Article
Is There a Spirit of Governance?
Public Administration Review
(2012)
Abstract
In his classic work, H. George Frederickson offers a robust call to value anew the spirit of public administration. This was offered not as an abstract treatise but as a reaction to the evolution of the practice of public administration that included institutions and approaches that stretched previous understanding of the field. Much about the constitution of the “spirit of public administration” is left abstract by Frederickson. It is something of a placeholder for the norms, values, and principles that are threatened by the ascendance of “governance.” In this article, the threat of an undermined spirit of administration in a governance era is considered with an attempt at greater specificity and concreteness than previous discussions. To the end of opening a more empirical exploration of the spirit–governance nexus, this article moves away from an either/or position and attempts to distill the highest risks of deterioration of spirit in the provision of public goods.
Keywords
- spirit–governance nexus,
- public administration,
- H. George Frederickson
Publication Date
November 1, 2012
DOI
10.1111/J.1540-6210.2012.02668.X
Citation Information
Koppell, J. G., & Auer, J. C. (2012). Is There a Spirit of Governance?. Public Administration Review, 72(s1), S24-S33.