John Rohr’s Concept of Regime Values

• Published date: 01 March 2014
• Author: John Uhr
• DOI: 10.1177/0095399713519099
• Date: 01 March 2014
• Subject Matter: Articles

Administration & Society

2014, Vol. 46(2) 141 –152

© The Author(s) 2014

DOI: 10.1177/0095399713519099

aas.sagepub.com

Article

John Rohr’s Concept

of Regime Values:

Locating Theory in Public

Administration

John Uhr1

Abstract

John Rohr’s concept of “regime values” marks out a distinctive approach

to regime analysis in contemporary governance. Very few commentators,

however, have recovered the foundations of Rohr’s regime values in his

early work as a political scientist, particularly in his largely ignored first

book called Prophets Without Honor. My aim is to recover those foundations

through an examination of the emergence of the type of regime analysis

in that original book, which reveals much of the formative political theory

shaping Rohr’s subsequent work in the United States and comparative public

administration.

Keywords

regime values, John Rohr, political theory

John Rohr’s concept of “regime values” marks out a distinctive approach to

regime analysis in contemporary governance (Rohr, 1976). Rohr’s concept

has featured prominently in appreciations of his academic and wider profes-

sional impact (Green, 2012; Rosenbloom & Rene, 2012; Hundley and

Wamsley, 2012 ). Very few commentators, however, have recovered the

1Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

Corresponding Author:

John Uhr, School of Politics and International Relations, College of Arts and Social Sciences,

Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.

Email: john.uhr@anu.edu.au

519099AASXXX10.1177/0095399713519099Administration & SocietyUhr

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