The Public Administration Theory Primer

H. George Frederickson and Kevin B. Smith (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2003)

Reviewed by Frank E. Scott

Political commentators have be gun to suggest that in a post- 9/11, post-Enron environment, we may be witnessing the end of the "end" of the big government era. Yet recent changes of direction with respect to the role of government should surprise only those unfamiliar with the theoretical waves continuing to buffet our field: rational choice, public management, governance, postmodernism, among others. Thus, as Frederickson and Smith wisely point out, although there may be "no more clever theorist than the scholar who claims to have no theory," those who offer their ideas as mere descriptions of fact are shielding them from further scrutiny only at the expense of failing the "truth-in-labeling test" (p. 3).

As a broad-ranging look at our field's contemporary world of theory, The Public Administration Theory Primer demonstrates how scholars also can debunk successfully the notion that theorizing plays no significant role in the day-to-day realm of public service. Drawing also upon empirical evidence, the book challenges much of what has come to be the conventional wisdom of governmental waste and inefficiency in comparison with the private sector, laying out instead an evenhanded and optimistic picture of the field today. As treatments of theory go, it is a very readable work, one that comes complete with an appropriate amount of insightful commentary and just a touch of Frederickson's dry wit, all in a remarkably concise package.

Discussions of Recent Developments

The text offers solid overviews of more traditional but still relevant topics such as politics versus administration, bureaucratic politics, and public institutional theories. However, it makes perhaps its most significant contribution in its well-crafted discussions of the more recent developments in public management, rational choice, and governance theories, the latter including Frederickson's own thoughtful assessment of how public administration may be moving away from rational choice approaches and toward a greater emphasis on "cooperation, networking, institution building and maintenance" (p. 222). The text makes perhaps its greatest stretch in covering interpretive, critical, feminist, and especially postmodern approaches now arising in the field. The characterization of postmodernism as "all about semantics" (p. 139) and as a "search for truth" (p. 140) bears out, at least from the point of view of someone more sympathetic to this perspective, the text's own assertion that it is difficult to make sense of postmodernism "using modernist criteria or standard" (p. 145). Yet although perhaps lacking the sophistication of the rest of the work, the appearance of an at least adequate overview of these nontraditional ideas is something of a tribute both to the theoretical versatility and to the even-handedness of the authors.

In short, this book is written competently and clearly, quite comprehensive in view of its brevity, and about as even-handed on the issues as one could reasonably expect from folks with a serious interest in theory (and thus, undoubtedly, with strong theoretical preferences of their own). Although well suited for MPA classroom use, I would say, it also should prove accessible to the interested practitioner in a way that scholarly treatments on such topics are often not. Do not look here for any significant challenge to mainstream assumptions or beliefs, but, given that this work is intended as a "primer," perhaps that is precisely in keeping with the authors' purpose.

Frank E. Scott is an assistant professor at California State University, Hayward.