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Some Evidence of a Pluralistic Discipline: A Narrative Analysis of Public Administration Symposia
Author(s) -
Miller Hugh T.,
Jaja Cheedy
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
public administration review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.721
H-Index - 139
eISSN - 1540-6210
pISSN - 0033-3352
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-6210.2005.00501.x
Subject(s) - scholarship , pluralism (philosophy) , narrative , administration (probate law) , variety (cybernetics) , public administration , political science , field (mathematics) , sociology , epistemology , law , philosophy , linguistics , mathematics , artificial intelligence , computer science , pure mathematics
This article investigates the discipline of public administration as it is manifested in symposium articles published during the period 1985–99. What was the field trying to accomplish? The method of investigation is narrative analysis. Using specific discourse markers (method, substantive contents, and authorial intentions), the authors found a wide variety of purposes and projects in the symposia investigated. The condition of public administration, they conclude, is distinguished by a radical pluralism—a striking absence of any singular conception of public administration scholarship.