Public Management and Reform in the United States

Abstract

Reform at the national level of United States government is, in many respects, a never-ending preoccupation. An old joke is that America was perfect in its creation and that Americans have been in a frenzy most of the time since to improve upon it. The last half of that statement is not a joke with respect to the administrative state since its rise to prominence during the last part of the nineteenth century. Yet, despite what appears generally as perpetual reform, some distinct movements are discernible. Some are simultaneous and either contradictory or complimentary. Disconnection among some reforms is common over time and at almost any given time.