the study of public administration, it is conventional to focus on the cases of Germany and France. These two countries are considered exemplar models of the evolution of public administration. Germany stands out due to the quality of its public service and training in public administration, whereas France enjoys a celebrated reputation earned by its intendances (quartermasters) and policies of centralization. In contrast, Great Britain tends to appear less attractive of a case and with minor contributions to the field, despite the prestige achieved by its civil service (usually considered inferior to the German and French). Similarly, its administrative thought is commonly perceived as underdeveloped and unsubstantial. Naturally, these perspectives originate from a poor understanding of the evolution of British administration. Therefore they tend to be based on wrong and biased interpretations. On the contrary, Great Britain offers a fascinating case, as the hidden secrets of its public administration provide a wide and stimulating research agenda. Motivated by the entrenched misunderstanding of the British administration, I researched the topic extensively and published a book entitled La Administración Pública en Gran Bretaña (Public Administration in Great Britain) in 2012. This book draws together historical evidence about the compelling trajectory of administrative thought in Great Britain, and provides a novel perspective to understanding public administration in the country. I believe that this book fills an important gap in the literature, and does justice to the eminent British thinkers that have been ignored or forgotten, even in the English literature.

Contributors examine the persistence of administrative patterns in the face of pressures for globablization by developing a concept of administrative traditions and describing the traditions that exist around the world. They assess the impact of traditions on administrative reforms and the capacities of government to change public administration.

This classic text, originally published in 1948, is a study of the public administration movement from the viewpoint of political theory and the history of ideas. It seeks to review and analyze the theoretical element in administrative writings and to present the development of the public administration movement as a chapter in the history of American political thought.The objectives of The Administrative State are to assist students of administration to view their subject in historical perspective and to appraise the theoretical content of their literature. It is also hoped that this book may assist students of American culture by illuminating an important development of the first half of the twentieth century. It thus should serve political scientists whose interests lie in the field of public administration or in the study of bureaucracy as a political issue; the public administrator interested in the philosophic background of his service; and the historian who seeks an understanding of major governmental developments.This study, now with a new introduction by public policy and administration scholar Hugh Miller, is based upon the various books, articles, pamphlets, reports, and records that make up the literature of public administration, and documents the political response to the modern world that Graham Wallas named the Great Society. It will be of lasting interest to students of political science, government, and American history.