2 1: Introduction: Th e Possibilities of Th eory
claims to obedience; (2) intentionally established laws and rules, which apply to all;
(3) specifi c spheres of individual competence, which include task diff erentiation,
specialization, expertise, and/or professionalization; (4) the organization of persons
into groups or categories according to specialization; (5) coordination by hierarchy;
(6) continuity through rules and records; (7) the organization as distinct from the
persons holding positions or offi ces in it; and (8) the development of particular and
specifi c organizational technologies (Weber 1952). Virtually all considerations of
the great epochs of human history have found the building blocks of organization
and management (Gladden 1972). Th e practices of public administration are, then,
as old as civilization and essential to the development of civilization.
Although the practice of public administration is very old, the formal study
of public administration and the elaboration of public administration theory are
very new. As a separate self-conscious or self-aware academic and intellectual
thing—a body of knowledge, a fi eld of professional practice, an academic sub-
ject, a form of politics, a social construction of reality—public administration is
young. When measured from the Federalist, public administration is more than
225 years old, more than 22 decades, more than 7 generations. When measured
from the publication of Woodrow Wilson’s founding essay (1887/1941), public
administration is more than 125 years old, more than 12 decades, more than 3
generations. As a separate and self-conscious collection of concepts, ideas, re-
forms, courses and degrees, and professed answers to public problems, public
administration is a young adult.
In his encyclopedic description of what we know about public administration,
James Q. Wilson claims to have little interest in theory and expresses the opinion
that theory has little to off er to an understanding of bureaucracy:
I wish that this book could be set forth in a way that proved, or at least illus-
trated, a simple, elegant, comprehensive theory of bureaucratic behavior. I have
come to have grave doubts that anything worth calling “organization theory”
will ever exist. Th eories will exist, but they will usually be so abstract or gen-
eral as to explain rather little. Interesting explanations will exist, some even sup-
ported with facts, but these will be partial, place- and time-bound insights. Many
scholars disagree with me. More power to them. (1989, xi–xii)If contemporary understandings of public administration are merely recita-
tions of facts derived from research—letting the facts speak for themselves—can
public administration theory be taken seriously?
One purpose of this book is to answer this question with a fi rm yes. Despite
Wilson’s disclaimer, theory is the bedrock of understanding public administra-
tion. Indeed, in many ways Wilson’s own work is a profoundly important theo-
retical contribution.
Th ere is no theorist more clever than the scholar claiming to have no theory.
Simply to arrange the facts, describe the research fi ndings, and claim no theory