What is Public Administration?

Public administration has a history of being hard to define. Attempts to define 'public' and 'administration' and then put them together does not give justice to the true nature of public administration. Different experts have different definitions of public administration, as students of public administration know well. Also, while public administration has a long history, its time in an American democracy is relatively short, but just as important. I'll address both the definition of public administration and the role it plays in our country.

Simply put, public administration translates laws into action. Public administration exists to implement law, because laws do not implement themselves. Without public administration, we would not have our mail delivered to our homes, police and firefighters would not be available in emergencies, welfare workers and the military would have nothing to do, there would be no Peace Corps volunteers sent to places in need, and space exploration would be nonexistent! And more! Public administration touches nearly every aspect of our lives-from the safety of the food we eat to what happens to the waste we produce when that food comes out our other end. It reaches into every branch of government as well-executive, legislative, and judicial (Shafritz & Hyde, 2008).

Don't just take my word for it, though. Many experts have had their say as well. Woodrow Wilson was far more eloquent than me when he defined public administration as the "detailed and systematic execution of public law" (Kettl & Fesler, 2009, p. 43). To paraphrase Leonard D. White, public administration is the efficient execution of public business (1926). H. George Fredericks and Camilla Stivers would add "socially equitable" to that definition. Combining the above experts' definitions with mine, public administration is the socially equitable execution of public laws into action. However, if you ask Robert Parker and some other experts, they will say that "there really is no such subject as 'public administration'" at all (Shafritx & Hyde, 2008, p. 434)!

Next, while United States public administration may have first sprung from the roots of public administration in Great Britain (Shafritz & Hyde, 2008), it has become a crucial thread in the fabric of our democracy. In our country, our democracy, the people elect those who they want to govern them. When our legislators pass a law and one of our executives signs that law, it is up to the public administrators to implement that law. Otherwise the law is merely writing on a page, and nothing gets done. Our democracy would be a useless conglomeration of elected officials and representatives without public administration to put their leadership into action.

To sum up, the definitions (or even existence as a subject) of public administration can vary significantly depending on the source. Often defined by what it isn't (private) or by examples of its action (police and firefighters, etc), public administration is broad and its definitions vary with each interpreter. Regardless of definition, though, public administration is a crucial part of American life and democracy, and its study is certainly worthwhile.

References

Kettl, D. F. & Fessler, J. W. (2009). The Politics of the Administrative Process. Washington,

D.C.: CQ Press.

Shafritz, J. M. & Hyde, A. C. (2008). Classics of Public Administration. Boston: Wadsworth,

Cengage Learning.

White, L.D. (1926). Introduction to the Study of Public Administration. Upper Saddle River:

Prentice-Hall.