Public Administration Evolving: From Foundations to the Future

Public Administration Evolving: From Foundations to the Future demonstrates how the theory and practice of public administration has evolved since the early decades of the twentieth century. Each chapter approaches the field from a unique perspective and describes the seminal events that have been influential in shaping its evolution.

This book presents major trends in theory and practice in the field, provides an overview of its intellectual development, and demonstrates how it has professionalized. The range from modernism to metamodernism is reflected from the perspective of accomplished scholars in the field, each of whom captures the history, environment, and development of a particular dimension of public administration. Taken together, the chapters leave us with an understanding of where we are today and a grounding for forecasting the future.

Mary E. Guy is past President of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) and a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA). Her research focuses on the human processes involved in public service delivery as well as public administration in general. She has earned a number of awards for her work, including five Best Book Awards for Emotional Labor: Putting the Service in Public Service and Emotional Labor and Crisis Response: Working on the Razor’s Edge (co-authored with Sharon Mastracci and Meredith Newman).

Marilyn M. Rubin is Professor of Public Administration and Economics at John Jay College of the City of New York, USA and is Director of the College’s MPA Program. She has authored several publications on fiscal policy and budget-related issues and has served as a consultant to municipal, state, federal and international entities. She is a Fellow in NAPA and the winner of a Distinguished Research Award from ASPA.