KIRLIN, John J

The big questions of public administration in a democracy - Malden, MA : Blackwell Publishers, sep./oct.1996

What are big questions wich should concern practitioners and students of public administration? Behn recently offered three big questions of public management, motivation, and measurement. Kirlin argues that the big questions of public administration in a democracy are different from those of public management and develops four criteria by which to judge questions. Seven bug questions of public administration in a democracy are offered, concerning: tools of collective action supporting a democratic polity; appropriate roles of mongovernmental collective action; tradeoffs between designs based on function versus geography; national versus local political arenas; when decisions are isolated from politics; balance among neutral competence, representativeness, and leadership; and societal learning.