Administration & Society current issue

Two Worlds Apart: The Divergence of National and Local Immigrant Integration Policies in the Netherlands

Poppelaars, C., Scholten, P. — 2008-06-19

Immigrant integration has become an intractable policy controversy in the Netherlands. One facet of this controversy involves the different ways in which immigrant integration has been framed by national and local governments. National government has formulated a "citizenship approach" to immigrant integration, whereas local governments often chose a more accommodative approach to migrant groups. In this article, the authors argue that this discrepancy originates from the divergent institutional logic of national and local integration policies. National integration policies have resulted from belief in strong central policy coordination, a sharp turn from depoliticization to politicization, responsiveness to a series of focus events, and mood swings during the past decades. Local integration policies, in contrast, are characterized by a considerable degree of pragmatic problem coping, in particular, the instrumental use of migrant organizations. As such, the divergent logics of national and local integration policies seem to represent two different worlds of problem framing.

Frederick Thayer and the Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere

Catlaw, T. J. — 2008-06-19

A year after his death, this article provides the first critical analysis and overview of the work of Frederick Thayer. It argues that in the contemporary context of governance, Thayer's work is more relevant than ever, but that a set of problems—including the apparent simplicity of Thayer's assault on hierarchy, his frequently bombastic prose, and the foundational nature of his critique—impede the field's engagement with his work. The article contends that Thayer's work is more nuanced and methodical than it may appear and offers important avenues for confronting some of the field's most persistent theoretical and practical problems. Perhaps most important, Thayer's work lucidly illustrates the field's misunderstanding of process theory as an account of change. As such, Thayer turns us unwittingly into a theoretical cul-de-sac that undercuts any real possibility for action and movement toward the very world for which he hoped. This has important implications for critical approaches in public administration.

A Tale of Two Bureaucrats: Joseph Nourse, Oliver Wolcott Jr., and the Forerunners of American Public Administration

White, R. D. — 2008-06-19

An examination of the careers of two of George Washington's early bureaucrats— Joseph Nourse and Oliver Wolcott—deepens our understanding of the evolution of the American bureaucratic state and its mix of career employees and political appointees. In a career spanning 52 years, Nourse, the first register of the treasury, resembles the nonpartisan merit-based civil servant who spends an entire career in public service. Wolcott, the treasury's first auditor, resembles today's political appointee whose stay in government is temporary and who enters and leaves government according to the political winds. Nourse, Wolcott, and their colleagues proved to be efficient, honest, and set high standards for today's civil servants to emulate, although they stooped to the lower ethics of the time that allowed nepotism, spoilsmanship, and stock jobbery.

Erased History: Frances Perkins and the Emergence of Care-Centered Public Administration

Burnier, D. — 2008-06-19

This article argues that the "other" reform movement associated with the settlement women that Camilla Stivers identified in Bureau Men/Settlement Women did not disappear with the Progressive era. In fact, the settlement women's emphasis on care, connection, and concrete experience came to inform the national policies, values, and practices of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, most notably in the figure of Frances Perkins. Perkins and other New Deal women administrators long have been erased from American public administration's histories. This article not only hopes to make Perkins and other New Deal women visible, but more importantly it offers a fresh reading of the 1930s based on the care perspective implicit in the settlement ethos. Such a reading would provide a more complex and gender-inclusive view of the period than the familiar textbook narrative with its focus on government growth, executive reorganization, and the "principles approach" to management.

It's All About Commensurability--Isn't It?

Oswick, D. E. — 2008-06-19