Revisiting Waldo's Administrative State

In this book, distinguished contributors critically explore public administration''s big ideas and issues, questioning whether contemporary "reinventing government," privatization, and new public management approaches constitute a coherent political theory capable of meeting the complex challenges of governing in a democracy. The prevailing notion that the best government is achieved through principles of management and business practices is hardly new--it actually echoes the early twentieth-century "gospel of efficiency" challenged by Dwight Waldo in 1948 in his seminal book, The Administrative State. Asking, "Efficiency for what?", Waldo warned that governmental efficiency must be backed by a framework of consciously held democratic values. Taking Waldo''s book as a starting point, the authors here revisit and update his key concepts and assess their applicability today. The book follows Waldo''s conceptual structure, first probing the material and ideological background of modern public administration, then problems of political philosophy, following with particular challenges inherent in contemporary administrative reform. It concludes with a look ahead to "wicked" policy problems--such as terrorism, global warming, and HIV/AIDS--whose scope is so global and complex as to defy any existing administrative structures and values. Calling for a return to consicous consideration of democratic accountability, fairness, justice and transparency in government, the conclusion weaves the main ideas together to assess the future direction of public administrative thought. This thought-provoking book stands alone as a commentary on reconciling democratic values and governance today or as a companion to Waldo''s classic volume.