''Refounding Public Administration'' (1990) is a noted text in the
public administration
Public administration, or public policy and administration refers to "the management of public programs", or the "translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day",Kettl, Donald and James Fessler. 2009. ''The Politics of the ...
field that formulated a multi-faceted argument that government is properly an agential and active servant of the
public good
In economics, a public good (also referred to as a social good or collective good)Oakland, W. H. (1987). Theory of public goods. In Handbook of public economics (Vol. 2, pp. 485–535). Elsevier. is a commodity, product or service that is bo ...
. It is among a very few books that have been pivotal in defining public administration as a distinct field from
political science
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...
with its own theory and raison d'etre. Other works in this genre include Dwight Waldo's ''
The Administrative State'' and
Frederick C. Mosher's ''
Democracy and the Public Service''. The work was edited by
Gary Wamsley, who contributed a classic essay on bureaucratic
agency
Agency may refer to:
Organizations
* Institution, governmental or others
** Advertising agency or marketing agency, a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients
** Employment agency, a business that s ...
, and also includes works by
Charles Goodsell
Charles True Goodsell (July 23, 1932 – November 24, 2024) was an American academic and writer who was Professor Emeritus at Virginia Tech's Center for Public Administration and Policy. He was perhaps best known for his volume ''The Case for ...
,
John Rohr
John Anthony Rohr (July 31, 1934 – August 10, 2011)''Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014''. Social Security Administration. was an American political scientist who was Professor Emeritus at the Center for Public Administration and Policy at V ...
,
Camilla Stivers,
Orion White,
Philip Kronenberg, James Wolf and others.
A follow-on volume called ''
Refounding Democratic Public Administration'' was edited by Wamsley and Wolf. These works have strongly influenced the development of the
Center for Public Administration and Policy
The Center for Public Administration and Policy (CPAP) is an academic department of Virginia Tech focused on public administration and public policy
Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a Group decision-making, decided set of elem ...
as a center of public administration research.
See also
* ''
The Administrative State''
*
public administration theory
Public administration theory refers to the study and analysis of the principles, concepts, and models that guide the practice of public administration. It provides a framework for understanding the complexities and challenges of managing public ...
References
*Wamsley, Gary L. ''Refounding public administration.'' Newbury Park, Calif.:Sage Publications, 1990.
*Wamsley, Gary L. and James F. Wolf. ''Refounding democratic public administration: modern paradoxes, postmodern challenges.'' Sage Publications, 1996. {{ISBN, 0-8039-5976-1
1990 non-fiction books
Public administration books