Federalist No. 27: Is Transparency Essential for Public Confidence in Government?

• Date: 01 December 2011
• Author: Stephanie P. Newbold
• Published date: 01 December 2011
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6210.2011.02461.x

Stephanie P. Newbold is an assistant

professor of public administration and policy

at American University. Her research inter-

ests include the intellectual history of public

administration, American constitutional

theory, Western political thought, normative

foundations of public sector governance,

and the legal basis of public administration.

E-mail: newbold@american.edu

Is Transparency Essential for Public Conf‌i dence in Government? S47

Stephanie P. Newbold

American University

One of the great themes of  e Federalist Papers is that

good government is dependent on good administration.

In Federalist No. 27, Publius underscores two important

themes. First, he argues that in order to preserve citizen

conf‌i dence in government, there must be competent

administration, and second, he maintains the need

for a strong national government to safeguard the

republican principles embedded within the Constitution.

Publius’s contribution to democratic theory and

American republicanism proves as enlightening today

as it was when he f‌i rst published this essay in 1787,

and it continues to provide important lessons for public

administration and the democratic governance process.

When debating key issues and policies

af‌f ecting the modern American state

and its democratic institutions, many

thoughtful people often ask, “What would the

founders think?” “What would they do?” “Would

they be proud of or disappointed at the way future

generations of Americans preserved their more perfect

union?” Of course, there is no def‌i nitive way for

any of us to know how the American framers would

decide the merits or shortcomings of a contemporary

public policy debate. What we can do, however, is

ref‌l ect on their great political

treatise,  e Federalist Papers,

for extraordinary insight into

how Publius underscored his

expectations for strong public

administrative management in

the American constitutional

republic.

 roughout  e Federalist,

Publius reiterates the notion that

good government is depend-

ent on good administration.

According to the framers, the

republican form of government

created by the U.S. Constitution

would be the best ever known to

man because of its emphasis on

federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances,

and the protection of individual rights.  e f‌i eld of

public administration should remind itself consist-

ently that the historical underpinnings that shaped

the debates of both 1776 and 1787 continue to

strengthen the intellectual foundation of the American

administrative state.

To this point, a group of scholars has enriched the f‌i eld

with f‌i ndings that demonstrate how the republican

principles advocated during the nation’s founding are

consistent with the need to advance the constitutional

legitimacy of the administrative state and the multidi-

mensional complexities associated with the democratic

governance process (Green 2002, Moe and Gilmour

1995, Newbold 2010, Rohr 1986, Rosenbloom 1983,

Terry 2003). As both Dwight Waldo (1948) and John

Gaus (1950) argued more than half a century ago, pub-

lic administration constantly must be concerned with

the maintenance and preservation of democratic values.

More specif‌i cally, the research of Herbert Storing

(1981a, 1981b; see also Morgan et al. 2010) empha-

sizing the contributions of the Anti-Federalists to the

ratif‌i cation process illustrates many of the dif‌f‌i cul-

ties associated with important

constitutional principles that

continue to challenge the

boundaries of American repub-

licanism.  ese include, but

certainly are not limited to, the

protection of individual rights,

the powers and responsibilities

of the federal government, and

adequate citizen representation

in Congress. John Rohr (1986,

2002) complemented Storing’s

work by illustrating how the

political and administrative

preferences for governing as-

sociated with the Progressive

Era as well as with the collective

scholarship of Woodrow Wilson

Federalist No. 27: Is Transparency Essential for Public

Conf‌i dence in Government?

 roughout  e Federalist,

Publius reiterates the notion

that good government

is dependent on good

administration. …  e f‌i eld of

public administration should

remind itself consistently that

the historical underpinnings

that shaped the debates of

both 1776 and 1787 continue

to strengthen the intellectual

foundation of the American

administrative state.