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Contending Paradigms in Public Administration

A Sign of Crisis or Intellectual Vitality?

Washington State University

This brief article argues that contemporary public administration theory and practice can be well served by the competition between two opposing paradigms, each claiming the status of a disciplinary Weltanschauung. The two approaches in question, one reflecting pessimistic and the other optimistic views on the potential for societal betterment via the improvement of governmental administrative organizations and practices, are well reflected in the works of Vincent Ostrom and Robert T. Golembiewski and their respective kindred spirits. Because the issues that divide these two approaches are central to the question of proper democratic governance in the postindustrial age, the potential exists for a creative contribution to social life by public administration theory.

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