Founders, the Constitution, and Public Administration A Conflict in World Views

Name: Founders, the Constitution, and Public Administration A Conflict in World Views
Price: 9.89 USD
Availability: InStock
ISBN: 9780878405824

ISBN-10: 0878405828

ISBN-13: 9780878405824

Edition: 1995

Authors: Michael W. Spicer

List price: $59.95

This item qualifies for FREE shipping.

30 day, 100% satisfaction guarantee!

Buy new: $60.03

Marketplace

2 new & used from $9.89

what's this?

Rush Rewards U
Members Receive:

You have reached 400 XP and carrot coins. That is the daily max!

Description:

Viewed alternately as an obstacle to justice, an impediment to efficient government, and a tool by which some groups gain benefits and privileges at the expense of others, public administration threatens to become the whipping boy of American government. In this innovative look at the nation's bureaucracy, Michael W. Spicer revisits the values of the Constitution in order to reconcile the administrative state to its many critics.Drawing on political and social philosophy, Spicer argues that there is a fundamental philosophical conflict over the role of reason in society between writers in public administration and the designers of the American Constitution. This examination of worldviews…

Book details

List price: $59.95
Copyright year: 1995
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
Publication date: 3/1/1995
Binding: Paperback
Pages: 128
Size: 6.00" wide x 9.00" long x 0.41" tall
Weight: 0.550
Language: English



Preface



Introduction: The Uneasy Status of Public Administration


The Lack of Legitimacy of Public Administration


Why Worry About Legitimacy?


Public Administration and the U.S. Constitution


Critics of the Constitution


The Importance of Worldviews


The Purpose of this Work


The Relevance of this Work



Rationalist and Anti-rationalist Worldviews


The Rationalist Worldview


Rationalist Thought


The Anti-Rationalist Worldview


Anti-Rationalist Thought



The Worldviews of Public Administration and the Constitution


Rationalism and Public Administration: The Early Writers


Rationalism and Public Administration: Contemporary Writers


Anti-Rationalism and the Founders



On the Checking of Power: The Logic of a Constitution


Interests


Passions


Unintended Exploitation


Majority Rule


The Use of Knowledge



Visions of Public Administration


"Discretionists" and "Instrumentalists"


The Friedrich Argument


The Finer Argument


The Friedrich-Finer Debate and the Checking of Power



An Anti-rationalist Vision of Public Administration


Administrative Discretion and Checking Power


Modern Writings on Administration as a Check on Power


The Anglo-American Tradition of Administrative Discretion


Checking Administrative Power: Rules and Procedures


Checking Administrative Power: Citizen Participation


Inertia, Inflexibility and Impersonality


Constrained Discretion



The Ethics of Administrative Discretion


Anti-Rationalism and Ethics


Personal Honesty


Neutrality


Utility


Social Equity


Common-Law Reasoning


Consensus



Summary and Conclusion


The Contemporary Relevance of the Anti-Rationalist Vision


Anti-Rationalism in the Administrative State


Toward a New Perspective


References


Index