Identity Without Boundaries Public Administration’s Canon(s) of Integration

Jos C. N. Raadschelders is professor of public administration and Henry Bellmon Chair of Public Service at the University of Oklahoma. His research and teaching interests include the academic identity of public administration, administrative history, comparative government, and public sector ethics. His most recent book is Mastering Public Administration (2008) and is coauthored with Brian Fry. He has published more than 120 articles and book chapters. He serves as managing editor of the Public Administration Review. Email: raadschelders{at}ou.edu.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

Administrative History of the United States: Development and State of the Art

Although certainly not mainstream to the study of public administration, administrative history in the United States has quite a tradition. In this article, the development of the study of the history of American government is traced in five phases and discussed against the background of political and social change in society. The various studies are evaluated in terms of the themes, the nature, and the approach. Combining the “history as history” and the “history as advocacy” approaches would clarify why administrative history ought to be a standard element in our research and teaching.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

Rising to Ostrom’s challenge:An invitation to walk on the bright side of public governance and public service

In this programmatic essay, we argue that public governance scholarship would benefit from developing a self-conscious and cohesive strand of "positive" scholarship, akin to social science subfields like positive psychology, positive organizational studies, and positive evaluation. We call for a program of research devoted to uncovering the factors and mechanisms that enable high performing public policies and public service delivery mechanisms; procedurally and distributively fair processes of tackling societal conflicts; and robust and resilient ways of coping with threats and risks. The core question driving positive public administration scholarship should be: Why is it that particular public policies, programs, organizations, networks, or partnerships manage do much better than others to produce widely valued societal outcomes, and how might knowledge of this be used to advance institutional learning from positives

Is American Public Administration Detached From Historical Context?: On the Nature of Time and the Need to Understand It in Government and Its Study

The study of public administration pays little attention to history. Most publications are focused on current problems (the present) and desired solutions (the future) and are concerned mainly with organizational structure (a substantive issue) and output targets (an aggregative issue that involves measures of both individual performance and organizational productivity/services). There is much less consideration of how public administration (i.e., organization, policy, the study, etc.) unfolds over time. History, and so administrative history, is regarded as a “past” that can be recorded for its own sake but has little relevance to contemporary challenges. This view of history is the product of a diminished and anemic sense of time, resulting from organizing the past as a series of events that inexorably lead up to the present in a linear fashion. To improve the understanding of government’s role and position in society, public administration scholarship needs to reacquaint itself with the nature of time.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

Impartial, Skilled, Respect for Law: The Ancient Ideals of Civil Servants at the root of Eastern and Western Traditions

When studying civil service traditions, scholars often contrast the Eastern, Confucian tradition from the Western, Weberian tradition. A few Korean and American scholars pointed out that the two traditions are not that different. It is argued in this article that they are not, because they are both grounded in the ancient Egyptian wisdom literature about what makes a good civil servant. They are impartial in their dealings with people, the have the administrative and technical skills necessary, and they respect the rule of law. The ancient Egyptian, Confucian, and Weberian traditions are visible in the work of Yu Hyŏngwŏn, a 17th century Korean scholar and civil servant

The Three Ages of Government: From the Person, to the Group, to the World

This book is freely available in an open access edition thanks to TOME (Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem)—a collaboration of the Association of American Universities, the Association of University Presses, and the Association of Research Libraries—and the generous support of The Ohio State University Libraries. Learn more at the TOME website, available at: https://openmonographs.org.Acknowledgments -- Introduction: What Is Government? -- One. Understanding Government in Society -- Two. Government in Society -- Three. Instinct and Intent -- Four. Tribal Community -- Five. Citizen and Government in a Global Society -- Six. Governing as Process -- Seven. Democracy -- Notes -- References -- Name Index -- Subject Inde

UNA ADMINISTRACIÓN PÚBLICA ADISCIPLINARIA PARA UNA SOCIEDAD DIVERSA: REFLEXIONES HISTÓRICAS, ONTOLÓGICAS, EPISTEMOLÓGICAS Y AXIOLÓGICAS

This article aims to answer the question what is the nature of the study of public administration? The first section explores the historical development of government, as well as the study of public administration. Upon that basis, I turn in section two to the study of public administration in its contemporary academic setting, as well as show that its status is evaluated differently depending upon narrower and broader definitions of scholarship. In section three, I will discuss how these perspectives determine whether public administration can be regarded as a discipline in the nineteenth century sense, and if not, what the alternative(s) could be. Upon this basis the disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and a-disciplinary modes of operation of, for, and in the study are explored- that is, an exploration of what the study’s challenges are when regarded as a disciplinary, as an interdisciplinary, and as an a-disciplinary endeavor. Once that is done, I will briefly outline in section four some of the generally neglected interdependencies among ontological, epistemological, and axiological foundations of the study. Upon this argument, the fifth section is devoted to the question of what the study of public administration is. The concluding section presents a challenge to anyone who seeks to break out of the mold of “puzzle-solving” research and wishes to contribute something of value to the good society.Este artículo busca responder la pregunta ¿cuál es la naturaleza del estudio de la administración pública? Para ello, la primera sección explora el desarrollo histórico del gobierno y del estudio de la administración pública. Sobre esa base, en la sección segunda giro hacia el estudio de la administración pública en su contexto académico contemporáneo, al igual que muestro que su estatus se evalúa de manera diferente dependiendo del uso de definiciones más amplias o estrechas de conocimiento. La sección tercera aborda cómo estas perspectivas determinan si la administración pública puede ser considerada una disciplina en el espíritu del siglo XIX y, de no ser así, cuál(es) podría(n) ser la(s) alternativa(s). Sobre esta base se exploran los modos operativos disciplinarios, interdisciplinarios y adisciplinarios de, para y en el estudio, es decir, una exploración acerca de cuáles son los desafíos de éste, cuando se consideran como un esfuerzo disciplinario, interdisciplinario y adisciplinario. Después de esto, la sección cuarta esboza brevemente algunas de las interdependencias habitualmente olvidadas entre los fundamentos ontológicos, epistemológicos y axiológicos del estudio. A partir de este argumento, la sección quinta abordará la interrogante acerca de qué es el estudio de la administración pública. La sección final presenta un desafío para quien quiera romper el esquema de investigación de “resolver acertijos” y desee aportar algo de valor en bien de la socieda

Trends in the American Study of Public Administration: What Could They Mean for Korean Public Administration?

The study of public administration in the United States is torn between a desire to be scientific and universal without acknowledging the uniqueness of political-administrative systems around the world on the one hand and a need to provide understanding and adequate descriptions of reality on the other hand. In this article features of American society and government are described and related to trends in the study of public administration in the United States. It is clear that the universal challenges of contemporary government can only be met when addressed in the national context. The American and Korean study of public administration have much to learn from each other