Description
Book SynopsisIntellectual traditions are commonly regarded as cultural variations, historical legacies, or path dependencies. By analyzing road junctions between different traditions of Public Administration this book contests the dominant perspective of path-dependent national silos, and highlights the ways in which they are hybrid and open to exogenous ideas.
Analyzing the hybridity of administrative traditions from an historical perspective, this book provides a new approach to the history of Public Administration as a scientific discipline. Original and interdisciplinary chapters address the question of how scholars from the U.S., Germany and France mutually influenced each other, from the closing years of the 19th Century, up until the neo-liberal turn of the 1970s. Offering a thorough analysis of the transatlantic history of Public Administration, the conclusion argues that it is vital to learn from the past, in order to make Public Administration more realistic in theory, as well as more successful in practice.
Advanced undergraduate and postgraduate political science scholars will find this to be a valuable tool in understanding the foundations of transatlantic Public Administration. This book will also greatly benefit researchers on comparative and transnational history with a keen interest in Public Administration.
Table of ContentsContents: 1. Introduction: why study the transatlantic history of administrative ideas? 2. Setting the scene: the administrative traditions of Germany, France and the USA 3. Examining the scene: the transfer-of-ideas approach applied to the history of administrative traditions 4. The transfer of knowledge from Germany and France to the USA 5. The import of US ideas by German Public Administration 6. The transfer of knowledge from the USA to France 7. Public Administration in Germany, France and the USA: Traditional flavors or hybrid traditions? 8. Lessons learned: making administrative theory more realistic and administrative practice more successful References Index
