A Brief History of

the Study of
Public
Administration
By: Lourdes Anne Labanancia

PREHISTORY and CLASSIC

PERIOD
PREHISTORY

Sources are from archeology, records of

contemporary authors and anthropological
studies of societies with oral traditions.

Evidence of achievements can be found at

Stonehenge, Mesa Verde.

Sumerian - first records of administrative

ideas

Sumerian Tablet

PREHISTORY and CLASSIC

PERIOD
CLASSIC

Great ideas were developed by the Greek

philosophers and Roman Administrators.

How to administer and organize

However, NO specific study of public

administration

Public in as far as encompassed by the

state was the property of a monarch.
Subject were simply subjects

PREHISTORY and CLASSIC

PERIOD

1491 B.C. Moses

During the exodus form Egypt, Moses

followed the recommendation of Jethro,
his father-in-law, that he delegate
authority over the tribes of Israel along
hierarchical lines.

400 B.C.Plato

Recognizes the separation between

management and develops the concept of
democracy.

PREHISTORY and CLASSIC

PERIOD

325 B.C. Alexander the Great

Applied the principle of line and staff to

help conquer most of the known world.

284 A.D. Diocletian

First Roman emperor to rule through

genuine delegation of authority and chain
of command. He divided the empire to 101
provinces, grouped into 13 dioceses, in
turn, were organized into four major
geographic divisions.

PREHISTORY and CLASSIC

PERIOD

1494 Pacioli
Invented

double-entry bookkeeping.

1525 Machiaveli

Recognized the need for consent and

cohesiveness in an effective organization
and tried to identify leadership traits.

MODERN STUDY OF PUBLIC

ADMINISTRATION

1656 Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff

First attempts to create a specific study of

public administration (German
Principality)

The practice of public administration required

a different body of knowledge in his
experience as a head in the administration of
the principality of Fulda.

MODERN STUDY OF PUBLIC

ADMINISTRATION

1700 Nicolas Delamare

(Treatise on Polity)

he pointed out differences with the legal

treatises that were usually studied before
entering the administration.

MODERN STUDY OF PUBLIC

ADMINISTRATION

17th Century CAMERALISM

Council studies

The study became more formally recognized

and institutionalized.

MODERN STUDY OF PUBLIC

ADMINISTRATION

18th Century POLITY SCIENCE

Johann Heinrich Gottlob von Justi and

Joseph Sonnenfels

They cited Greek theorists as their prime

sources, particularly the Aristotelian
notion of Eudaimonia, i.e. total physical
and moral happiness as the purpose of
administration and the normative basis of
policy and state organization.

MODERN STUDY OF PUBLIC

ADMINISTRATION

1812 Principle of Public Administration

Charles-Jean Bonnin

Public administration is a practical

science, and saw as its key challenge as
the need to balance law and social
studies. He explicitly drew upon
positivistic natural sciences for his
intellectual mode

MODERN STUDY OF PUBLIC

ADMINISTRATION

Second Half of 19th Century Lorenz Von

Stein

He called the study of public

administration the crown on all the
sciences, because the state administration
must use all human knowledge in order to
ensure a better society and guarantee
freedom for its citizens.

MODERN STUDY OF PUBLIC

ADMINISTRATION

1887 Woodrow Wilson

1900 Frank Goodnow

The Study of Administration (essay)

Politics and Administration

The focus was on creating a politically

neutral, professional, performance
oriented and responsive state apparatus

MODERN STUDY OF PUBLIC

ADMINISTRATION

1900 Frederick Taylor

Father of Scientific Management

developed the need for budgets,

cooperation between management and
labor workers, and studying work methods
to become more effective for the future

MODERN STUDY OF PUBLIC

ADMINISTRATION

Henry Fayol

developed a general theory of

administration and (also) focused on
tracing principles of administration.

no strict naturalistic laws could be

expected as some uncertainty is involved
in human behavior; hence his focus on
principles.

MODERN STUDY OF PUBLIC

ADMINISTRATION
Characteristics

serious attempts to develop an

identifiable study of public administration
(as we would understand it now).

numerous authors arguing the need for

practical relevance of knowledge.

efforts to integrate a number of (existing)

bodies of knowledge that pertain to
public administration

DIFFERENTIATED/
CONTEMPORARY PERIOD

By the 1950s the American discourse on

the study of public administration lost its
self-confidence in its origins.

Severe criticism focused on its claims to

being scientific plus on discovering
principles.

DIFFERENTIATED/
CONTEMPORARY PERIOD

1947 Herbert Simon

Administrative Behavior

argued for a new intellectual logical

positivistic, empirical science of decision
making

DIFFERENTIATED/
CONTEMPORARY PERIOD

1948 Dwight Waldo

The Administrative State

underscored political, value basis of

contemporary public administration.

he called for a wider, more interpretative,

and philosophical perspective, though
without identifying or entrancing a single,
monolithic methodology

DIFFERENTIATED/
CONTEMPORARY PERIOD

1960s

Development of an autonomous study of

public administration influenced by the
U.S.

Public administrationists divided into two

Academic
Research

vs practice oriented

vs educational ideas

DIFFERENTIATED/
CONTEMPORARY PERIOD

Academic-Research Oriented

pursued a positivist approach in the spirit

of Herbert Simon

Focus centered on decision making and

organization studies

DIFFERENTIATED/
CONTEMPORARY PERIOD

Academic-Education Ideals

concentrated on forging a generalist

curriculum, that combined social sciences,
history, comparative studies, and political
theory

DIFFERENTIATED/
CONTEMPORARY PERIOD

1970s

New Public Administration

More or less independent schools

emerged focusing on either public policy
or public management

more specific theoretical or

methodological orientations, such as
rational choice theory or communication
theory, became popular

DIFFERENTIATED/
CONTEMPORARY PERIOD

1980s

the studys mainstream trended towards a

practically relevant, empirical public
policy making and public management

proliferation of alternative approaches to

the study continued, even by an explicit
refounding movement.

DIFFERENTIATED/
CONTEMPORARY PERIOD

1990s
Reinventing

Government or New Public

Management

Authors identified numerous sources for

the identity crisis, and sought new
fundamental approaches

DIFFERENTIATED/
CONTEMPORARY PERIOD

Late 1990s and Early 21st Century

calls for a broadening of the field from

public administration to governance
were heard.

the study is characterized by attempting

to combine practical and scientific or
academic objectives as well as eclecticism
and, by what nowadays is often called a
multi- or interdisciplinary orientation

Today, the NPM is becoming the

dominant managerial approach.
Its key concept-somewhat evolutionary
a decade ago- are now the standard
language of public administration.
Terms such as "results oriented",
"customers focused", "employee
empowerment", "entrepreneurship",
and "outsourcing", have dominated the
mainstream.

Overall, public administrative culture is

changing to be more flexible,
innovative, problem solving,
entrepreneurial, and enterprising as
opposed to rule-bound and process
oriented.