The third edition of this highly respected textbook introduces students of public administration to the practical issues of administrative law. While useful to law school students, it is most relevant to public management students. The presentation provides a concise foundation to the history and theory of administrative law, rule making, and judicial decisions. The most important issues in administrative law are included--meaningful issues for present and future administrators. A larger number of recent cases and other up-to-date information will be found in the book in order to make the student aware of the kinds of legal problems likely to be encountered in public agencies. One or two cases illustrate each problem at hand, rather than discussing numerous arcane court decisions and technicalities of legal procedure, in order to sketch the broad contours of the present law.

What is law? -- Constitutional principles -- Due process, equal protection, and civil rights -- Freedom of speech and religion -- Freedom of information -- Property -- Contracts and companies -- Employment -- Torts -- Criminal law and procedure -- Administrative law and procedure -- Public ethics law -- Civil litigation and alternative dispute resolution -- Managing the lawyer relationship -- Educating yourself about the law.

Philosophy and Public Administration provides a systematic and comprehensive introduction to the philosophical foundations of the study and practice of public administration. In this revised second edition, Edoardo Ongaro offers an accessible guide for improving public administration, exploring connections between basic ontological and epistemological stances and public governance, while offering insights for researching and teaching philosophy for public administration in university programmes.

Since the publication of the previous edition, the best-selling Handbook of Public Administration enters its third edition with substantially revised, updated, and expanded coverage of public administration history, theory, and practice. Edited by preeminent authorities in the field, this work is unparalleled in its thorough coverage and comprehensive references. This handbook examines the major areas in public administration including public budgeting and financial management, human resourcemanagement, decision making, public law and regulation, and political economy. Providing a strong platform for further research and advancement in the field, this book is a necessity for anyone involved in public administration, policy, and management. This edition includes entirely new chapters on information technology and conduct of inquiry. In each area of public administration, there are two bibliographic treatises written from different perspectives. The first examines the developments in the field. The second analyzes theories, concepts, or ideas in the field’s literature.

The logic of research in public administration, argues Jay D. White, may be more like that of storytelling than of conventional social science research. In Taking Language Seriously, he examines the linguistic, discursive, and narrative foundations of public administration research and develops a narrative theory of knowledge development and use for the field. White builds his case for this narrative theory by showing how research on complex problems is grounded in language and discourse. He then explains how a variety of recent developments in philosophy and the humanities--positivism, postpositivism, hermeneutics, critical and legal theory, postmodernism, and poststructuralism--can contribute to our understanding of public administration research. Focusing on the logical structures of three modes of research--explanatory, interpretive, and critical--White shows how each is equally legitimate, depending on the nature of the research questions. This comprehensive yet clear discussion of the philosophical foundations of research in public administration advances an alternative theory of knowledge development that will be valuable for everyone in fields seeking to affect social, political, economic, and organizational change.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Winner of the 2020 Outstanding Book Award Presented by the Public and Nonprofit Section of the National Academy of Management Winner of the 2019 Louis Brownlow Book Award from the National Academy of Public Administration Bureaucracy, confusing paperwork, and complex regulations—or what public policy scholars Pamela Herd and Donald Moynihan call administrative burdens—often introduce delay and frustration into our experiences with government agencies. Administrative burdens diminish the effectiveness of public programs and can even block individuals from fundamental rights like voting. In AdministrativeBurden, Herd and Moynihan document that the administrative burdens citizens regularly encounter in their interactions with the state are not simply unintended byproducts of governance, but the result of deliberate policy choices. Because burdens affect people’s perceptions of government and often perpetuate long-standing inequalities, understanding why administrative burdens exist and how they can be reduced is essential for maintaining a healthy public sector. Through in-depth case studies of federal programs and controversial legislation, the authors show that administrative burdens are the nuts-and-bolts of policy design. Regarding controversial issues such as voter enfranchisement or abortion rights, lawmakers often use administrative burdens to limit access to rights or services they oppose. For instance, legislators have implemented administrative burdens such as complicated registration requirements and strict voter-identification laws to suppress turnout of African American voters. Similarly, the right to an abortion is legally protected, but many states require women seeking abortions to comply with burdens such as mandatory waiting periods, ultrasounds, and scripted counseling. As Herd and Moynihan demonstrate, administrative burdens often disproportionately affect the disadvantaged who lack the resources to deal with the financial and psychological costs of navigating these obstacles. However, policymakers have sometimes reduced administrative burdens or shifted them away from citizens and onto the government. One example is Social Security, which early administrators of the program implemented in the 1930s with the goal of minimizing burdens for beneficiaries. As a result, the take-up rate is about 100 percent because the Social Security Administration keeps track of peoples’ earnings for them, automatically calculates benefits and eligibility, and simply requires an easy online enrollment or visiting one of 1,200 field offices. Making more programs and public services operate this efficiently, the authors argue, requires adoption of a nonpartisan, evidence-based metric for determining when and how to institute administrative burdens, with a bias toward reducing them. By ensuring that the public’s interaction with government is no more onerous than it need be, policymakers and administrators can reduce inequality, boost civic engagement, and build an efficient state that works for all citizens.