Public Administration: Balancing Power and Accountability

This is a complete and up-to-date revision of the classic text for public administration, implementing the rule of law as a fundamental issue in American democracy in pursuit of the common interest. It presents public administration as a tension between the necessary exercise of power and the search for responsiveness to achieve maximum accountability from public servants. The authors have initiated a new approach to the study of public administration by focusing on middle- and lower-level managers. These are positions that most public servants will occupy for the bulk of their professional careers. The book recognizes that most of the administration is in field offices, in state and local government, and in cooperation with the private and nonprofit sectors. It then focuses on power and its potential for influencing the behavior of the bureaucracy to perform its goal-oriented and balancing functions in a pluralistic open system. This leads to the relationship between theories about administration and the actual practice and how best results (imperative of accountability) are achieved in the increasingly globalized environment.

An updated, thoroughly revised edition of the classic text in public administration.

JEROME B. McKINNEY is Professor of Public Management and Policy at the University of Pittsburgh.LAWRENCE C. HOWARD is currently Distinguished Professor at Chatham College.

Ethical Foundations and Imperatives of Public Management

The Environment and Setting for Public Administration

Reinventing Government: Transforming Public Administration

Administration in the Context of Its Practice

Public Administration and Public Policy

The External Environment of Public Administration

Organization Theory and Management Practice

Planning in Public Management

Organizing, Coordinating and Controlling the Internal Environment

Decisionmaking and Communication as Basic Management Activities

Leadership in Public Management

Community Relations in Public Management

Personnel: The Administration and Management of Human Resources

Financial Management

Productivity and Evaluation

Intergovernmental Relations and Administration

International Administration and Development

Balancing Power with Accountability