Public Administration Theory Primer - 03 edition

"This book is remarkable, and welcome, for the absence of the defensiveness and ambivalence one finds in the field toward theories originating outside of public administration."

--Public Administration Review

"This book certainly is a wonderful primer--any student new to public administration will find it an invaluable introduction of the major issues and basic theories. But it's also much more. Frederickson and Smith have drawn a road map of the field's big questions--and the most promising directions for resolving them. It's an important and lively contribution to the debate about the future of public administration theory."

--Donald F. Kettl
Professor of Public Affairs and Political Science, University of Wisconsin, Madison

"By their shrewd selection of proven and emerging scholarship, Frederickson and Smith show the extent to which the study of public administration is and must be founded on theory. In their treatment, public administration has become an inspiration and a forum for some of the best thinking in the social and behavioral sciences."

--Laurence E. Lynn, Jr.
George Bush Chair and Professor of Public Affairs, Texas A&M University

"This book proves there is nothing as practical as a good theory. The Public Administration Theory Primer is an important addition to the field."

--Brinton Milward
McClelland Professor of Public Management, University of Arizona

"Much of the administrative theory literature is partial, polemical and difficult to penetrate. This volume is very different from that pattern. It provides the reader with a road map to access a broad range of theories. It unpacks the controversies in the field and allows the reader to gain a sense of the intellectual debates surrounding this topic."

--Beryl Radin
Professor of Government and Public Administration, University of Baltimore

Submitted By Publisher, August, 2004

1. Introduction: The Possibilities of Theory
2. Theories of Political Control of Bureaucracy
3. Theories of Bureaucratic Politics
4. Public Institutional Theory
5. Theories of Public Management
6. Postmodern Theory
7. Decision Theory
8. Rational Choice Theory
9. Theories of Governance
10. Conclusion: A Bright Future for Theory?