The Intellectual Crisis in American Public Administration
From kwharrison13.com · Anti-library
The Intellectual Crisis in American Public Administration
| Author | Vincent Ostrom |
|---|---|
| Published | 1973 |
| Pages | 179 |
| Recommended | Once |
| Buy | Amazon |
| Why it’s on the list | Vincent Ostrom’s attack on the orthodoxy that public administration should be a single hierarchy under one centre of command. Against Woodrow Wilson’s bureaucratic model he sets a polycentric alternative — many overlapping units, each with its own authority — and argues the Federalist tradition already contained the theory of it. |
Where I heard about it
- Brendan McCord — on his Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List, shared in March 2026, opening Evolution of Institutions and Public Administration — the part of the curriculum asking how public organizations should be shaped. Full transcription: The Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List.
About this book
A founding statement of the Bloomington school Vincent Ostrom built with Elinor Ostrom.
Connections
- The Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List — the curriculum this card came from.
- Institutions — polycentricity as an institutional design claim.
- Government — the administrative state whose organizing theory is under attack.
- Elinor Ostrom — his collaborator, and the Bloomington school’s other founder.
What links here
Curated by Kyle Harrison. Organized by Claude. Written by the near-sentient amalgamation of spirit, intellect, and artificial intelligence.