Is occupational locus or focus important for public service motivation? Does national context influence public service motivation? To answer both questions, the author examines attitudes toward work motives from national samples in 11 North American and Western European nations using multilevel binary logistic regression analysis. The findings demonstrate that the locus of an occupation in gove…
Intensified globalization, especially the necessity to learn more about how administrative reforms work effectively in different cultural contexts, requires public administration research to embrace comparative perspectives. How well is the field advancing in that direction? This article presents the results of a content analysis of 151 comparative public administration articles from 2000 to 20…
Government efforts to manage the financial crisis and to promote economic recovery have been extensive over the past three years. Hundreds of billions of dollars have been distributed—and much of it now repaid—from the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The Federal Reserve holds more than $2 trillion in mortgage-backed securities, collateralized loans to financial institutions, and other assets and…
What is the role of stipends as an institutional facilitator in volunteer civic service? By examining the relationship of stipend receipt to volunteer diversity, time commitment, and perceived benefits from a longitudinal study of older adults serving in Experience Corps, this article assesses stipend status relative to volunteer sociodemographic characteristics, motivations, intensity and dura…
Does current accumulated wealth by nonprofit organizations influence contributions from individuals? Existing research demonstrates that financial reserves aid program continuity during economic downturns. Yet donors, charity watchdogs, and policy makers voice concern about accumulated wealth in nonprofits. This empirical analysis examines whether the expected negative relationship occurs when …
This study investigates the relative effects of four types of family-friendly policies—child care subsidies, paid leave for family care, telework, and alternative work schedules—on turnover rates and effectiveness in federal agencies. Contemporary social exchange theory predicts that an agency’s average level of satisfaction with a specific family-friendly policy is negatively associated with t…
While various descriptive and prescriptive citizen participation models suggest ways to improve citizen participation, none has been subjected to large-scale empirical tests. This article develops and tests an organizational theory model that explores the conditions under which citizen involvement as a general strategy can improve administrative decision making. The new model focuses on organiz…
Japan is the only country to suffer twice from the terrible consequences of atomic bombs. Hiroshima and Nagasaki are renowned internationally for experiencing the first twin devastating nuclear attacks in history. Unfortunately, Japan has witnessed several other serious nuclear-related disasters in recent years. The much-publicized Fukushima disaster in 2011 is one of them. How could such a ser…
This case study reviews the enactment and implementation of the National Security Personnel System (NSPS) in the U.S. Department of Defense. Proponents of reform seized the opportunity to enact reform in the aftermath of 9/11, basing their arguments on national security concerns. However, the policy-making process did not produce a consensus for reform among key stakeholders in the personnel ma…
What should be done to advance the study of public administration? A strong argument is advanced by outgoing PAR managing editor Jos C. N. Raadschelders that the field benefits significantly from greater attention to ontology and epistemology. To be sure, empirical, evidence-based research has its place, but its basis and the meaning of findings seldom are questioned. Why? Many public administr…
Federalist No. 1 sets the basic framework for interpreting the U.S. Constitution. It contains an implied definition of “good government” that occupied the founders as they built a stronger national government. This essay explains the conflict embedded in the debate between the two theories of good government offered by Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson and asks how the competing definitio…
Federalist Nos. 6 and 7 address the problems of disunion that led the founders to imagine a stronger national government, arguing that the states were and would continue to be a source of unyielding conflict without national supremacy. This essay asks how the states have adjusted to the Constitution under the Tenth Amendment and posits that the states are a hidden source of energy toward good g…
Federalist No. 10 arguably is the most frequently read of the Federalist Papers, in no small measure because it offers a distinct and often negative image of the polity as a source of conflict. It argues that factions cannot be tamed, but they can be controlled. This essay argues that factions have weakened effective public administration and offers a detailed discussion of the proliferation of…
Federalist No. 10 contains an optimistic view of the national government's ability to fulfill its obligations in the midst of what was, at the time, a small but challenged nation. This essay suggests that the founders did not anticipate the pernicious effects of rent seeking, corruption, and repression of minorities, and they failed to anticipate the calamities associated with slavery. The essa…
Federalist No. 23 offers a strong case for national power and the need to grant “means proportional to the end” to the new government. This essay argues that the founders could not have anticipated the breadth of today's national agenda and offers a framework for designing a more strategic and effective public enterprise.
One of the great themes of The Federalist Papers is that good government is dependent on good administration. In Federalist No. 27, Publius underscores two important themes. First, he argues that in order to preserve citizen confidence in government, there must be competent administration, and second, he maintains the need for a strong national government to safeguard the republican principles …
Federalist Nos. 12 and 30–36 describe the benefits of a national fiscal system with independent revenues, arguing that a strong national government cannot exist for long without the means to raise revenues on its own. This essay examines the national fiscal policy process during this period of economic crisis and rising national debt. It provides a detailed assessment of needed reforms in the b…
Federalist Nos. 41–43 provide a unified justification for the powers granted to the national government by posing a series of questions about the four classes of responsibilities, such as declaring war. This essay examines the role of polarization in limiting the coordination of powers needed for effective administration and uses ideology estimates for four states to illustrate the difficulties…
Federalist No. 44 examines the connective mechanisms underlying a federal system of government. Traditionally called “intergovernmental relations,” these systems were intended to facilitate the pursuit of effective implementation of national policies. This essay suggests that the national government's officers should not be impressed by collaboration unless it produces better performance or low…
Federalist No. 51 is another of the most recognizable and important of the Federalist Papers, famously arguing that one first must enable government to control the governed, and then oblige it to control itself. The authors suggest that part of this obligation involves effective collaboration within a system of separate powers. They then ask how this “collaboration imperative” can be exercised …