Introducing Public Administration Now in an extensively revised 9th edition, Introducing Public Administration provides students with the conceptual foundation they need, while introducing them to important trends in the discipline. Known for its lively and witty writing style, this beloved textbook examines the most important issues in the field of public administration through the use of examples from a variety of disciplines and modern culture. This unique approach captivates students and encourages them to think critically about the nature of public administration today. Refreshed and revised throughout, the 9th edition contains a number of important updates: Q Q Q Q An examination of the effect of the Obama administration on the discipline, especially economic and financial management and budgetary policy, allowing students to apply the theories and concepts in the text to recent US government practice. An exploration of the 2008 economic meltdown and its consequences for the regulation of financial markets, cut-back management, and social equity, providing students with a critical look at recent changes in the global economy. All-new images, international examples, keynotes, and case studies have been incorporated to reflect the diversity of public servants throughout history. Case studies correspond to those in optional companion book Cases in Public Policy and Administration to offer clear discussion points and seamless learning with the two books side by side. New sections on careers in public service, whistleblowing and public employee dissent, networks and collaboration across organizations, social innovation, managerialism and productivity improvement, Big Data and cloud computing, collaboration and civic engagement, and evidence-based policy and management. Complete with a companion website containing instructor slides for each chapter, a chapter-by-chapter instructor’s manual and sample syllabus, student learning objectives and self-test questions, Introducing Public Administration is the ideal introduction to the discipline for first year masters students, as well as for the growing number of undergraduate public administration courses and programs. Jay M. Shafritz is Professor Emeritus of Public Administration from the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh, USA. E.W. Russell is Adjunct Professor of Public Administration in the School of Public Health at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia. Christopher P. Borick is Professor of Political Science in the Department of Political Science at Muhlenberg College, USA. Albert C. Hyde is Senior Scholar in Residence in the School of Public Affairs at American University in Washington, DC, USA. Introducing Public Administration Ninth Edition JAY M. SHAFRITZ E. W. RUSSELL CHRISTOPHER P. BORICK ALBERT C. HYDE For support material associated with Introducing Public Administration, Ninth Edition, please go to www.routledge.com/cw/Shafritz First published 2017 by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 and by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2017 Taylor & Francis The right of Jay M. Shafritz, E.W. Russell, Christopher P. Borick, and Albert C. Hyde to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Shafritz, Jay M., author. Title: Introducing public administration / by Jay M. Shafritz, E.W. Russell, Christopher P. Borick, and Albert C. Hyde. Description: Ninth edition. | New York : Routledge, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016010466 | ISBN 9781138666337 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781138666344 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781315619439 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Public administration—Textbooks. Classification: LCC JF1351 .S448 2016 | DDC 351—dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016010466 ISBN: 978-1-138-66633-7 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-138-66634-4 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-61943-9 (ebk) Typeset in Sabon LT Std by Apex CoVantage, LLC BRIEF CONTENTS Detailed Contents vi Preface xiii Key Events in Public Administration xvi CHAPTER 1 Defining Public Administration CHAPTER 2 The Political and Cultural Environment of Public Policy and its Administration 40 CHAPTER 3 The Continuous Reinventing of the Machinery of Government CHAPTER 4 Intergovernmental Relations CHAPTER 5 Honor, Ethics, and Accountability CHAPTER 6 The Evolution of Management and Organization Theory CHAPTER 7 Organizational Behavior CHAPTER 8 Managerialism and Information Technology CHAPTER 9 Strategic Management and Government Regulation CHAPTER 10 Leadership 1 139 187 319 361 390 415 464 CHAPTER 13 Public Financial Management 507 CHAPTER 14 Program Audit and Evaluation 556 Index 231 273 CHAPTER 11 Personnel Management and Labor Relations CHAPTER 12 Social Equity 85 589 v D E TA I L E D C O N T E N T S Preface xiii Key Events in Public Administration The Evolution of Public Administration 23 A Short History of Public Administration 24 The Pre-modern Period and Five Eras of Civil Service Development 26 The Modern Period and Shifting Perspectives on the Roles of Government 28 Working in the Public Sector in the Twenty-First Century 30 xvi CHAPTER 1 Defining Public Administration 1 Keynote: Go Tell the Spartans 1 The Definitions of Public Administration 6 Political Definitions of Public Administration 6 Public Administration Is What Government Does 6 Public Administration Is Both Direct and Indirect 7 Public Administration Is a Phase in the Public Policymaking Cycle 9 Public Administration Is Implementing the Public Interest 9 Public Administration Is Doing Collectively That Which Cannot Be So Well Done Individually 10 Legal Definitions of Public Administration 11 Public Administration Is Law in Action 11 Public Administration Is Regulation 12 Public Administration Is the King’s Largesse 13 Public Administration Is Theft 13 Managerial Definitions of Public Administration 14 Public Administration Is the Executive Function in Government 15 Public Administration Is a Management Specialty 15 Public Administration Is Mickey Mouse 16 Public Administration Is Art, Not Science—or Vice Versa 16 Occupational Definitions of Public Administration 17 Public Administration Is an Occupational Category 17 Public Administration Is an Essay Contest 18 Public Administration Is Idealism in Action 19 Public Administration Is an Academic Field 20 Public Administration Is a Profession 23 vi A Case Study: How a President Undeservedly Received Credit for Founding a Discipline 33 Summary 34 Q Review Questions 35 Q Key Concepts 35 Q Bibliography 37 Q Recommended Books 38 CHAPTER 2 The Political and Cultural Environment of Public Policy and its Administration 40 Keynote: Who Decides Whether the United States Should Wage War? 40 What Is Public Policy? 47 Public Policymaking in a Republic Executive Powers 49 The Restricted View 49 The Prerogative Theory 49 The Stewardship Theory 51 The Policymaking Process 51 Agenda Setting 53 Decision Making 56 A Single Calculating Decision Maker—Not! 57 Implementation 58 Evaluation 60 Feedback 61 Power—The External Perspective Pluralism 62 Group Theory 64 61 Power—The Internal Perspective 67 Organizational Goals 68 Internal Power Relationships 68 47 vii Detailed Contents The Cultures of Public Organizations 70 The Outside Cultural Environment 71 Cultural Values and Administration 71 The Inside Cultural Environment Professional Socialization 73 Symbolic Management 74 72 A Case Study: How Old Bottles Create New Jobs— Both Legal and Not 76 Summary 80 Q Review Questions 80 Q Key Concepts 80 Q Bibliography 82 Q Recommended Books 84 86 What Is the Machinery of Government? Fine-Tuning the Machinery 89 The Rise and Fall of Governmental Machinery 90 89 The Administrative Architecture of the US Government 91 Executive Branch Machinery 94 Executive Office Agencies 94 Executive Departments 94 Independent Public Bodies 95 Separation of Powers 96 State and Local Government Machinery 98 State Government 102 County Government 102 Municipal Government 104 Towns and Special Districts 105 Local Management Machinery 105 Metropolitan Government 106 Continuous State and Local Reform 108 Reforming the National Machinery of Government 108 The Brownlow Committee 110 The Hoover Commissions 111 The Ash Council 112 The President’s Private Sector Survey on Cost Control 112 The National Performance Review: “Reinventing Government” 113 Reinvention in Recess 115 The Pressure for Privatization 118 Strategies for Privatization 119 Privatization in the Military 120 The Nonprofit Gambit 122 The Faith-Based Initiative 123 Voluntarism and Philanthropy 125 A Case Study: The Revolution in the British Machinery of Government (1979–2011) 128 CHAPTER 3 The Continuous Reinventing of the Machinery of Government 85 Keynote: The New Feudalism The Obama Revolution—The Return of Big Government 116 The Micromanagers 117 Summary 132 Q Review Questions 133 Q Key Concepts 133 Q Bibliography 135 Q Recommended Books 137 CHAPTER 4 Intergovernmental Relations 139 Keynote: The Intergovernmental Problem of Marijuana 139 The Evolution of Federal Systems 145 Alliances and Confederations 146 Defining Intergovernmental Relations The Fundamental Settlement 147 The Constitution 147 The European Union 148 The American Federal System 149 Three Categories of Governments 149 Unitary Government Advantages 151 Federal Government Advantages 151 Confederations 152 The Structure of Intergovernmental Relations 152 The Effects of Pluralism 153 The Marble-Cake Metaphor 154 Dynamic Federalism 154 Dual Federalism 155 Cooperative Federalism 155 Creative Federalism 156 New Federalism 156 New, New Federalism 158 Intergovernmental Management 158 Councils of Governments and Intergovernmental Agreements 159 Mandate Mania 160 146 viii Detailed Contents Mandates and the War on Terrorism 161 The Transformation of Governance 162 Fiscal Federalism—Following the Money 164 The Theory of Fiscal Federalism 165 Grant Programs 168 The Devolution Revolution 170 The Public-Choice Solution 172 Welfare Reform 172 The Race to the Bottom 176 Summary 182 Q Review Questions 182 Q Key Concepts 182 Q Bibliography 184 Q Recommended Books 185 215 Summary 226 Q Review Questions 226 Q Key Concepts 227 Q Bibliography 228 Q Recommended Books 230 CHAPTER 6 The Evolution of Management and Organization Theory 231 CHAPTER 5 Honor, Ethics, and Accountability 187 Keynote: Reorganization at the State Department is Nothing New 232 Keynote: Niccolò Machiavelli, the Preeminent Public Administration Ethicist 187 The Origins and Nature of Honor 190 National Honor 191 Why Honor Precedes Ethics 192 Dimensions of Honor 193 Regime Values 194 The Origins of Public Management 235 The Continuing Influence of Ancient Rome 236 The Military Heritage of Public Administration 237 The Evolution of Management Principles Comparing Military and Civilian Principles 239 The Principles Approach 241 195 Lying for Your Country 196 The Dirty Hands Dilemma Lying about Sex 198 Legislative Oversight Hearings 215 Casework 217 A Case Study: The Gas Chamber of Philadelphia: How a 1977 Incident at Independence Mall Illustrates the “Banality Of Evil” Concept First Applied to Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi Holocaust Administrator 217 A Case Study: Why Illegal Immigration Is an Intergovernmental Mess and Will Remain So 177 Corruption in Government Bribery 195 Watergate 196 Obsessive Accountability 213 Avoiding Accountability 214 239 What Is Organization Theory? 242 Classical Organization Theory 243 Adam Smith and the Pin Factory 244 The Origins of Scientific Management 246 The Staff Concept 246 The Influence of Frederick W. Taylor 247 Fayol’s General Theory of Management 250 197 Hierarchy of Ethics 200 The Four Levels of Ethics 200 The Iran-Contra Affair 201 The Higher Law Defense 202 Codes of Honor, Conduct, and Ethics 203 Honorable Behavior 203 Was “Deep Throat’s” Behavior Honorable? 204 Standards of Conduct 205 Whistleblowing 206 Protecting the Public’s Right to Know Protecting Whistleblowers 207 The Challenge of Accountability 210 Constitutional and Legal Constraints 206 212 The Period of Orthodoxy 250 Paul Appleby’s Polemic 251 Luther Gulick’s POSDCORB 251 The Many Meanings of Bureaucracy All Government Offices 253 All Public Officials 253 A General Invective 253 Max Weber’s Structural Arrangements 254 252 Neoclassical Organization Theory 255 Herbert A. Simon’s Influence 257 The Impact of Sociology 257 ix Detailed Contents “Modern” Structural Organization Theory 259 Basic Assumptions 259 Mechanistic and Organic Systems Postmodern Public Administration A Feminist Perspective 306 259 Systems Theory 260 Cybernetics and Complex Adaptive Systems 260 Collaborative Management 262 A Case Study: The Critical Importance of Administrative Doctrine 263 Summary 267 Q Review Questions 268 Q Key Concepts 268 Q Bibliography 270 Q Recommended Books 272 CHAPTER 7 Organizational Behavior 273 Keynote: Henry II of England, Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket, and Rufus Miles of the US Bureau of the Budget: How a Medieval King, a Martyred Saint, and an American Bureaucrat Illustrate Miles’s Law 273 Miles’s Law 275 The Rise of Thomas Becket 275 Becket’s Predicament 276 A New Archbishop of Canterbury 277 Miles’s Law in Action 277 Organizational Behavior 279 Group Dynamics 282 Organization Development 285 The Impact of Personality 288 The Impact of Bureaucratic Structure on Behavior 289 Bureaucratic Dysfunctions 290 Bureaucratic Impersonality 291 Bureaucrat Bashing 293 The Case for Bureaucracy 294 Motivation 294 The Hawthorne Experiments 295 The Needs Hierarchy 296 The Motivation-Hygiene Theory 296 Toward a Democratic Environment 297 Theory X and Theory Y 298 The Future of Organizations 301 Postbureaucratic Organizations 301 Postmodernism and Technocracy 303 Social Network Analysis 304 305 A Case Study: The Dangers of Groupthink from Pearl Harbor to the War in Iraq 309 Summary 312 Q Review Questions 313 Q Key Concepts 313 Q Bibliography 315 Q Recommended Books 317 CHAPTER 8 Managerialism and Information Technology 319 Keynote: Socrates Discovers Universal Management 319 Managerialism 323 A New Managerial Revolution Policy Entrepreneurs 325 324 Reengineering 325 Radical as Opposed to Incremental Change 325 Becoming a Reengineer 326 Empowerment 328 Empowering Teams 328 Entrepreneurialism 329 Toward a Competitive Public Administration 330 The New Public Management 332 What Is Performance Management? The Politics of Performance Management 334 Management Control 335 333 Productivity Improvement 335 Productivity Measurement 335 Barriers to Productivity Improvement Total Quality Management 337 Information Technology 339 Social Networks and New Media: Government 2.0 340 Facebook 340 Twitter 341 YouTube 342 Texting 343 From E-Commerce to E-Government 345 The Two Faces of E-Government 346 Wired Citizens 346 One-Stop Government 347 336 x Detailed Contents Technology, Productivity, and Innovation in Government 349 The Future Course of E-Management 350 A Case Study: Geeks to the Rescue! 353 Summary 355 Q Review Questions 356 Q Key Concepts 356 Q Bibliography 357 Q Recommended Books 360 CHAPTER 9 Strategic Management and Government Regulation 361 Keynote: Using Government Regulations of Business to Strategically Manage the Environment 361 What Is Strategic Management? Objectives 364 The Planning Horizon 367 Capabilities 369 Game Theory 370 363 State Government Regulation 379 Occupational Licensing 379 Local Government Regulation 380 Zoning 380 Building Codes 382 Public Health 383 A Case Study: Opportunity Lost: The Story of Bernie Madoff and the Securities and Exchange Commission 384 Summary 386 Q Review Questions 387 Q Key Concepts 387 Q Bibliography 388 Q Recommended Books 389 390 Keynote: The Hedgehog, the Fox, Henry V, or the “Hidden-Hand” Golfer 390 Leading for Performance 393 Defining Leadership 394 Leadership and Management Moral Leadership 405 The Bully Pulpit 406 Rhetorical Leadership 406 A Case Study: Transforming the Postal Service 407 Summary 411 Q Review Questions 411 Q Key Concepts 412 Q Bibliography 412 Q Recommended Books 414 Keynote: The Great Pay Comparability Debate 415 Government Regulation for Health, Safety, and Economic Equity 374 Independent Regulatory Agencies 375 The Rulemaking Process 377 Leadership Too Much Leadership 404 Micromanagement 404 Overmanagement 405 CHAPTER 11 Personnel Management and Labor Relations 415 Strategic Management Tools 370 Best Practices 371 Benchmarking 371 Management Scorecards 372 CHAPTER 10 Trait Theories 398 Transactional Approaches 398 Contingency Approaches 400 Transformational Leadership 401 The Importance of Optimism 403 395 Civil Service Reform: From Spoils to Merit to Reinvention 418 The Pendleton Act 419 State and Local Reform 420 The Rise and Fall of the Civil Service Commission 421 The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 423 Reinventing Public Personnel Administration 424 The Personnel Function 425 Recruitment 426 Merit Selection 427 Position Classification and Pay 428 Performance Appraisal 430 Performance Management and Pay for Results 431 Training 433 Management Development 435 Education Levels Make a Difference 435 Privatization and Patronage 437 Privatizing Public Personnel 437 Contracting Out Personnel 437 Patronage Appointments 439 The Constitutionality of Patronage 441 Veterans Preference 441 Patronage Gone Bad 442 Detailed Contents Public Sector Labor Relations 443 Administrative Agencies 445 Collective Bargaining 446 Strikes 449 Unions in Court 452 Summary 499 Q Review Questions 500 Q Key Concepts 500 Q Bibliography 502 Q US Supreme Court Cases Cited in this Chapter 503 Q Recommended Books 504 Q Appendix: Three Thousand Years of Sexual Harassment 505 A Case Study: The Plight of Public Employeee Unions and Public Pensions 454 Summary 458 Q Review Questions 459 Q Key Concepts 459 Q Bibliography 461 Q Recommended Books 463 CHAPTER 12 Social Equity 464 Keynote: Social Equity Through Social Insurance 464 What Is Social Equity? 469 Mandating Social Equity 469 The New Public Administration 470 The Challenge of Equality 471 Racism 471 The Bitter Heritage of Slavery 472 From Reconstruction to Second Reconstruction 473 Equal Employment Opportunity 474 Origins of Affirmative Action 475 The Case for Affirmative Action 477 The Case Against Affirmative Action 479 Representative Bureaucracy 479 Reverse Discrimination 480 Justifying Diversity 481 The Ongoing Role of Race in Public Administration 484 Nonracial Discrimination 485 Sex Discrimination 485 Sexual Harassment 486 Pregnancy Discrimination 488 Age Discrimination 489 Disabilities Discrimination 489 Sexual Orientation Discrimination xi CHAPTER 13 Public Financial Management 507 Keynote: A Tale of How Two States and Their Governors Weathered the Fiscal Storms of 2011 507 The Importance of Public Financial Management 513 Six Principles 514 Balanced Budgets 514 The Fiscal Year 515 Budgeting Theory and Practice 515 The Taft Commission 516 The Influence of Keynes 517 The Influence of Hayek 517 The Objectives of Budgeting 518 The Two Types of Budgets 520 Waves of Innovation in Budget Making 520 The Executive Budget 520 Line-Item Budgeting 521 Performance Budgeting 521 Program Budgeting versus Incrementalism 522 Zero-Based Budgeting 524 Performance Results Budgeting 525 Contemporary Budget Reform Integrated Budgets 527 Multiyear Budgets 528 491 Public Administration and Social Equity 492 Going the Extra Mile 492 Inspiring Social Equity 493 A Case Study: Brown Reverses Plessy’s Doctrine: The Story of how Thurgood Marshall Convinced the US Supreme Court that Separate was Inherently Not Equal, Laid the Legal Foundations for the Modern Civil Rights Movement 493 527 Financing Public Expenditure 529 Taxation 529 The Ability-to-Pay Principle 532 The Flat Tax 533 User Charges 534 Grants 535 The Problem of Debt and Budgetary Manipulation 535 Abuse of Public Debt 536 Municipal Bonds 537 xii Detailed Contents The Rating Agencies 537 Debt and Economic Recovery 539 Bonds, Debt, and Emergency Recovery 540 Stealth Budgeting: Hiding the True Costs of the Iraq War 542 Economic Policy 544 Monetary Policy 544 Fiscal Policy 545 A Case Study: Social Security Reform from Clinton to Obama 546 Summary 549 Q Review Questions 550 Q Key Concepts 551 Q Bibliography 553 Q Recommended Books 555 CHAPTER 14 Program Audit and Evaluation 556 Keynote: Jeremy Bentham, the Philosopher of Policy Analysis and Program Evaluation 556 What Is an Audit? 558 Multiple Applications 559 A History of Auditing 560 The Government Accountability Office 560 Types of Audit 563 Compliance Audit 563 Performance Audit 564 Internal Audit 566 Program Evaluation 567 Policy Analysis Is Not Program Evaluation 567 Legislative Program Evaluation 568 Types of Evaluation 570 Evaluation Standards 571 Management Control: Evaluation in a Microcosm 573 Evaluation and the Democratic Process 575 The Ascent of Evaluation in Federal Performance Management 575 A Case Study: Why Florence Nightingale, the Famous Nurse who Pioneered the Graphic Presentation of Statistical Data, is the Now Forgotten “Mother” of Program Evaluation and “Powerpoint” Illustrations 578 Summary 584 Q Review Questions 584 Q Key Concepts 585 Q Bibliography 585 Q Recommended Books 587 Index 589 P R E FA C E T his is the now the 9th edition of a text first published in 1997. There’s only one audience for a book of this nature—practitioners, students and teachers of public administration. In the original preface to this book we explained that we sought to create a text that would bridge two worlds, a text that would be informal enough to be accessible to undergraduates yet comprehensive enough for graduate students. This continues to be our goal, to create a book that captures the history of governments and the development of public administration while taking pains to note our successes and failures, our progress and our challenges. As we’ve said since the first edition of this text, public administration is an exciting and fascinating field of study, full of the stuff of fiction, only true. We try to capture this sense of drama and excitement by beginning each chapter with a good story—what we call a keynote—that highlights a major aspect of the subject. These accounts deal with a rich variety of topics, some modern as the response to the attack on the World Trade Center in New York City or state governors resolving a budget crisis ; some classic such as Thomas Becket’s demise because he disagreed with the administrative policies of England’s King Henry II or Socrates discovering the universality of management. All of these keynotes have significant public policy and public management implications that are developed further in their respective chapters. Each chapter also ends with a short case study that illustrates important points previously discussed. We have updated some of these cases – such as those on social security reform or public unions and pensions. We have added some new cases on recycling as a wicked problem as well as cases involving major historical figures such as Thurgood Marshall and Florence Nightingale As before with the keynotes, we have provided “For Discussion” questions at the end of each case, which can be used to stimulate discussions in class . The organization of the book is, we think, very straightforward, beginning with definitions, external environment and matters of governance through organizational theories, management, human resources, budget and evaluation. There are three very important chapters that move above the “what” and “how” of public administration— chapters on honor and ethics, on social equity and law, and on leadership. These all focus on the “why” and “why not” of public administration. We expect that some instructors will want to move chapters around to accommodate their own course outlines and time constraints. There is also logic to our use of terms and concepts. Unfortunately, most modern disciplines have a fair amount of jargon or use terminology that has unique meanings. We have put terms that may need explanation or historical notes or names that might require introduction on the side of each page of each chapter. So when a word or name appears in red in the text, it’s defined or explained at the side of its page. There are other terms and names,-what we refer to as key concepts, that appear in bold face and are generally discussed in some depth in the chapter. These are all listed at the end of each chapter. These concepts, really a listing of key terms, subjects, important persons in public administration, and even some acronyms don’t duplicate the redletter terms. In this format they are a summary of ideas and names that are critical to xiii xiv Preface understanding each chapter and a good checklist for the student to ensure they understand the essence of the chapter Readers also will find an annotated list of recommended books. These have been included as guides to further information on chapter topics for any interested reader— student or instructor. Every effort has been made to keep the material as current as possible. Thus there is extensive coverage of movements to transform government, marketization, new social equity issues and environmental sustainability, and ever increasingly globalization. Because American public administration is increasingly influenced by technological innovations, we pay increased attention to advancements in communications and information management that are reshaping the practice of public administration and the relationships between government and its citizens A NOTE ON NOTES There are no traditional footnotes in this book, although most of the quotations are fully referenced. Generally, if a work or author is referred to in a chapter, the corresponding full citation will be found in that chapter’s bibliography. The major exceptions are works or statements so famous and existing in so many formats—such as excerpts from the Bible and Shakespeare’s plays—that further bibliographic information was deemed unnecessary. Most long quotations are kept in boxes separate from the main body and rhythm of the text. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS No book is born without debts. And with each edition of this book, the list of reviewers, helpful colleagues, and students with comments and questions has grown. In this 9th edition we thought to take a different tack; to accept the fact that listing 100 plus names in a long paragraph doesn’t do justice to the help we received over the past twenty years. Rather, we simply acknowledge the obvious, our continued indebtedness to old and new colleagues and past and present students in our courses that have commented or made suggestions. There is one contributor that we do wish to thank in a special note. Prof Breena Coates at California State University, San Bernardino- has prepared the student and instructor’s study materials that parallel this textbook and are available on the companion website. She has graciously agreed to let us update her materials for this 9th edition- but her original authorship and updates through past editions needs to be acknowledged. We greatly appreciate her work and the value she has added to this textbook. Finally, it is our hope that in reading this book, discussing Issues, and working with the ideas presented within, that you might be motivated to communicate with us to offer your ideas and contributions for the next edition. A textbook, especially one on a field of study in a dynamic, challenging environment, must be a work in progress. Thus, suggestions for innovations and enhancements will always be welcome. Jay M. Shafritz Professor Emeritus University of Pittsburgh shafritz@yahoo.com Preface E. W. Russell La Trobe University ewrussell@hotmail.com Christopher P. Borick Muhlenberg College cborick@muhlenberg.edu Albert C Hyde American University ahyde@american.edu xv KEY EVENTS IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION 1776 1781 1787 1789 1790 1791 1800 1803 1819 1829 1832 1836 1840 1844 1849 xvi • Declaration of Independence is signed. • Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations advocates “the ability to pay” principle of taxation. • Articles of Confederation adopted. • Northwest Ordinance provides for future states to enter the union and for federal aid to local public schools. • Constitutional Convention convenes in Philadelphia. • US Constitution adopted. • Congress establishes the first federal administrative agencies (the Departments of State, War, Treasury, and the Office of the Attorney General). • The Federal Judiciary Act creates the Supreme Court. • New York City becomes the first capital of the United States. • First census sets US population at 4 million. • US capital moved from New York to Philadelphia. • Bill of Rights (the first ten amendments) added to the Constitution. • Congress passes the first internal revenue law; a tax on alcohol. • US capital moved from Philadelphia to Washington, DC • The Supreme Court first asserts the right of judicial review in Marbury v. Madison. • The Supreme Court in McCulloch v. Maryland establishes the doctrine of implied constitutional powers and the immunity of the federal government from state taxation. • Andrew Jackson becomes president. • Senator William L. Marcy gives title to the spoils system when he asserts in a Senate debate that politicians “see nothing wrong in the rule, that to the victor belongs the spoils of the enemy.” • Alexis de Tocqueville publishes Democracy in America, his classic study of American political institutions and political culture. • President Martin Van Buren establishes the ten-hour day for most federal employees. • The New York City Police Department is established. • The US Department of the Interior is created. 1851 • Massachusetts enacts the first law permitting towns to use tax revenues to support free libraries. 1861 • Abraham Lincoln becomes president; the Civil War begins. 1862 • The Morill Land Grant Act endows state colleges of agriculture and industry. 1863 • President Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation. 1865 • New York City establishes the first fire department with full-time paid firefighters. • Civil War ends; Reconstruction begins. • The Thirteenth Amendment abolishes slavery. 1868 • President Andrew Johnson is impeached by the House, but tried and acquitted by the Senate. • Congress mandates an eight-hour workday for federally employed laborers and mechanics. 1881 • President James Garfield is assassinated by deranged office seeker. 1883 • The Pendleton Act creates the US Civil Service Commission. 1886 • Henry R. Towne’s paper “The Engineer as an Economist” encourages the scientific management movement. • American Federation of Labor formed. 1887 • Congress creates the Interstate Commerce Commission, the first federal regulatory commission. • Woodrow Wilson’s “The Study of Administration” is published in Political Science Quarterly. 1901 • Galveston, Texas, is the first city to install the commission form of government. • Oregon becomes the first state to adopt the initiative and referendum. 1903 • The American Political Science Association founded. • US Department of Commerce and Labor is established. • The Boston police are the first to use an automobile, a Stanley Steamer, for regular patrol. 1904 • Lincoln Steffen’s muckraking book Shame of the Cities finds Philadelphia to be “corrupt and contented” and arouses sentiment for municipal reform. 1905 • New York City starts the first police motorcycle patrol. Key Events in Public Administration • Bureau of Municipal Research founded in New York City to further the management movement in government. • Pure Food and Drug Act passed. • Staunton, Virginia, appoints the first city manager. • Ohio is the first state to empower its governor to prepare an executive budget for legislature review. • Frederick W. Taylor publishes The Principles of Scientific Management. • Taft Commission calls for a national executive budget. • Position classification first adopted at the municipal level in the city of Chicago. • Sumter, South Carolina, is first to install a council-manager form of city government. • Congress approves an eight-hour day for all federal employees. • Hugo Munsterberg’s Psychology and Industrial Efficiency calls for the application of psychology to industry. • Woodrow Wilson becomes president. • The Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution creates the first permanent federal income tax. • The Federal Reserve Act creates a central bank responsible for monetary policy. • The US Department of Commerce and Labor is divided into two separate departments. • The City Manager’s Association is formed. • The University of Michigan creates the first master’s program in municipal administration. • Dayton, Ohio, is the first major city to have a city manager. • World War I begins. • World War I ends. • The failure of the Boston police strike sets back municipal unionization and makes Calvin Coolidge, the governor of Massachusetts, a national hero. • The Retirement Act creates the first federal civil service pension system. • The Nineteenth Amendment gives women the right to vote. • The Budget and Accounting Act establishes (1) the Bureau of the Budget in the Department of the Treasury and (2) the General Accounting Office as an agency of the Congress. 1924 1922 • Max Weber’s structural definition of bureaucracy is published posthumously. 1938 1923 • The Classification Act brings position classification to Washington-based federal employees and establishes the principle of equal pay for equal work. 1906 1908 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1918 1919 1920 1921 1926 1929 1930 1933 1935 1936 1937 xvii • Hawthorne studies begin at the Hawthorne Works of the Western Electric Company in Chicago; they will last until 1932 and lead to new thinking about the relationship of work environment to productivity. • Leonard D. White’s Introduction to the Study of Public Administration is the first text in public administration. • Mary Parker Follett, in calling for “power with” as opposed to “power over,” anticipates the movement toward more participatory management styles. • The University of Southern California establishes the first independent professional school of public administration. • Stock market crashes; Great Depression begins. • Durham County, South Carolina, is first to install county-manager form of county government. • President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal begins. • Francis Perkins, the first woman in a president’s cabinet, is appointed Secretary of Labor. • The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is established by Congress as an independent public corporation. • The National Labor Relations (Wagner) Act establishes the right of private sector employees to organize and bargain collectively. • Social Security program created. • J. Donald Kingsley and William E. Mosher’s Public Personnel Administration becomes the first text in this field. • John Maynard Keynes publishes his General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money, which calls for using a government’s fiscal and monetary policies to positively influence a capitalistic economy. • E. Pendleton Herring in Public Administration and the Public Interest asserts that bureaucrats, by default, must often be the arbiters of the public interest. • The Brownlow Committee’s report says that the “President needs help” and calls for the reorganization of the executive branch. • Luther Gulick calls attention to the various functional elements of the work of an executive with his mnemonic device POSDCORB. • The Fair Labor Standards Act provides for minimum wages, overtime pay, and limits on child labor. • Chester I. Barnard’s The Functions of the Executive foreshadows the postwar revolution in thinking about organizational behavior. xviii 1939 Key Events in Public Administration • American Society for Public Administration is founded. • The Reorganization Act enables the creation of the Executive Office of the President and the transfer of the Bureau of the Budget from the Treasury to the White House. • The Hatch Act is passed to inhibit political activities by federal employees. • The federal government first requires the states to have merit systems for employees in programs aided by federal funds. 1940 • Public Administration Review is first published. 1941 • James Burnham’s The Managerial Revolution asserts that as the control of large organizations passes from the hands of the owners into the hands of professional administrators, the society’s new governing class will be the possessors not of wealth, but of technical expertise. • Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brings the United States into World War II. 1943 • Abraham Maslow’s “needs hierarchy” first appears in Psychological Review. • Withholding for federal income tax begins as a temporary wartime measure. 1944 • J. Donald Kingsley’s Representative Bureaucracy develops the concept that all social groups have a right to participate in their governing institutions in proportion to their numbers in the population. 1945 1946 1947 • With the dropping of the atomic bomb and the end of World War II, the suddenly public Manhattan Project marks the federal government’s first major involvement with science in a policymaking role. • Paul Appleby leads the postwar attack on the politics/administration dichotomy by insisting in Big Democracy that apolitical governmental processes went against the grain of the American experience. • The Employment Act creates the Council of Economic Advisors and asserts that it is the policy of the federal government to maintain full employment. • The Administrative Procedure Act standardized many federal government administrative practices across agencies. • Herbert A. Simon’s “The Proverbs of Administration” attacks the principles approach to management for being inconsistent and often inapplicable. • President Harry S. Truman announces his namesake doctrine. 1949 • The First Hoover Commission recommends increased managerial capacity in the Executive Office of the President. • The National Security Act creates the Department of Defense. 1951 • David Truman’s The Governmental Process calls for viewing interest groups as the real determinant of, and focal point of study on, public policy. • Kurt Lewin proposes a general model of organizational change consisting of three phases, “unfreezing, change, refreezing” in his Field Theory in Social Science. 1954 • Peter Drucker’s book, The Practice of Management, popularizes the concept of management by objectives. • The Supreme Court, in Brown v. Board of Education, holds that racially separate educational facilities are inherently unequal and therefore violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. • Senator Joseph McCarthy (and in effect McCarthyism) is censured by the US Senate. • Lakewood, California, pioneers the service contract, whereby a small jurisdiction buys government services from a neighboring large jurisdiction. 1955 • The Second Hoover Commission recommends the curtailment and abolition of federal government activities that are competitive with private enterprise. • The Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) is created. • AFL-CIO is formed by the merger of the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organization. 1957 • C. Northcote Parkinson discovers his law that “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” • Chris Argyris asserts in Personality and Organization that there is an inherent conflict between the personality of a mature adult and the needs of modern organizations. • Douglas M. McGregor’s article, “The Human Side of Enterprise,” distills the contending traditional (authoritarian) and humanistic managerial philosophies into Theory X and Theory Y. 1958 • NASA is created. 1959 • New York City is the first major city to allow collective bargaining with its employees. • Wisconsin is the first state to enact a comprehensive law governing public sector labor relations. Key Events in Public Administration • The Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations is established. • Charles A. Lindblom’s “The Science of ‘Muddling Through’” rejects the rational model of decision making in favor of incrementalism. • Herzberg, Mausner, and Snyderman’s The Motivation to Work puts forth the motivationhygiene theory. 1960 1961 • Richard Neustadt’s Presidential Power asserts that the president’s (or any executive’s) essential power is that of persuasion. • President Dwight D. Eisenhower in his farewell address warns of “the military-industrial complex.” • President John F. Kennedy’s Executive Order 10925 requires that “affirmative action” be used in employment. • The Peace Corps is established. • Alan B. Shepard becomes the first American astronaut to fly in space. • The Rand Corporation helps the Department of Defense install PPBS. 1962 • President John F. Kennedy issues Executive Order 10988, which encourages the unionization of federal workers. 1963 • During the “March on Washington,” Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his “I Have a Dream” speech. • President John F. Kennedy is assassinated; Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson becomes president. 1964 1965 1966 1967 • The Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination in private sector employment and public accommodation. • Aaron Wildavsky publishes The Politics of the Budgetary Process, which becomes the classic analysis of the tactics public managers use to get budgets passed. • The Economic Opportunity Act becomes the anchor of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “war on poverty” and other Great Society programs. • PPBS made mandatory for all federal agencies. • The Department of Housing and Urban Development is established. • Medicare is created through amendments to the Social Security Act. • The Freedom of Information Act allows greater access to federal agency files. • Morton Grodzins in The American System asserts that the federal system is more like a marble cake than a layer cake. • The Age Discrimination in Employment Act is passed. • The National Academy of Public Administration is organized; its first members will be all of the • • 1968 • 1969 • • • • • • 1970 • • • 1971 • • • 1972 • • • • xix living past presidents of the American Society for Public Administration. Edward A. Suchman’s Evaluation Research asserts that evaluation is a generic field of study. Terry Sanford in Storm over the States develops the concept of “picket-fence federalism,” which holds that bureaucratic specialists at the various governmental levels exercise considerable power over the nature of intergovernmental programs. “Younger” public administration scholars meeting at Syracuse University’s Minnowbrook Conference site call for a “new public administration” that would emphasize social equity. Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated. Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated. Richard M. Nixon is elected president. Laurence J. Peter promulgates his principle that “in a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.” Theodore Lowi’s The End of Liberalism attacks interest group pluralism for paralyzing the policymaking process. Neil Armstrong, an American astronaut, becomes the first man to walk on the moon. The Bureau of the Budget is given more responsibility for managerial oversight and renamed the Office of Management and Budget. The Postal Reorganization Act creates the US Postal Service as a public corporation within the executive branch. Hawaii becomes the first state to give state and local government employees the right to strike. Environmental Protection Agency is established. The Supreme Court attacks restrictive credentialism in Griggs v. Duke Power Company. PPBS is formally abandoned in the federal government by the Nixon administration. The Equal Employment Opportunity Act amends Title VII of the Civil Rights Act to include prohibitions on discrimination by public sector employers. The Watergate scandal erupts when men associated with the Committee to Reelect the President are caught breaking into the campaign headquarters of the Democratic opposition, located in the Watergate hotel-office-apartment complex. The Equal Rights Amendment is passed by Congress; it never becomes law because too few states will ratify it. Revenue sharing is introduced with the passage of the State and Local Fiscal Assistance Act (it will expire in 1986). xx 1973 1974 Key Events in Public Administration • Vice President Spiro Agnew resigns after pleading “no contest” to a charge of tax evasion; Gerald R. Ford becomes vice president. • Pressman and Wildavsky publish Implementation and create a new subfield of public administration and policy analysis. • The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act revises the congressional budget process and creates the Congressional Budget Office. • The Supreme Court in United States v. Nixon denies President Nixon’s claim of absolute executive privilege; Nixon is forced to resign in the face of certain impeachment because of Watergate. • Gerald R. Ford becomes president and grants former president Nixon a full pardon for all possible crimes. • An amendment to the Social Security Act provides for automatic cost-of-living adjustments in Social Security payments. 1976 • Colorado is the first state to enact “sunset laws” as a method of program review and evaluation. 1977 • Zero-based budgeting is required of all federal agencies by the new Carter administration. • The Presidential Management Intern Program is established as a special means of bringing public administration masters’ graduates into the federal bureaucracy. • The Government in the Sunshine Act requires all multi-headed federal agencies to have their business sessions open to the public. • The Department of Energy is created. 1978 • The Civil Service Reform Act abolishes the US Civil Service Commission and replaces it with (1) the Office of Personnel Management, (2) the Merit Systems Protection Board, and (3) the Federal Labor Relations Authority. • The Ethics in Government Act seeks to deal with possible conflicts of interest by former federal employees by imposing postemployment restrictions on their activities. • Proposition 13, requiring reductions in local property taxes, is voted into law in California. • The Pregnancy Discrimination Act is passed. 1979 • The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare is divided into (1) the Department of Education and (2) the Department of Health and Human Services. 1980 • The EEOC issues legally binding guidelines holding that sexual harassment is sex discrimination prohibited by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and that employers have a 1981 • • • 1982 • 1983 • 1985 • 1986 • 1988 1989 • • • • • • • 1990 • • • 1992 1993 • • • • • responsibility to provide a place of work that is free of sexual harassment or intimidation. President Carter’s zero-based budgeting requirements are rescinded by President Ronald Reagan. David Stockman, director of the Office of Management and Budget, tells the Atlantic Monthly that “none of us really understands what’s going on with all these numbers.” Professional Air Traffic Controllers (PATCO) strike; President Reagan responds by firing 11,500 of them for striking in violation of federal law. The Grace Commission, the President’s Private Sector Survey on Cost Control, finds widespread inefficiencies in the federal government. The birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. is made a national holiday. The Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act is signed into law; it seeks to balance the federal budget by mandating across-the-board cuts over a period of years. The Supreme Court in Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson finds that sexual harassment is prohibited by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The space shuttle Challenger explodes on take-off. The national debt passes $2 trillion. The Iran-Contra Scandal begins to unfold. George Bush is elected president. The United States and Canada reach a free trade agreement. The Financial Institutions, Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act is passed to help clean up the $500 billion savings and loan scandal. The National Commission on the Public Service, the Volcker Commission, calls for a revitalization of the public service. The Budget Enforcement Act amended the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act to require that new spending be balanced by new taxes or spending reductions. The national debt passes $3 trillion. The Chief Financial Officers Act requires federal agencies to create a chief financial officer position to oversee agency finances. Bill Clinton is elected president. National debt passes $4 trillion. Osborne and Gaebler publish Reinventing Government. The Government Performance Results Act requires agencies to justify their budget requests on the basis of the results or outcomes to be achieved. The North American Free Trade Agreement is ratified. Key Events in Public Administration 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2001 2003 • Republicans take control of both houses of Congress. • Congress gives the president the line-item veto. • The national debt passes $5 trillion. • Welfare Reform Act passes. • The Supreme Court vetoes the presidential line-item veto. • President Clinton is impeached by US House of Representatives. • President Clinton is tried and acquitted by US Senate. • George W. Bush is elected president. • The War on Terror begins. • The war in Iraq begins. • Department of Homeland Security created. 2004 • George W. Bush is reelected. 2005 • The national debt passes $8 trillion. 2006 • Democrats win control of both houses of Congress. 2008 • Barack Obama elected president. 2009 • The national debt passes $12 trillion. 2010 • Republicans win control of the House of Representatives. xxi 2011 • Standard and Poor’s downgrades the credit rating of the United States. 2012 • The national debt passes $15 trillion. • The US Supreme Court rules that President Obama’s health care coverage law The Affordable Care Act is constitutional. 2013 • The City of Detroit files for bankruptcy making it the largest municipality financial restructuring in municipal history. 2014 • Riots break out in Missouri protesting racial bias by police after the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson and a new national protest movement is organized “Black Lives Matter”. 2015 • Climate change takes center stage in public policy with a new international accord at the Paris Climate Talks and new executive orders and proposed regulations by the Obama administration. 2016 • The Supreme Court rejects the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico’s bid to file for bankruptcy but Congress passes a financial rescue bill and establishes a financial control board to run takes over fiscal affairs of the Commonwealth. CHAPTER 1 Defining Public Administration CHAPTER OUTLINE Keynote: Go Tell the Spartans The Definitions of Public Administration 6 Political Definitions of Public Administration 6 Legal Definitions of Public Administration 11 Managerial Definitions of Public Administration 14 Occupational Definitions of Public Administration 17 1 The Evolution of Public Administration 23 A Short History of Public Administration 24 The Pre-modern Period and Five Eras of Civil Service Development 26 The Modern Period and Shifting Perspectives on the Roles of Government 28 Working in the Public Sector in the Twenty-First Century 30 A Case Study: How a President Undeservedly Received Credit for Founding a Discipline 33 KEYNOTE: Go Tell the Spartans At 8:48 on the morning of September 11, 2001, Adam Mayblum, 35, an investment firm employee, was in his office on the 87th floor of the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York. Suddenly, it seemed like a huge bomb exploded on the floors above—the building shook as if in an earthquake, lighting fixtures fell down, the ceiling collapsed in several areas, and paper flew everywhere. The halls quickly filled with smoke, but the phones were still working. Mayblum immediately called home and left a message for his wife that a bomb had gone off and he was on his way out. Next he took off his undershirt, tore it into three pieces, and gave two of the pieces to coworkers. They soaked the fabric in water and tied the torn T-shirt pieces around their faces as improvised air filters. Then the trio started down a smoke-filled staircase. As Mayblum walked down the crowded and smoky stairs, he called his parents on his cell phone. Soon after, his sister-in-law called him. Everybody with a cell phone was making calls to or taking calls from friends and relatives. On the 53rd floor they found a “heavyset man” just sitting on the stairwell. Mayblum 1 2 CHAPTER 1 Defining Public Administration and his friends offered to carry him, but he preferred to wait for professional help. As they approached the 44th floor, they first started seeing firefighters and police officers on their way up. Mayblum stopped several of them and told them about the man on the 53rd floor and also about a friend who was missing on the 87th. The next day, in a 2,000-word e-mail that was written for friends but ultimately distributed to thousands, Mayblum told of his narrow escape. He wrote that he “felt terrible” about telling the rescuers to go further up the stairs. “They headed up to find those people and met death instead. . . . I realize that they were going up anyway. But it hurts to know that I may have made them move quicker to find my friend.” Mayblum is only one of thousands who fled down the stairs to safety from the inferno of the World Trade Center towers as firefighters and other rescue workers raced up the stairs into deadly danger. The essence of the firefighters’ bravery can be summed up by an old observation: Firefighters don’t run from burning buildings; they run into them. Peggy Noonan, a speechwriter for Presidents Reagan and Bush (the elder), wrote, “You think to yourself: Do we pay them enough? You realize: We couldn’t possibly pay them enough. And in any case, a career like that is not about money.” But if it is “not about money,” what is it about? The answer is that it is about duty. For almost 2,500 years “Go tell the Spartans” has been the most famous classical reference to a duty done unto death. When it became shockingly evident that more than 300 firefighters died that day, those who knew ancient history might well have thought of another group of 300 heroes who died in the line of duty. In 480 bc, soldiers from the Greek city of Sparta fought a delaying action against invaders from Persia (now Iran). Taking up a defensive position in the mountain pass of Thermopylae, they fought off massive waves of assaulting Persians for three days. The Spartans knowingly sacrificed themselves—fought until they were all killed—so that their fellow Greeks would have the time to organize and eventually defeat the enemy. The similarities between the New York City firefighters and the Spartans of ancient Greece go far beyond the number 300. And that number is not accurate in either case. The 343 firefighters who died were in the company of 136 other rescue workers (New York City police, Port Authority police, private security guards, etc.) who also died. The Spartans had auxiliaries (somebody had to cook) and small combat units from other cities, including about 1,000 Thespians (not actors, but soldiers from Thespiae). Nevertheless, the number 300 resonates because it was the Spartans who fought to the death while others retreated. And it was the firefighters who personified the rescue effort. Societies have always expected their soldiers to die in large numbers if necessary––but not their firefighters, who are pacifistic warriors seeking only to fight fires and save lives. In the past, firefighters only occasionally died in the line of duty. Until 2001 about 100 died in the United States each year. Previously, in the worst fire disaster in New York City, 12 firefighters died. To have 343 die in a single day was, until September 11, unthinkable. Both the firefighters and the Spartans sacrificed themselves according to the ethics of their crafts. And though their actions were separated by two-and-a-half millennia, they were both fighting the same enemy: despotism from the East that then sought to suppress the budding democracy of ancient Greece and now seeks to wipe out the flourishing democracies of the Western world. Keynote: Go Tell the Spartans After the Greeks won their war, Simonides (556–468 bc), a famous poet of the time, was commissioned to write an appropriate inscription for a memorial plaque to be placed at Thermopylae to honor the Spartan heroes. Some Greeks were shocked when he turned in only two lines. But these two lines have become the most meaningful and best-known epitaph in the history of Western civilization: Go tell the Spartans, thou who passest by, That here obedient to their laws we lie. There would eventually be a fitting memorial to all those who died on that infamous 11th of September. But the firefighters, police officers, and other doomed rescuers already had one memorial. They all share the epitaph of the Spartans because they died bravely in the line of duty, “obedient to their laws.” Although the approximately 3,000 dead from the attacks were in New York, western Pennsylvania, and at the Pentagon in northern Virginia, it was the whole nation that cried with their families. This was not just another office building complex. Towering over Wall Street, these office buildings represented the capitalistic might of the United States. The barbarous attack wounded the entire country because it was an act of war against all of us. In the days following the blast the news media put forth much talk about America’s “loss of innocence” along with the increasing statistics, the body count, on the loss of the innocents. That no one would be found alive in the rubble after the first day was impossible to know at the time. Soon out-of-state rescue teams arrived to help. These teams, deployed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, included search dogs. They are trained to bark if they detect a live person and whine when they locate a body. The dogs spent most of their time whining. While less dramatic, it is often just as dangerous to recover a body at a disaster site as it is to rescue a survivor. TABLE 1.1 Annual US Police and Firefighter Deaths in the Line of Duty (1996–2015) Year 1996 2000 2001* 2005 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Police 133 162 241 163 161 171 126 107 117 129 Firefighters 95 102 446 106 73 65 70 99 67 87 Notes: * Includes police and fire fatalities from response to terrorist attacks of 9/11. Sources: Federal Emergency Management Agency/US Fire Administration (2015) & National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (2015). 3 4 CHAPTER 1 Defining Public Administration The heroic efforts of the rescuers received massive publicity. The stories many of the survivors told of the bravery and daring of the rescue teams were heartrending. But one point was largely missed in all the news reports. All these highly trained search and rescue professionals were public employees. They, and the administrative apparatus that sustains their organizations, are part of the government. They are representative of the bureaucrats whom so many people—even some who were then lauding them as heroes—had often described as overpaid and inefficient. These everyday heroes got so much attention after September 11 because they were doing wholesale what they did retail on a daily basis. It is a common, if not everyday, occurrence in America for firefighters to rescue people from burning buildings. But this was the first time that they rescued thousands and died themselves in the hundreds. Citizens the world over complain about their governments. But once disaster strikes—whether caused by nature or terrorists—they expect immediate government response and longer term assistance with recovery. When there is an earthquake in California, when the Mississippi River floods, or when an Atlantic hurricane wreaks havoc in Florida, volunteers come running. But usually only those with special training can save someone from the raging torrent that was once a gentle stream or the cage of twisted metal that was once a car. And the lasting help that disaster victims need—from social services to low-interest loans for rebuilding—is generally available only from government. Suddenly these “bureaucrats” are angels of mercy. When danger lurks, they become our modern versions of medieval knights in shining armor. Call 911 in most US cities and within minutes you’ll have a career public servant at your door ready to risk his or her life for you and yours. There are public sector heroes in your city, too; but most of them are invisible to you. The modern public service allows vast scope for heroism. Throughout history, classic heroes used their special skills for the public good, usually by performing feats of military prowess and physical bravery. And some societies recognized other kinds of heroes, too. For example, Michelangelo, who became one of the greatest heroes of Renaissance Italy, was known only for his prowess with a chisel and a paintbrush. Today’s police officer and firefighter heroes are joined by great numbers of quiet unsung heroes: public works department engineers who provide safe drinking water, highway department drivers who work all night clearing snow in a blizzard, and public health officials who keep diseases from becoming epidemics. These virtually invisible heroes often hold our lives in their hands no less than their uniformed coworkers. More than that, they make modern life—civilization as we know it—possible. Then there are those public employees who do not deal with life-and-death issues. Their concerns are instead with quality of life. They are, for example, the teachers who inspire students to excel, the social workers who find a loving home for a suddenly orphaned child, the economic development officers who bring hundreds of new jobs into a community, and the public managers who reinvent programs so that costs can be cut and taxes lowered. While not called on to be physically brave, their efforts are often heroic. The public service has a wide variety of heroes. Some are just more visible than others. Keynote: Go Tell the Spartans Why is this photo of Air Force One flying between New York and New Jersey like an invasion from Mars? Because both caused widespread panic. The “invasion” came in 1938, as a radio drama of the H. G. Wells novel War of the Worlds. Because it was broadcast as a simulated newscast, listeners thought it was real. It caused a memorable Halloween night of disorder. Similarly, when on April 27, 2009, a 747 jumbo jet was seen flying low over the Statue of Liberty followed by a fighter jet, people on the ground reasonably assumed that another 9/11 terrorist attack was only minutes away. Panic ensued. Office buildings emptied. Antacids were taken. But no attack was under way. It was just that Louis Caldera, the civilian head of the White House Military Office, thought that this would be a great day to get some publicity photos of the presidential airplane. So he sent Air Force One to fly a mere 1,000 feet over the Statue of Liberty with a fighter along to take pictures. It never occurred to him to notify all local authorities or to allay public fears by alerting the media. But this Harvard-trained lawyer did justify the more than $300,000 cost of the photo shoot by asserting it was a training mission. The people who panicked were furious. The mayor of New York was furious. President Obama was furious. And this bureaucrat of such poor judgment was certainly furious with himself when he lost his job over this. This incident proves two things: (1) that there is some sense of accountability in the Obama White House and (2) that New Yorkers are still very sensitive about lowflying jetliners over Manhattan. And rightly so! Source: REUTERS/The White House /Landov For Discussion: Are the first responders (police, firefighters, etc.) where you live more prepared now for a terrorist attack than they were before September 11, 2001? What impact do you think successful or in some cases failed government responses (think Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005 or the more recent delays with recovery efforts in the Northeast after Hurricane Sandy) have on public attitudes towards government and the image of public servants? 5 6 CHAPTER 1 Defining Public Administration THE DEFINITIONS OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION Chief of state Q The ceremonial head of a government, such as a king, queen, or president. This is in contrast to the chief executive of a government, such as a prime minister, chancellor, or president. The American presidency combines in one office—one person— the roles of chief of state and chief executive. Food stamps Q A welfare program designed to improve the nutrition of the poor. Administered by the Department of Agriculture and state and local welfare organizations, the program provides coupons (stamps) that can be used to pay for food at many grocery stores. It is easy to define public administration if you are content with being simplistic: it is government in action—the management of public affairs or the implementation of public policies. Such a facile definition, while accurate, is not adequate for such an important task. Consider the scene in Edmond Rostand’s play Cyrano de Bergerac in which somebody insults the hero’s big nose to provoke him into fighting a duel. But the challenger’s insult of “rather large” is so commonplace that Cyrano then lectures him on “the great many things” he might have said if he’d had “some tinge of letters, or of wit.” Defining public administration poses a similar challenge—even without the ensuing swordplay. The authors of this book believe that nothing is more important to an introduction to public administration than the most expansive definition possible. How else can we explore its richness and subtlety and savor its historical significance, universal application, and present development? How else can we gain an appreciation for the later technical chapters? Nevertheless, the discussion that follows is inherently incomplete. Public administration is so vast that there is no way to encompass it all with only one definition. So we have written 18 of them and clustered them into four categories: political, legal, managerial, and occupational. This quartet of definitions essentially expands on the trio—managerial, political, and legal—established by David H. Rosenbloom. But even with such an array of definitions, the authors are in the uncomfortable position of Cyrano’s challenger. We would have said more if we’d only had the wit! Political Definitions of Public Administration Public administration cannot exist outside of its political context. It is this context that makes it public—that makes it different from private or business administration. Consequently, our first definitions of public administration focus on its political nature. Public Administration Is What Government Does It is a White House chef preparing the menu of a state dinner for a visiting chief of state, a Department of Agriculture inspector examining beef at a slaughterhouse, and a Food and Drug Administration scientist determining the number of rodent hairs that food processors can safely and legally leave in chocolate, popcorn, and peanut butter. It is a firefighter rescuing a child from a disintegrating building, a meter reader attaching a ticket to your automobile for overlong parking, and a state prison official injecting deadly fluids into the veins of a condemned criminal. It is an astronomer exploring the furthest reaches of outer space, a CIA agent decoding captured messages from suspected terrorists, and a sewer crawler seeking to discover what has clogged up a municipal drainpipe. It is giving food stamps to the poor, mortgage interest deductions to homeowners, and hot meals to evacuees of a Gulf Coast hurricane. Throughout the world, government employees do things that affect the daily lives of their fellow citizens. These things range from the heroic (as we saw in New York City) to the mundane. Usually these efforts are beneficial, but sometimes they are not. Most of the time, in most countries, public administrators tend to the public’s business; for example, they build bridges and highways, collect garbage, put out The Definitions of Public Administration fires, plow snow, spray for mosquitoes, and provide essential social services for the less fortunate. But in other lands public employees may torture the innocent and murder children. When Amnesty International publishes its annual report on the states that brutalize and violate the civil rights of its citizens, who do you think does all this brutalizing and violating? It is none other than the local public administrators! Of course, such nefarious activities are usually organized within some innocuoussounding program having to do with “population control” or “internal security.” Thus, modern public relations try to put a friendly face on ancient atrocities. As a profession, public administration has developed values and ethical standards. But as an activity, it has no values. It merely reflects the cultural norms, beliefs, and power realities of its society. It is simply government doing whatever government does—in whatever political and cultural context it happens to exist. In 1955, Dwight Waldo was the first to insist that analysts “see administration in terms of its environment” because “it enables us to understand differences in administration between different societies which would be inexplicable if we were limited to viewing administration analytically in terms of the universals of administration itself” (Waldo, 1955, p. 11). So, essentially similar administrative acts can be performed differently in different cultures. Thus, a routine customs inspection in one state parallels the solicitation of a bribe by a corrupt customs official in another. The same act that is performed honestly in one state (because of a culture that supports honesty) may be performed corruptly in another (where the culture supports corruption by government officials). Public administration is the totality of the working-day activities of all the world’s bureaucrats—whether those activities are performed legally or illegally, competently or incompetently, decently or despicably! British scientist J. B. S. Haldane wrote that the universe “is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose” (Haldane, 1928). Things are much the same with public administration. It is not only far vaster in scope than most people suppose, but it is so extensive and pervasive in modern life that not even the most imaginative of us can imagine it all. Public Administration Is Both Direct and Indirect It is direct when government employees provide services to the public as varied as mortgage insurance, mail delivery, and electricity. It is indirect when government pays private contractors to provide goods or services to citizens. For example, the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) operated the space shuttle, but the shuttle itself was built by private corporations. Similarly, security officers protecting American construction workers in Iraq’s oil fields are not part of the US armed forces but employees of private firms contracted by the defense department. Does the fact that these workers are employed by private companies put them outside the realm of public administration? Not at all. Remember that a government agency must hire, evaluate, and hold all employees and contractors accountable for the quality of their performance—whether they are building rockets or guarding oil rigs. Governments have used private contractors since ancient times. For example, the executioner who once operated and maintained the guillotine in France was an independent contractor who earned a fee per head chopped off (literally severance pay). The current trend toward greater privatization of government functions, which began most notably in the 1980s during the Reagan administration 7 Amnesty International Q A worldwide organization that seeks to gain the release of political and religious prisoners by publicizing their plights and by lobbying governments. It has been especially effective in exposing cases of government sanctioned torture. In 1972 the organization was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Q The federal agency created by the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 to conduct research on problems of flight and to explore outer space. 8 CHAPTER 1 Defining Public Administration in the United States and the Thatcher administration in the United Kingdom, is now worldwide. This trend has been reinforced by the growth of the nonprofit sector, which receives much of its funding from government contracts—especially for social services and research. Much of the budgets of private nonprofit organizations providing human services comes from the government. Nearly two decades ago, former New York Governor Mario Cuomo, noted that government funds often accounted for a majority of the revenues raised by non-profit charitable organizations. As examples, in the 1990s, two out of every three dollars spent by Catholic Charities USA, a national network of some 1,400 social service organizations came from Government sources. In 2012, according to the 2013 Non-profit Times survey, government sources of income still accounted for nearly 55 percent while the Salvation Army’s dependence declined somewhat from 15 percent to 10 percent—from government sources. The 2013 Non-profit Times survey of the Top 100 largest non-profits in the US also revealed that while government support has been slowing down in recent years, it still amounts to over 10 billion or 15 percent of the total revenues of the largest non-profits. Thus we may conclude that privatization has not necessarily reduced the total amount of public administration in the world; it has simply forced it to take different forms. The increasingly expansive nature of public administration, branching out into the private and nonprofit sectors, has given new meaning to the word governance. What was once a synonym for the process of government has evolved to refer to interorganizational efforts to cope with cross-boundary problems by using networks of people and organizations. Thus public administration has gone from being merely indirect to being extremely convoluted as well. BOX 1.1 How the Inherent Criminality of Some Public Administrators Is Hidden by Political Language It was the British political essayist George Orwell (1903–1950) who most famously observed that the speeches and writings of politicians are often the “defense of the indefensible,” because the language used is too euphemistic and excessively vague. Innocent villagers are murdered and their homes burned in an effort at “pacification.” Citizens are imprisoned without trial or sent to slave labor camps in a process called “elimination of unreliable elements.” According to Orwell, such euphemistic phraseology is needed so that people can avoid thinking of the ugly reality of murder and torture. Consequently, the language of politicians and their administrators “is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable.” Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language,” in Shooting an Elephant and Other Essays (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1946) has had a rhetorical influence that remains alive and well. For example, a week after the September 11, 2001, attack, President Bush told a joint session of the Congress, “Whether we bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done.” In the classic Orwellian tradition he was using a relatively innocuous word to mean something far harsher. Only those not familiar with the innate subtleties of the English language did not understand that his “justice” meant death to the terrorists. Note that his administration continued to pay homage to Orwell when it renamed torture “enhanced interrogation techniques.” The Definitions of Public Administration 9 Public Administration Is a Phase in the Public Policymaking Cycle Public policymaking never ends. Government perpetually suffers from a problem similar to that faced by Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the indecisive prince of Denmark, who struggled with whether “to be or not to be.” Governments are in a constant flurry over whether to do or not to do. And whatever they do or do not do is public policy. All such decisions (including decisions not to make a decision) are made by those who control political power and implemented by the administrative officers of the bureaucracy. Thus public policy and public administration are two sides of the same coin. One decides, the other does. They cannot be separate because one side cannot exist without the other. But because policymaking is a continuous process, it cannot end with implementation. Whenever government does something, critics will suggest ways to do it better. This feedback can be informal—from citizen complaints to journalistic investigations—or it can take the form of an agency or legislative program evaluation. In any case, new decisions must be made even if the decision is to avoid making a decision. Public Administration Is Implementing the Public Interest Public interest is the universal label in which political actors wrap the policies and programs that they advocate. Would any lobby, public manager, legislator, or chief executive ever propose a program that was not “in the public interest”? Hardly! Because the public interest is generally taken to mean a commonly accepted good, the phrase is used both to further policies that are indeed for the common good and to obscure policies that may not be so commonly accepted as good. A considerable body of literature has developed about this phrase, because it represents an important philosophical point that, if successfully defined, could provide considerable guidance for politicians and public administrators alike. Walter Lippmann wrote that “the public interest may be presumed to be what men would choose if they saw clearly, thought rationally, and acted disinterestedly and benevolently” (Lippmann, 1955, p. 42). Clear eyes and rational minds are common enough. Finding leaders who are disinterested and benevolent is the hard part. In the early twentieth century, E. Pendleton Herring examined the problems posed by the dramatic increase in the scope of the administrative discretion of government. He accepted that laws passed by legislatures are necessarily the products of legislative compromise; thus they are often so vague that they need further definition. The bureaucrat, by default, then has the task of giving defining detail to the general principles embodied in a statute by issuing supplemental rules and regulations. “Upon the shoulders of the bureaucrat has been placed in large part the burden of reconciling group differences and making effective and workable the economic and social compromises arrived at through the legislative process” (Herring, 1936 p. 7). In effect, it becomes the job of the anonymous administrator to define the public interest. Herring’s discussion of the public interest and the critical roles played by bureaucrats and interest groups in public policy formulation correctly anticipated many of the critical issues still being grappled with in schools of public policy and administration today. Herring is a significant voice in what political science calls group theory, a school of thought that views government as representing various group interests and negotiating policy outcomes among them. According to Lobby Q Any individual, group, or organization that seeks to influence legislation or administrative action. 10 CHAPTER 1 Defining Public Administration Herring, the most basic task of a bureaucrat has been to establish working relationships with the various special interests so that their concerns can be more efficiently brokered. The role that Herring would have public administrators play is that of Edmund Burke’s trustee, a representative who exercises personal judgment and doesn’t just follow the exact orders of a legislature or the perceived opinion of a constituency. In his classic 1774 “Speech to the Electors of Bristol,” Burke told the voters, “Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.” Few would argue with the desirability of using good judgment in the furtherance of the public interest. However, some would argue that the interest-group broker role that Herring espouses for high-level public administrators is inherently undemocratic. Public Administration Is Doing Collectively That Which Cannot Be So Well Done Individually This is Abraham Lincoln’s understanding of the “legitimate object of government . . . to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but cannot do, at all, or cannot, so well do, for themselves—in their separate, and individual capacities.” Thus, public administration is the mature manifestation of the community spirit. What started as voluntary service (such as fire protection or care for the poor) became institutionalized as people indicated a preference (via elections) to pay taxes so that once-voluntary activities could become government functions. Similarly, collective action is the remedy for the “tragedy of the commons,” where individuals acting in their self-interest destroy public resources such as land and water. In this context public administration is central to the process of regulating individual behavior in the interest of the common good. Twenty-first-century communications have brought about a “revolution of rising expectations” whereby the people of traditionally poor countries realize just BOX 1.2 Edmund Burke versus the Tea Party Edmund Burke, the British parliamentarian, was in England when he heard of the original Tea Party in 1773 Boston. In a 1774 speech in the House of Commons, “On American Taxation,” he supported the Boston tea dumpers and urged the repeal of the tax on tea. His policy was simple. “Leave America . . . to tax herself.” Despite his feelings about American efforts to reduce taxes on tea, he, if alive today, would be vexed by the current Tea Party movement which seeks to contradict his famous statement on the role of a legislative representative. Burke’s classic 1774 “Speech to the Electors of Bristol” specifically rejects the notion that an elected representative be bound by pre-election “instructions” from his constituents. Tea Party activists often demand that the candidates they support pledge never to raise taxes of any kind and never allow laws to tolerate abortion under any conditions, even in cases of rape and incest. The clear implication is that representatives would be punished at the next election if they stray in the least from their mandates. Burke’s “speech” is a famous reproach to Tea Party rigidity and a call for representatives to exercise judgment. Thus Burke, the best-known British supporter of the original Tea Party, would likely question many of the actions of its current reincarnation. The Definitions of Public Administration how poor they are relative to industrialized states. Similarly, the citizens of these rich states benefit from programs that they increasingly resent paying for. A story often told among US Senators chronicles the plight of a veteran who returned from war and went to college on the GI Bill, bought a house with a Federal Housing Administration loan, started a business with a Small Business Administration loan, got electricity from Tennessee Valley Authority, and, later, got clean water from an Environmental Protection Agency project. His parents, who were receiving Social Security, retired to a farm, got their electricity from the Rural Electrification Administration, and had their soil tested by the US Department of Agriculture. When his father became ill, the family was saved from financial ruin by Medicare, and his father’s life was saved with a drug developed through the National Institutes of Health. His kids participated in the school lunch program, learned physics from teachers trained in a National Science Foundation program, and went on to college with guaranteed student loans. He drove to work on the interstate and moored his boat in a channel dredged by the Army Corps of Engineers. When his home was flooded, he took an Amtrak train to Washington, DC to apply for disaster relief, and while there, he spent some time in the Smithsonian Institution museums. One day he got mad, so he sent his congressman an angry letter. “Get the government off my back!” he wrote. “I’m tired of paying taxes for all those programs created for ungrateful people!” But we all want—and indeed expect—government employees to literally pull our backs out of the rubble when disaster strikes, as they did in New York City. Volunteers could do the easy tasks, such as driving the walking wounded to local hospitals, but only the highly trained public service professionals could do the real rescue work. Their organizations—the police and fire departments—were created, in Lincoln’s words, to be available to do what the citizens “cannot do, at all, or cannot, so well do, for themselves.” Legal Definitions of Public Administration Because public administration is what a state does, it is both created and bound by an instrument of the law. Indeed, in many communities, such as those of continental Europe, it is an academic subject that has never escaped from the faculties of law. While public administration in the United States is not a “legal” subject, its foundations are always legal. Public Administration Is Law in Action Public administration is inherently the execution of a public law. Every application of a general law is necessarily an act of administration. Administration cannot exist without this legal foundation. In the United States, the Constitution of 1787 as amended is the law of the land. All legislation must conform to it or at the very least not violate it in a manner obvious to the US Supreme Court. The law that creates an agency or program is known as its enabling legislation—the law that legally “enables” a program to exist. In theory, no government administrator can do anything if it is not provided for in the legislation or in the rules and regulations that the legislation allows the agency to promulgate. And how much government money can the president of the United States spend on his own without the approval of the Congress? Not a penny! Everything 11 GI Bill Q The American Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944. It provided low-interest, no down-payment home mortgages and education benefits that allowed a whole generation of working class veterans to go to college and advance into the middle class. Amtrak Q The National Railroad Passenger Corp., the federally subsidized corporation created in 1970 to operate intercity rail passenger service. 12 CHAPTER 1 Speaker Q The presiding officer of a legislature such as a House of Representatives or a House of Commons, elected by its members. Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill was speaker from 1977 to 1987. Defining Public Administration the president does, if it involves spending public money, must have a basis in legislation. This is often difficult for people in less democratic regimes to understand. Tip O’Neill, the former Speaker of the US House of Representatives, wrote in a memoir, “I must have met Deng Xiaoping of China a half-dozen times, and every time he would ask, ‘The president has to go to you for his money?’” O’Neill always answered this question the same way: “Yes, and the president had better not forget it.” And the same is true of governors and mayors who must go to their respective legislative bodies for appropriations. While many books have been written about the implementation of this or that government program, there is ultimately only one thing that government is in essence capable of implementing: the law. Of course, the law is often in turmoil. The legislative basis of programs, or specific agency rules and regulations, is constantly being challenged in court by those who oppose as well as those who support the program involved. The opposition wants the enabling legislation declared unconstitutional and the program destroyed, while supporters often want the program administered even more generously. From the New Deal to the first years of the Barack Obama administration, a pattern has emerged with controversial legislation. After its passage, opponents challenge its legality in court, hoping that the judicial branch will overturn it. In effect, there is a new final phase to the legislative process: a judicial review that confirms that the new law is constitutional. Indeed, this is precisely what has occurred with the passage of the health care reform in 2010; arguably the most significant piece of social legislation passed since Social Security. Opponents challenged the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act all the way to the US Supreme Court and the Court ruled in 2011 (5 to 4) that the law was constitutional (National Federation of Independent Business et al. v. Sebelius, 2012). Of course, even this positive court ruling hasn’t dimmed opposition where a Republican majority in the House of Representatives has voted numerous times to repeal the legislation to no effect. While public administration is the law in action, the law of how, when, and where these actions can be taken is called administrative law. In the American context, administrative law does not deal with the substantive content of agency policies and practices. Instead, it focuses on the procedures that agencies use in exercising their authority. For example, Congress requires federal agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to notify the public when the agency is creating a new rule that affects citizens. If the agency doesn’t follow the specific guidelines on how and when to notify the public, its new rules can be declared illegitimate by the courts. In effect, administrative law is the totality of constitutional provisions, legislative statutes, court decisions, and executive directives that regulate the activities of government agencies. Public Administration Is Regulation It is government telling citizens and businesses what they may and may not do. Regulation is one of the oldest functions of government. The Code of Hammurabi in ancient Babylonia provided that “the mason who builds a house which falls down and kills the inmate shall be put to death.” While not exactly a modern building code, this nevertheless proved an effective means of regulating the soundness of housing. The Definitions of Public Administration 13 Our lives are constantly governed, or interfered with, by regulation. We are not officially born until we have a birth certificate—regulation. We must attend school up to a certain age—regulation. We cannot engage in many occupations without a license from the state—regulation. Finally, we cannot be declared legally dead without a death certificate—regulation. And it doesn’t even end there. We can be buried only in government-approved cemeteries, and our estate taxes must be paid—regulation. As you will see in Chapter 9, regulation can also be used as a tool to reach the strategic goals of government. From preservation of natural resources to controlling obesity levels within the population, public administrators turn to regulation to help them achieve an array of desired outcomes. Public Administration Is The King’s Largesse “The king’s largesse” is whatever goods, services, or honors the ruling authority decides to bestow. This was the earliest meaning of public administration. Since everything was owned by the crown, whatever was granted to the nobles and peasants was a gift. In the modern world, this version of public administration can be seen in traditional monarchies and dictatorships, where hospitals, schools, parks, and such are touted as something given by the autocrat to a grateful people. The last vestige of this kingly largesse in representative government can be seen on the plaques often attached to public buildings and bridges indicating that the edifice was built during the tenure of Mayor Smith or Governor Jones. Of course, whenever representative governments grow corrupt, largesse as an operating mode of public administration reasserts itself. Then citizens may only get public services such as police protection and welfare benefits if they are deserving in the eyes of the rulers. The traditional big-city political machine lasted only as long as there was largesse to distribute. For example, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, during the Great Depression, Democratic Party ward heelers were authorized to distribute up to 50 “snow buttons” each time there was a major snowstorm. Each button entitled the holder to a day’s work shoveling snow for the city. This was a highly prized benefit sought by unemployed men in each ward. While certainly at the low end of the patronage food chain, this largesse bought the ward heeler loyalty that translated into votes for the party. Snow buttons are a relic of the past. So are political machines, because welfare benefits as a matter of right, as an entitlement, have made them superfluous. Thus the comprehensive public services of the welfare state have driven out the informal welfare system of the machines. Without largesse, the political machines could not hold the loyalty of their audience. Public Administration Is Theft There are those who believe that a government should do little more than provide police and military protection; other than that, it should not interfere—either for good or ill—in the lives of its citizens. A major intellectual force advocating such libertarianism was Ayn Rand, the objectivist philosopher who attacked welfare state notions of selflessness and sacrifice for a common good in novels such as The Fountainhead (1943) and Atlas Shrugged (1957). In Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal (1967), she wrote, “The only proper function of the government of a free country is to act as an agency which protects the individual’s rights, i.e., which protects the individual from physical violence” (pp. 46–47). Political machine Q Historically, an informal organization that controlled the formal processes of a government through corruption, patronage, intimidation, and service to its constituents. Ward heeler Q A local political functionary. Libertarianism Q A political doctrine holding that a government should do little more than provide protection; other than that, it should not interfere— for either good or ill—in the lives of its citizens. Objectivist Q One who believes that reason and logic are the only means to knowledge, that selfinterest determines ethics, and that capitalism should prevail in society. 14 CHAPTER 1 Reactionary Q A person who supports outmoded ideas of the past; a derogatory reference to political malcontents who yearn for a previous status quo. Conservatism Q Adherence to a political disposition that prefers the status quo and accepts change only in moderation. Tax loophole Q An provision in the tax laws, intentional or unintentional, that allows the avoidance of some taxes. Defining Public Administration Such reactionary attitudes are an extreme form of conservatism. Rand, because of her philosophy of positive selfishness and government minimalism, has become an icon of the Tea Party Movement; they have conveniently forgotten that she was a proselytizing atheist and unapologetic abortion rights advocate. Conservatives are continuously fearful of public policies involving redistribution, such as social welfare policies and programs whose goal is to shift wealth or benefits from one segment of the population to another. The welfare state is founded on this notion of redistribution. The basic mechanism for redistribution is taxation. However, the laws themselves can sometimes redistribute benefits. For example, tax loopholes benefit one group of taxpayers at the expense of others; and civil rights legislation, through equal employment opportunity mandates, gives economic benefits to one segment of the population at the theoretical expense of another. Redistribution is one leg of political scientist Theodore J. Lowi’s three-part classification of all domestic public policies into distribution, regulation, or redistribution. Obviously, redistribution is more popular with some classes of society than with others. Playwright George Bernard Shaw put this succinctly: “A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.” And just who is the government’s chief robber in this Robin Hood game? None other than your local public administrator! This is why so many citizens with their assets at risk consider thieving the underlying occupation of the public administrator. It is a long-standing legal maxim that government regulation that goes too far amounts to a taking. This conservative attitude is strikingly similar to the famous invective issued in 1851 by anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon against all governments: “To be governed is to be watched over, inspected, spied on, directed, legislated at, regulated, docketed, indoctrinated, preached at, ...
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