The Administrative State: A Study of the Political Theory of American Public Administration

1948 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 186
Author(s):  
G. Homer Durham ◽  
Dwight Waldo
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
The Political ◽  
Administrative State

Understanding parallel structures in public administration

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-292
Author(s):  
Stefan Mann
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Bounded Rationality ◽  
The Political ◽  
Parallel Structures ◽  
Objective Hermeneutics ◽  
Underlying Causes

This paper addresses the question of the underlying causes for persistent parallel structures in public administration. Frames like bounded rationality, the budget-maximizing bureaucrat and the political theory of hegemony are examined with respect to the possible provision of explanations for the persistence of parallel administrations. A combination of content analysis and objective hermeneutics is then applied for a case study of parallel administration in Switzerland. A model linking the three approaches is finally developed to show how parallel administration relies on an equilibrium in the struggle for budget and hegemony between the key actors and on ignorance among fringe actors.

Neutrality as it never was: a short treatise on public administration theory

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 192-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugh T. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Political Institution ◽  
Public Administrators ◽  
Administrative State ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose Is public administration neutral? Scholarship does not interpret public administration as neutral, even though, on moral–ethical grounds, it frequently advises neutrality for practitioners. Five main schools of thought are surveyed. Neutrality and alternative expressions of it, such as nonpartisanship, expertise, impartiality or facilitation, are role prescriptions for practicing public administrators, and are typically offered as appropriate comportments in interacting with citizens and groups. At the same time, public administration is undeniably a political institution having political purposes and constitutive impacts. Indeed, the very existence of the administrative state is politically contestable. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach Critical reflection, political philosophy, political theory. Findings Scholars across the various schools of thought in public administration do not presuppose the presence of a neutral public administrator. However, there is sometimes an admonition to practitioners to behave as if they were politically neutral. Practical implications Advising practitioners that their practices are neutral masks the fact that public administration is an inherently political institution. Originality/value Neutral public administration is revealed as empty cant.

A Two-Way Street: The Institutional Dynamics of the Modern Administrative State. By George A. Krause. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1999. 256p. $45.00.

2002 ◽  
Vol 96 (4) ◽  
pp. 825-826
Author(s):  
Larry B. Hill
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Securities And Exchange Commission ◽  
Regulatory Agencies ◽  
The Political ◽  
Administrative State ◽  
Department Of Justice ◽  
Institutional Dynamics ◽  
University Of Pittsburgh ◽  
Bureaucratic Power ◽  
The Relationship

George A. Krause has undertaken a statistical analysis of the relationship between the president and the Congress and the enforcement activities of two regulatory agencies: the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice for the years 1949–92. He finds that the president and the Congress often influenced each other, but neither of the political branches succeeded in dominating the bureaucracies. These findings are consistent with the interpretations of presidential-congressional-bureaucratic power of most journalists, sociologists, historians, political scientists, and public administration scholars.

scholarly journals Political Meritocracy as Eastern Alternative to the Western Public Administration Traditions in the 21st Century

2015 ◽  
pp. 230-237
Author(s):  
V. S. Gerasimov
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Economic Importance ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
The Political ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
Asian Region ◽  
Political Meritocracy ◽  
Practice Implementation

The article discusses political meritocracy phenomenon. The author examines political and economic backgrounds of the meritocracy concept occurrence within the political science discourse as well as distinctive features of that process. Special emphasis is put on economic situation of the early 1980s when the governments of various states were challenged with the necessity of overcoming the consequences of the global economic crisis of the preceding decade. The author focuses on similarities and distinctions within the policies which have been implemented by the various states at that period paying special attention to the form of the political regime in those countries. Also the author draws attention to the discussion on "Asian values" which played significant role in the political meritocracy coming-to-be process within Asian region. The article analyses origin and dissemination of the meritocratic approaches among public administration practices of some countries within Asian region (eg. China and Singapore). The author reveals main theoretical grounds of the political meritocracy and researches culturological backgrounds of those theoretical grounds. Specifically, he studies the significance of the Confucianism moral-ethic doctrine regarding theory and practice of meritocracy. Additionally the author traces the displays of the meritocratic principles within the views of the various representatives of the western political theory among which both classic (Plato, J.St. Mill) and contemporary (Brennan J., Caplan B.) thinkers are represented. In conclusion the author analyses the opportunities of the meritocratic theory and practice implementation in Russian reality. He compares Russia, China and Singapore via the list of criteria of political and economic importance, reveals similarities and distinctions in the political past and present of those states, estimates the significance of some culturological factors regarding the evolution of those states and formulates his conclusion on the prospective of meritocracy in Russia.

On the Will of the People: Notes on the Political “Theory” of Populism

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Claus Offe
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Conflicts Of Interest ◽  
Political Rhetoric ◽  
The Political ◽  
The People ◽  
National People ◽  
The Will

The “will of the (national) people” is the ubiquitously invoked reference unit of populist politics. The essay tries to demystify the notion that such will can be conceived of as a unique and unified substance deriving from collective ethnic identity. Arguably, all political theory is concerned with arguing for ways by which citizens can make e pluribus unum—for example, by coming to agree on procedures and institutions by which conflicts of interest and ideas can be settled according to standards of fairness. It is argued that populists in their political rhetoric and practice typically try to circumvent the burden of such argument and proof. Instead, they appeal to the notion of some preexisting existential unity of the people’s will, which they can redeem only through practices of repression and exclusion.

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