In the past thirty years, public administration has developed more systematic patterns of inquiry about the substance of public organization behavior, public management, and public policy implementation. This book explores how the science and art of policy administration is definable, describable, replicable, and cumulative. Frederickson and Smith describe several theories and analytical approaches that contribute to what we know about policy administration. This book asks: Which theories or approaches are the most promising, the most influential? Which are the most important now and likely to be the most important in the future? The purpose of this effort is to set out a detailed description of key theories in contemporary public administration and thus improve the reliability of our knowledge and our understanding of public administration.
H. George Frederickson is Distinguished Professor of Government at the University of Kansas. Kevin B. Smith is an associate professor of political science at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. He has authored or co-authored several books including The Ideology of Education and The Case Against School Choice, and is published widely in academic journals. H. George Frederickson is Distinguished Professor of Government at the University of Kansas.