Administration Theory

Patrycja J. Suwaj

There is no single theory of public administration. Rather, public administration theory contains a complex of statements regarding what administration is, the meaning of public , who creates public administration, what the goals of public administration are, and how public administration should fulfill its tasks. Therefore, administration theories have always been and continue to be interdisciplinary, influenced by concepts from history, law, sociology, political science, management, and even psychology. Public administration theory also applies to a distinction between an academic discipline and a profession and contains approaches from organization theory, politics, governance, and law. This entry provides an overview of the development of administrative theories for the public sector and also examines some contemporary challenges in this area. It begins with early theories that sought to distinguish between politics, which dealt with the choice of the values underlying public policy as articulated through the political process, and administration, which implemented ...

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