Revisiting Waldo's Administrative State

The prevailing notion that the best government is achieved through principles of management and business practices is hardly new -- it echoes the early twentieth-century "gospel of efficiency" challenged by Dwight Waldo in 1948 in his pathbreaking book, The Administrative State. Asking, "Efficiency for what?", Waldo warned that public administrative efficiency must be backed by a framework of consciously held democratic values.

Revisiting Waldo's Administrative State brings together a group of distinguished authors who critically explore public administration's big ideas and issues and question whether contemporary efforts to "reinvent government," promote privatization, and develop new public management approaches constitute a coherent political theory capable of meeting the complex challenges of governing in a democracy. Taking Waldo's book as a starting point, the authors revisit and update his key concepts and consider their applicability for today.

The book follows Waldo's conceptual structure, first probing the material and ideological background of modern public administration, problems of political philosophy, and finally particular challenges inherent in contemporary administrative reform. It concludes with a look ahead to "wicked" policy problems -- such as terrorism, global warming, and ecological threats -- whose scope is so global and complex that they will defy any existing administrative structures and values. Calling for a return to conscious consideration of democratic accountability, fairness, justice, and transparency in government, the book's conclusion assesses the future direction of public administrative thought.

This book can stand alone as a commentary on reconciling democratic values and governance today or as a companion when reading Waldo's classic volume.

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 acompanion to Waldo's classic volume.

David H. Rosenbloom is a Distinguished Professor of Public Administration in the School of Public Affairs at American University. He is the author of Administrative Law for Public Managers and coauthor of several books including Public Administration: Understanding Management, Politics, and Law in the Public Sector and A Reasonable Public Servant. He is the recipient of the 2001 John Gaus Award for Exemplary Scholarship in the Joint Tradition of Political Science and Public Administration and the 1999 Dwight Waldo Award for Distinguished Contributions to the Literature of Public Administration.

Howard E. McCurdy is a professor of public administration in the School of Public Affairs at American University. He is the author of several books including Space and the American Imagination and Faster, Better, Cheaper: Low Cost Innovation in the U.S. Space Program. He is the recipient of the Henry Adams Prize and the Eugene M. Emme Astronautical Literature Award.