Contemporary India

22

The Changing Nature of Public Administration

Suranjita Ray

INTRODUCTION

Public administration is both a profession as well as a discipline. As a profession it is as old as civilization itself. But it emerged as a discipline only after Woodrow Wilson first systematically conceptualized it in 1887. As a great protagonist of the managerial approach to public administration, Woodrow Wilson was the first to shift the focus from exclusive discussion on the nature of the State and the purpose of government to ‘government in action’. He believed that ‘if administration had an effective role in a democracy then its practice must be constantly improved by studying its problems in one’s country as well as learnt by carefully examining the ways and means ...