# Refounding Public Administration

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***Refounding Public Administration*** (1990) is a noted text in the [public administration](/source/Public_administration) field that formulated a multi-faceted argument that government is properly an agential and active servant of the [public good](/source/Public_good_(economics)). It is among a very few books that have been pivotal in defining public administration as a distinct field from [political science](/source/Political_science) with its own theory and raison d'etre. Other works in this genre include Dwight Waldo's *[The Administrative State](/source/The_Administrative_State)* and [Frederick C. Mosher](/source/Frederick_C._Mosher)'s *[Democracy and the Public Service](/source/Democracy_and_the_Public_Service)*. The work was edited by [Gary Wamsley](/source/Gary_Wamsley), who contributed a classic essay on bureaucratic [agency](/source/Human_sgency), and also includes works by [Charles Goodsell](/source/Charles_Goodsell), [John Rohr](/source/John_Rohr), [Camilla Stivers](/source/Camilla_Stivers), [Orion White](/source/Orion_White), [Philip Kronenberg](/source/Philip_Kronenberg), James Wolf and others.

A follow-on volume called *[Refounding Democratic Public Administration](/source/Refounding_Democratic_Public_Administration)* was edited by Wamsley and Wolf. These works have strongly influenced the development of the [Center for Public Administration and Policy](/source/Center_for_Public_Administration_and_Policy) as a center of public administration research.

## See also

- *[The Administrative State](/source/The_Administrative_State)*
- [public administration theory](/source/Public_administration_theory)

## References

- Wamsley, Gary L. *Refounding public administration.* Newbury Park, Calif.:Sage Publications, 1990. ISBN 0-8039-3723-7
- Wamsley, Gary L. and James F. Wolf. *Refounding democratic public administration: modern paradoxes, postmodern challenges.* Sage Publications, 1996. ISBN 0-8039-5976-1

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