The Future of Public Administration

Abstract

Public administration finds itself in a difficult position. On one hand, effective administration of governmental programs has become even more central to restoring trust in government and improving public productivity. On the other hand, the study of public administration has struggled to convince political science that public administration is scientific. There are signs that public administration is finding new and engaging ways of balancing these cross-pressures. Indeed, public administration is likely to become even more important to both governance and political science. But it must find new ways of connecting to modern political science. And political science must grapple with public administration's basic issues if it is to have any serious claim on the study of governance.

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Donald F. Kettl

Donald F. Kettl is director of the Robert M. La Follette Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and professor of Public Affairs and Political Science. He is also Nonresident Senior Fellow at Washington's Brookings Institution. He is the author of and contributor to, among other ivorks, Reinventing Government: A Fifth-Year Report Card. Civil Service Reform: Building a Government That Works. Inside the Reinvention Machine: Appraising the National Performance Review, Sharing Power: Public Governance and Private Markets, and Deficit Politics. Professor Kettl has consulted broadly for government organizations at all levels of government and regularly contributes to the discussion of public issues on radio and television. He is a regular columnist for Governing magazine, which is distributed to leading state and local government officials around the country and he served as chair the Wisconsin Governor's Blue Ribbon Commission on Campaign Finance Reform.