Stephanie P. Newbold

The President’s Committee on Administrative Management: The Untold Story and the Federalist Connection

The final report of the President’s Committee on Administrative Management has been widely cited as a landmark study designed to improve executive branch management. This observation, however, does not tell the complete story of its constitutional complexity. In addition to the report that President Roosevelt submitted to Congress in 1937, he commissioned five additional studies that, individually and collectively, reveal the untold story of the Brownlow Project. They emphasize not only the improvement of public management but also the improvement of democracy within the American administrative state. Alexander Hamilton’s argument regarding unity of the executive—and his understanding of the imperative nature of this philosophical principle on the American constitutional republic—connects these documents. Together, the papers underscore that the legitimacy of American public administration can be found only within its constitutional heritage.

Teaching Organization Theory from a Constitutional Perspective: A New Twist on an Old Flame

Abstract Over the past 30 years, organization theory has become an increasingly important component of public affairs education. Many of our graduate programs typically require, or at least highly encourage, students to enroll in courses relating to organization theory and organization behavior and change as one way of preparing them for the many complexities of public sector management. The purpose of this article is to highlight the practical relevance and intellectual significance of teaching organization theory from a constitutional perspective. This focus highlights the argument made by constitutional school scholars (Rosenbloom 2007) that all areas of public administration curriculum should be grounded in constitutional tradition.

Connecting the Past With the Present Moses Maimonides’ Contribution to Democratic Theory, Public Administration, and Civil Society

Moses Maimonides is widely regarded as one of the most important Jewish theologians. A careful examination of his life’s work, however, reveals that he also made important contributions to the history of Western political thought, law, statesmanship, public management, and civil society. His professional career illuminates important connections between the administration of innovative public programs and how the state benefits from the collective good associated with these initiatives. Such efforts provide public administration with a rare opportunity to explore the theoretical perspectives of a political philosopher whose ideas are as strikingly modern today as they were more than nine centuries ago.

No Time like the Present: Making Rule of Law and Constitutional Competence the Theoretical and Practical Foundation for Public Administration Graduate Education Curriculum

Abstract Most Master of Public Administration (MPA) and Master of Public Policy (MPP) programs across the United States focus extensively on policy analysis, management, and leadership, because organizations like the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA), the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), and the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) have determined that these areas comprise the core intellectual and practical dimensions of the MPA and MPP degrees. The omission of required curricula that emphasize the legal and constitutional basis of public administration theory and practice should be of central concern to the public administration education community. Constitutional competence as well as a wide understanding of how the rule the of law affects nearly every dimension of public administration is not optional for effective and responsible democratic governance in the 21st century. If MPA/MPP graduates enter the public sector workforce without the knowledge that they can be held personally and professionally liable if they violate citizens’ constitutionally protected rights, public administration educators have not provided them with some of the most important skills necessary for constitutionally competent public sector management.