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This paper explores the contemporary history of that area of intellectual inquiry known as Public Administration. It focuses on developments in the 1980s and on the contribution of political science. It argues that the subject is diverse and characterized by competing theoretical frameworks. It evaluates organization theory, state theory, rational choice, public management and their associated methods. It concludes that Public Administration has reacted defensively to developments in the 1980s and that the distinctive contribution from political science lies in multi-theoretic research, methodological pluralism, setting one's own agenda, the avoidance of trivial organizations and the defence of public bureaucracies.

"The Bielefeld project sought to develop a new conception of the rules and institutional relationships in advanced industrial societies. This chapter presents an explicit summary of its conception, focusing on such concepts as interorganizational networks, guidance, control, evaluation, redundancy, and learning. It argues that the project's sociocybernetic approach is underdeveloped and identifies several avenues of relevant theoretical and empirical development." (author's abstract)

Argues that the subject is diverse and characterized by competing theoretical frameworks. Evaluates organization theory, state theory, rational choice, public management and their associated methods and concludes that Public Administration has reacted defensively to developments in the 1980s. (Abstract amended)

This article has four objectives: to characterize briefly the literature on policy communities and policy networks; to provide a summary of, and to appraise critically, British contributions to the topic; to identify the problems with the concept; and to suggest future lines of development.

Attempts to demonstrate that differentiation, disaggregation and interdependence are of equivalent importance to parliamentary sovereignty, cabinet government and prime ministerial power for the analysis of British government in general and territorial politics in particular. Concludes that postwar trends cannot be seen as the erosion of 'local autonomy' but are better described as the growth of interdependence between levels of government; the proliferation of ambiguous and confused relationships; and thus the coexistence of fragmentation in the centre with the centralisation of each policy network. (Abstract amended)

Fifteen years after local government reorganisation, major upheavals call for further reform. Drawing on the Widdicombe and Institute of Local Government Studies reports, considers the situation and appraises the options which are available to the government. (PAS)