Centennials, Continuities, and Culture

Abstract

1980 decade is one of numerous celebrations in public administration. Three 1983 landmarks are the Pendleton Act of 1883, setting up the personnel system for the government;' the 50th anniversary of the New Deal; and the birth of the Tennessee Valley Authority, one of the most innovative ideas to come out of the United States in a hundred years. Then, a little later in the decade, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of Woodrow Wilson's essay, The Study of Administration,'2 and the 50th anniversary of the American Society for Public Administration. All these may be considered as a unit, and we then ask ourselves, How far have we come and where are we headed? I do not intend a full-length analysis of past and future in public administration, nor to deal with all of the dates mentioned above. This partly because I did something of that kind for the National Academy of Public Administration in 1980;3 additionally because a full treatment would become book length. Instead, I shall argue that public administration's function in society is to act as the catalytic agent in the development of a rounded culture, since it is a group so well equipped to spearhead this objective. Secondly, that despite our seeming diversities, fads, and arguments over scope and method, public administration both as practice and as body of knowledge has revolved around the cultural theme all along, including Woodrow Wilson's approach. And, finally, I see the need to tackle economic theory head-on and come up with an institutional view of economics-which in effect resembles public administration more than anything else-if the country is to reverse its downhill slide. I shall first state my position and develop my argument and then, in the latter part of the paper, consider the bearing on my thesis of some of the dates and landmarks mentioned above. We need to become more historically minded. Ever since the nation state system began to develop in Europe around the end of the 16th century, and down to the present day, the steady and unbroken matrix of thought has been the role of the government in the development of the economy and the culture. key group in all this development through Cameralism, Mercantilism, and nation building was the professional executivemanager, serving government and the economy, because this was the only group with both the intellectual scope and practical knowhow to make nationhood