Minnowbrook II: Conclusions

Abstract

Minnowbrook I was an intense effort to redefine public administration. In the intervening two decades, the optimism engendered by the vision of a new public administration has been dissipated, and the report card for public administration is not especially good. Bureaucrat bashing is up. Public confidence in public administration is down. Interest in privatization is increasing. Revenues are flat or decreasing. Managers are increasingly promoted from the ranks of technicians, not public administration generalists. Student enrollments are flat or declining. And the quality of prospective MPAs may compare unfavorably with the 1960s cohort. Those indicators suggest a new realism, yet one that those in the field were late to recognize.