Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance pp 1–9Cite as

Administrative Politics: Context, Roles, and Process

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:

Synonyms

Administrative discretion; Bureaucracy; New public governance; New public management; Politics-administration; Principal-agent

Definition

Administrative politics addresses the role of public administrators in a democratic society. This role is embedded in an institutional context in which administrators, elected leaders, and the public advocate for particular goals, principles, or decision-making processes in government.

Introduction: The Societal Context

The term “administrative politics” may seem an awkward combination of words, if one assumes that public-sector administration should be shielded somewhat from things political. The realities of practice and a considerable body of research have shown, however, that the politics-administration relationship is a matter of emphasis rather than clear separation, a continuum rather than a dichotomy.

For the purposes of this chapter, politics can be defined as activities in which people advocate for particular goals, principles, or...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

References

  • Biddle BJ (1986) Recent developments in role theory. Annu Rev Sociol 12:67–92

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Box RC, Marshall GS, Reed BJ, Reed CM (2001) New public management and substantive democracy. Public Adm Rev 61(5):608–619

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buchanan JM, Tullock G (1962) The calculus of consent: logical foundations of constitutional democracy. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Cooper TL (1991) An ethic of citizenship for public administration. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs

    Google Scholar 

  • Finer H (1941) Administrative responsibility in democratic government. Public Adm Rev 1:335–350

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fox CJ, Cochran CE (1990) Discretionary public administration: toward a platonic guardian class? In: Kass HD, Catron BL (eds) Images and identities in public administration. Sage, Newbury Park, pp 87–112

    Google Scholar 

  • Fox CJ, Miller HT (1995) Postmodern public administration: toward discourse. Sage, Thousand Oaks

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedrich C (1940) Public policy and the nature of administrative responsibility. Public Policy 1:1–20

    Google Scholar 

  • Gruber JE (1987) Controlling bureaucracies: dilemmas in democratic governance. University of California Press, Berkeley

    Google Scholar 

  • Harmon MM, Mayer RT (1986) Organization theory for public administration. Little, Brown, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Hood C (1991) A public management for all seasons? Public Adm 69:3–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hood C (1995) The “new public management” in the 1980s: variations on a theme. Acc Organ Soc 20(2/3):93–109

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kass HD (1990) Stewardship as a fundamental element in images of public administration. In: Kass HD, Catron BL (eds) Images and identities in public administration. Sage, Newbury Park, pp 113–131

    Google Scholar 

  • Koliba C, Meek JW, Zia A (2011) Governance networks in public administration and public policy. CRC Press, Boca Raton

    Google Scholar 

  • Meier KJ, O’Toole LJ (2006) Bureaucracy in a democratic state: a governance perspective. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore

    Google Scholar 

  • Moe TM (1984) The new economics of organization. Am J Polit Sci 28(4):739–777

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Niskanen WA (1971) Bureaucracy and representative government. Aldine-Atherton, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Osborne D, Gaebler T (1993) Reinventing government: how the entrepreneurial spirit is transforming the public sector, from schoolhouse to statehouse. Addison-Wesley, Reading

    Google Scholar 

  • Osborne SP, Radnor Z, Nasi G (2013) A new theory for public service management? Toward a (public) service-dominant approach. Am Rev Public Adm 43(2):135–158

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ostrom V, Tiebout CM, Warren R (1961) The organization of government in metropolitan areas: a theoretical inquiry. Am Polit Sci Rev 55(4):831–842

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Overeem P (2015) The concept of regime values: are revitalization and regime change possible? Am Rev Public Adm 45(1):46–60

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rayner J, Williams HM, Lawton A, Allinson CW (2011) Public service ethos: developing a generic measure. J Public Adm Res Theory 21(1):27–51

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rohr JA (1989) Ethics for bureaucrats: an essay on law and values, 2nd edn. Marcel Dekker, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Schachter HL (1997) Reinventing government or reinventing ourselves: the role of citizen owners in making a better government. State University of New York Press, Albany

    Google Scholar 

  • Terry LD (1998) Administrative leadership, neo-managerialism, and the public management movement. Public Adm Rev 58(8):194–200

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tiebout CM (1956) A pure theory of local expenditures. J Polit Econ 64(5):416–424

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wamsley GL, Goodsell CT, Rohr JA, Stivers CM, White OF, Wolf JF (1987) The public administration and the governance process: refocusing the American dialogue. In: Chandler RC (ed) A centennial history of the American administrative state. Macmillan, New York, pp 291–317

    Google Scholar 

  • Waterman RW, Meier KJ (1998) Principal-agent models: an expansion? J Public Adm Res Theory 8(2):173–202

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitcombe J (2008) Contributions and challenges of “new public management”: New Zealand since 1984. Policy Q 4(3):7–13

    Google Scholar 

  • Willoughby KG (2014) Public budgeting in context: structure, law, reform, and results. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson W (1887) The study of administration. Polit Sci Q 2(2):197–222

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wood BD, Waterman RW (1991) The dynamics of political control of the bureaucracy. Am Polit Sci Rev 85(3):801–828

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang K (2007) China’s 1998 administrative reform and new public management: applying a comparative framework. Int J Public Adm 30(12–14):1371–1392

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang L, Van der Wal Z (2014) Rule of morality vs. rule of law? An exploratory study of civil servant values in China and the Netherlands. Public Integr 16(2):187–206

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Nebraska, Omaha, Omaha, NE, USA

    Richard C. Box

Authors
  1. Richard C. Box
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Richard C. Box .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida, USA

    Ali Farazmand

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Box, R.C. (2018). Administrative Politics: Context, Roles, and Process. In: Farazmand, A. (eds) Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_1425-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_1425-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-31816-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-31816-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation