Book Review: Public Administration Evolving: From Foundations to the Future

• Author: Edgar E. Ramírez de la Cruz
• DOI: 10.1177/0734371X17694230
• Published date: 01 September 2018
• Date: 01 September 2018
• Subject Matter: Book Review

Review of Public Personnel Administration

2018, Vol. 38(3) 378 –381

© The Author(s) 2017

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Book Review

Book Review

Guy, M. E., & Rubin, M. M. (Eds.). (2015). Public Administration Evolving: From Foundations to the

Future. New York, NY: Routledge. 334 pp. $40.76 paperback,

ISBN: 978-0765643261

Reviewed by: Edgar E. Ramírez de la Cruz, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas,

Mexico City, Mexico. edgar.ramirez@cide.edu

DOI: 10.1177/0734371X17694230

The 75th anniversary of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) pro-

vided a milestone moment to reflect on the progress and challenges of the discipline.

ASPA’s flagship journal, Public Administration Review (PAR ), published a series of

essays on the progress of classic theories and concepts like Simon’s proverbs of public

administration (Meier, 2015), Lindblom’s incrementalism (Bendor, 2015), Long’s

power and administration (Durant, 2015), and Dahl’s difficulties on constructing a

science of public administration (Wright, 2015). The essays also discuss the progress

of contemporary classic ideas like networks (O’Toole, 2015) and the New Public

Service (Denhardt & Denhardt, 2015); as well as new challenges to the discipline like

the role of participation in public administration (Fung, 2015) and public sector col-

laboration (Bryson, Crosby, & Stone, 2015).

On the same 75th anniversary occasion, Mary Ellen Guy and Marilyn Rubin pub-

lished their edited book, Public Administration Evolving, From Foundations to the

Future, which provides a major survey of the field. The book brings an original per-

spective, different from other reviews that have mainly concentrated on research per-

spectives (Riccucci, 2010), theoretical perspectives (Smith & Frederickson, 2003), or

the classic functions of the field (Lynn & Wildavsky, 1990). Each chapter, written by

some of the most prominent scholars in the field (names that will be familiar to any

public administration student), examines the evolution of one significant topic of pub-

lic administration in the last 70 years.

While the book covers a wide variety of public administration themes, two recur-

rent issues emerge. The first is the increasing complexity of the field generated by the

constant fragmentation of jurisdictions, resources, and power among organizations

and individuals involved in solving public problems. The second is the vacillating

relationship between society and public administration. These issues are highly rele-

vant as they constantly redefine the expectation that citizens have on the role of public

administration in a democratic society.

The book begins with a foreword by Richard Stillman, in which he highlights

recurrent topics in the development of the public administration field and makes the

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