The Case for Bureaucracy: A Public Administration Polemic

This new edition incorporates the events of 9/11 to explore their impact on future bureaucratic performance, speaking specifically to the massive reorganization under the new Department of Homeland Security. As well, Goodsell offers a complete assessment of the reinventing government movement and related reforms to show how far bureaucracies have come, while pointing to the challenges they continue to face.

Updating worth highlighting:

• New data on public perceptions of bureaucracy.
• New section on the delegation of policy implementation to contractors and nonprofits.
• New statistics regarding quality-of-life improvements in American society since the 1980s.
• New profiles of real bureaucrats--and citizen interaction with them--giving bureaucracy a human face.
• New material on bureaucratic contributions to the political system that go beyond implementing policy.
• New coverage of the administrative consolidation following 9/11 and competitive outsourcing by the Bush Administration.
• New analysis of current reform proposals focused on market competition and business management practices.
• New proposals for ways to improve bureaucracy.