Book Review: Administrative ethics and executive decisions: Channeling and containing administrative discretion

DOI10.1177/0275074018805571
Published date01 January 2019
Date01 January 2019
Subject MatterBook Review
American Review of Public Administration
2019, Vol. 49(1) 128 –129
© The Author(s) 2018
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Book Review
Chad Newswander’s book examines the requisites for exer-
cising administrative discretion in American governments in
ways that are both responsible and effective. His analysis is
regime-specific and thus grounded at the outset in the
American constitutional framework. He explores the “sensi-
bilities” one finds in the temperaments and values which
emanate from the executive, legislative, and judicial
branches, and argues that these meld in often unpredictable
ways that constitute a form of administrative prudence. The
work will appeal to those teaching masters and PhD-level
courses addressing administrative ethics as well as public
ethics more generally. It could also serve as a nice supple-
mental text in courses on administrative theory.
Public servants wield discretionary powers for a variety of
reasons, and are held to account for them through a mixture of
legal, bureaucratic, political, and professional standards and
means. However, these types of accountability do not fully
address the extent of discretionary judgments exercised by
administrative officials. They are “thrust into unplanned situ-
ations,” and even in routine matters must deal with ambigu-
ous and “foggy” problems with “no easy answers” (pp. 4-5).
Deciding such matters requires “prudential accountability”
which balances thoughtful discernment with firm decisive-
ness, and while there are a variety of means for cultivating the
needed wisdom, Newswander sees the sensibilities found in
the superintending branches as the most readily available,
practical, and normatively appropriate sources. His approach
thus draws from and expands upon Rosenbloom’s (1983)
three-branch framework which treats administration as an
extension of each branch’s values and processes, and Rohr’s
(1986) balance-wheel model of administrative responsibility.
In Chapters 2 to 4, Newswander explains each branch’s core
dispositions, and then in Chapter 5 prescribes an integrative
method for subordinate administrators derived from levels of
judicial scrutiny as a way of prudently channeling and bound-
ing administrative discretion.
Chapter 2 addresses executive dispositions, which for
the sake of stark emphasis Newswander characterizes pri-
marily as Machiavellian, though tempered and restrained
through the constitutional design to encourage a “republican
character.” Thus, executives like the President must exhibit
spiritedness, shrewdness, and stateliness made possible
through the constitutional elements of executive energy—
unity, duration, adequate support, and competent powers.
These elements create a sphere of autonomy which enables
the executive to deal effectively with the warp and woof of
domestic and world events—what Machiavelli called “for-
tune.” However, the elements of energy also serve to
restrain executive power by focusing accountability, sub-
jecting it to at least periodic public scrutiny, forcing it to
cooperate with the other branches, and sharing some of its
powers with them. The Constitution thus builds “ambiva-
lence” into the executive by mixing in the roles dubbed by
John Rohr as clerk (carrying out the laws) and leader (a
shaper of events as much as a responder). Finally, maintain-
ing this constitutional ambivalence requires a character fit
to republican virtues of disinterestedness, patriotism, and
love of liberty, all of which contribute to a deep devotion to
foundational principles and dedication to the general wel-
fare of the people and their posterity.
Newswander then argues that although the subordinate
status of career officials markedly changes their conditions
and obligations, they must still retain some measure of spir-
itedness, shrewdness, and stateliness to perform their work
effectively in a bureaucratic milieu. They must still act with
a measure of ferocity and cleverness to overcome the dead-
ening, rule-bound pressures of rationalized organization,
which can work its own damage and hide self-aggrandizing,
ulterior motives. To do so, they may have to dirty their own
hands, act as guerillas, and play clever games to check or
even reverse the tide of systemic impropriety and bureau-
cratic pathology. Herein lies both a principled and a pruden-
tial justification for cultivating in bureaucrats the ability to
conduct political battle, and the points are well worth making
to students and practitioners who want to treat such action as
unethical. It is easy to shy away from harsh and clever tactics
in general, despite the fact that our public morality and the
press of events may demand them. Newswander supplies a
sufficient number of excellent real-life examples (cited in
other ethics texts as well) of such tactics employed by
bureaucrats for the sake of protecting the public good. They
share in the guardian role of the executive.
805571ARPXXX10.1177/0275074018805571The American Review of Public AdministrationBook Review
book-review2018
Book Review
Newswander, C. B. (2017). Administrative ethics and executive decisions: Channeling and containing administrative discretion. New York, NY:
Routledge, CRC Press. 136 pp. $140. ISBN: 9781138280700 - CAT# Y316013 (hard back)
Reviewed by: Richard T. Green, Department of Political Science, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
DOI: 10.1177/0275074018805571

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