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More Than ‘Counting Manhole Covers’: The Evolution Of The British Tradition Of Public Administration
Author(s) -
Fry Geoffrey K
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
public administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.313
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1467-9299
pISSN - 0033-3298
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9299.00166
Subject(s) - administration (probate law) , civil service , subject (documents) , public administration , politics , public service , political science , service (business) , sociology , law , library science , economics , economy , computer science
This article is a revised version of an inaugural lecture, delivered at the University of Leeds on 30 April 1998. The focus of the lecture and, thus, of this article is concerned with administrative history and the civil service. The first part of the article is about the pioneers of the academic study of public administration, and the subject’s relationship with political philosophy. The second part examines the role of the Webbs and the British approach to public administration. The third part evaluates the contribution of the academics of the ‘Golden Age‘ of public administration. The fourth part deals with changing perceptions of public administration, with a particular emphasis on developments in the civil service; it is deliberately self‐referential. The final part briefly considers the future of the academic study of public administration, concluding that it has one.