The Founders, the Constitution, and Public Administration: A Conflict in World Views

by Spicer, Michael W.

• ISBN13: 9780878405817
• ISBN10: 087840581X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1995-03-01
• Publisher: Georgetown Univ Pr

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction: The Uneasy Status of Public Administration	p. 1
The Lack of Legitimacy of Public Administration	p. 2
Why Worry About Legitimacy?	p. 4
Public Administration and the U.S. Constitution	p. 5
Critics of the Constitution	p. 7
The Importance of Worldviews	p. 9
The Purpose of this Work	p. 10
The Relevance of this Work	p. 11
Rationalist and Anti-rationalist Worldviews	p. 13
The Rationalist Worldview	p. 14
Rationalist Thought	p. 15
The Anti-Rationalist Worldview	p. 20
Anti-Rationalist Thought	p. 21
The Worldviews of Public Administration and the Constitution	p. 26
Rationalism and Public Administration: The Early Writers	p. 26
Rationalism and Public Administration: Contemporary Writers	p. 30
Anti-Rationalism and the Founders	p. 34
On the Checking of Power: The Logic of a Constitution	p. 41
Interests	p. 41
Passions	p. 45
Unintended Exploitation	p. 46
Majority Rule	p. 48
The Use of Knowledge	p. 50
Visions of Public Administration	p. 54
"Discretionists" and "Instrumentalists"	p. 54
The Friedrich Argument	p. 55
The Finer Argument	p. 59
The Friedrich-Finer Debate and the Checking of Power	p. 62
An Anti-rationalist Vision of Public Administration	p. 67
Administrative Discretion and Checking Power	p. 67
Modern Writings on Administration as a Check on Power	p. 69
The Anglo-American Tradition of Administrative Discretion	p. 71
Checking Administrative Power: Rules and Procedures	p. 73
Checking Administrative Power: Citizen Participation	p. 76
Inertia, Inflexibility and Impersonality	p. 78
Constrained Discretion	p. 79
The Ethics of Administrative Discretion	p. 81
Anti-Rationalism and Ethics	p. 81
Personal Honesty	p. 82
Neutrality	p. 84
Utility	p. 86
Social Equity	p. 87
Common-Law Reasoning	p. 89
Consensus	p. 93
Summary and Conclusion	p. 97
The Contemporary Relevance of the Anti-Rationalist Vision	p. 98
Anti-Rationalism in the Administrative State	p. 100
Toward a New Perspective	p. 102
References	p. 105
Index	p. 111
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