Public administration: 30-year-old principles still apply
By JAN KALLBERG | Federal Times / Last Updated:October 30, 2011
Dwight Waldo |
Several of Waldo's comments are accurate about today's issues — debt crisis, e-government and trust in government.
The modern U.S. is established on a foundation of economic growth, abundance and consensus, but a new paradigm of scarcity, decay and conflict is increasing pressure on public administration.
This is a radical shift that Waldo foresaw. Waldo raised the question that if the central glue that holds society together is the expectation of more, what does that lead to? If we build our society around a government that always delivers more services, benefits and progress, what would happen if there were less in the future?
Today, facing a large federal debt and austerity measures, we no longer can promise more.
Waldo presented a few principles that he used as a framework to explain, question and discuss public administration and other scholars' theories.
The first principle suggests that there is conflict between bureaucracy and democracy that obliges public servants to protect democratic values. This makes it impossible to run government fully as a business as businesses do not have to consider these values.