JOURNAL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS EDUCATION - naspaa

Enhancing Professional Socialization Through the Metaphor of Tradition
THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO COMBINING TRADITIONS
Given the utopian nature of ideal-types, rarely does a given scholar advocate a
tradition of public administration in its ideal-type form. This is because such an
approach would create a “trinitarian cul-de-sac” of public administration theory,
where the end state of the politics/administration relationship places democracy
at risk through
1. Over-empowerment of political micromanagement,
2. Over-empowerment of administrative discretion, or
3. Disempowerment of both politics and administration altogether
(Golembiewski, 1996).
These conditions are loosely aligned with the logical ends of the three
traditions discussed here, should they be fully implemented. Perhaps in large
part due to this inevitability, the vast majority of scholarly discussion of public
administration theory will draw elemental characteristics from two or more
traditions in their ideal-type formulations as presented here. A notable exception
would be Lowi’s (1979, 1993) firm defense of the Constitutional tradition
throughout his writings, but such cases are rare.
It also has been suggested that there may be conditions under which
differences between rival and apparently incompatible traditions may be
resolved (MacIntyre, 1988). In fact, much of the theoretical debate within
public administration is related to whether or not any of these traditions
should be primary, or whether two or more can be integrated into some
unified, comprehensive theory of public administration in order to improve
social outcomes. In many cases, a combination represents an attempt to
reform the Constitutional order, without actually bringing it into question or
calling for a revolutionary transformation (Stout, 2009). In other cases,
blending is an attempt to accommodate what is observed in empirical
reality—that neither people nor organizations tend to display pure ideal types
of any kind. In still other theories, conciliation is attempted among traditions
in order to allow dialectical tensions to persist, by claiming that awareness of
their problematical or paradoxical characteristics is the best that can be
achieved (King & Zanetti, 2005).
In what can be called “integrationist approaches” (Stout, 2007), theorists
combine or blend logics into one role conceptualization by taking what is
considered to be the “best” of all three traditions. As an exemplar, Appleby
(1952) called for a “pattern of administrative responsibility” (p.218).
Of concern are
1. Popular control,
2. Humane practice,
3. Pluralist tolerance, and
4. Responsible and unifying leadership.
To ensure all of these elements, the pattern of responsibility must begin with
Journal of Public Affairs Education 301