Raymond W. Cox Iii - Public Administration in Theory and Practice

Hailed for its timelessness and timeliness, Public Administration in Theory and Practice examines public administration from a normative perspective and provides students with an understanding of the practice of public administration. Combining historical, contextual, and theoretical perspectives, this text gives students a truly comprehensive overview of the discipline and focuses on the practical implications of public administration theory. This substantially revised third edition features:

Public Administration in Theory and Practice, third edition is an ideal introduction to the art and science of public administration for American MPA students, and serves as essential secondary reading for upper-level undergraduate students seeking a fair and balanced understanding of public management.

Raymond W. Cox III is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Public Administration and Urban Studies at the University of Akron.

Third Edition

Raymond W. Cox III

First published 2020

by Routledge

52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017

and by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2020 Taylor & Francis

The right of Raymond W. Cox III to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Cox, Raymond W., author.

Title: Public administration in theory and practice / Raymond W. Cox III.

Description: Third edition. | New York, NY : Routledge, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019003567 (print) | LCCN 2019006568 (ebook) | ISBN 9781351003940 (E-book) | ISBN 9781138544383 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781138544390 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781351003940 (ebk)

Subjects: LCSH: Public administration. | Public administrationUnited States.

Classification: LCC JF1351 (ebook) | LCC JF1351 .C66 2019 (print) | DDC 351dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019003567

ISBN: 978-1-138-54438-3 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-138-54439-0 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-1-351-00394-0 (ebk)

Typeset in Sabon

by Apex CoVantage, LLC

In 1989 I began writing a textbook on public administration. It was an attempt to set the boundaries of a field and discipline that was somewhat in disarray. The Reagan administration had barred federal employees from seeking training funds to pay the tuition for an MPA, even as they could get funding for virtually any other degree. The number of students enrolled in MPA programs would drop by nearly half in the 1980s, and, parenthetically the number of MBA students would grow seemingly exponentially. By the middle of the 1990s it was as likely that well-educated professionals in civil service and personnel departments would hold an MBA, not an MPA; similarly, the preferred degree for hospital administration shifted from the MPA to the MBA. The theoretical foundations of the field were changing from organizational and political theory to economics and public choice theory. Seemingly, the solution to every government problem was privatization, or the kindred public-private partnership (PPP). The public was never quite sure what the problems were, but they were confident that turning to the private sector and allowing the market to work its magic was better than allowing incompetent public administrators and corrupt politicians to continue to waste money. To most citizens in the US and around the world, public administration, which had built its foundation upon ideas of economy, efficiency, and effectiveness, had proven a failure at the first two and seemingly had forgotten the third. Business methods in the office and market-driven practices in public policy were the answers.

Not much has changed. Economic theory and anti-government rhetoric still abound. For twenty years governments around the world introduced and implemented changes based upon the New Public Management (NPM). The academy followed. MPP programs replaced MPA programs and those MPA programs that remained created emphases in nonprofit management. Yet, those challenges are not necessarily a bad thing. Professional managers at every level of government and across the globe proved resilient in protecting and preserving the core values of public service and effective performance. The discipline of Public Administration has hung in, refining the trade and offering students who are still interested in the public service the tools to be competent, professional, and ethical public managers. Challenges and threats abound, but professionally trained and ethically competent public service employees and managers continue to work through the competing demands and impossible expectations of the public.