The discipline of public administration draws predominantly from political and organizational theory, but also from other social and behavioral sciences, philosophy, and even theology. This diversity results in conflicting prescriptions for the "proper" administrative role. So, how are those new to public administration to know which ideas are "legitimate"?

Rather than accepting conventional arguments for administrative legitimacy through delegated constitutional authority or expertise, Logics of Legitimacy: Three Traditions of Public Administration Praxis...

Mary Parker Follett, a Progressive Era theorist called the "prophet of management" by Peter Drucker, is winning transdisciplinary converts as the world catches up with her. But as the authors argue, her work cannot be appreciated without understanding its grounding in relational process ontology. This book not only provides that necessary key, but it presents in one volume the major ideas and disciplines found in her work. The authors provide the structure, but fill it with Follett's own words-a wonderfully wise decision that lets readers be converted by Mary Parker Follett herself.

This book presents a critique of dominant governance theories grounded in an understanding of existence as a static, discrete, mechanistic process, while also identifying the failures of theories that assume dynamic alternatives of either a radically collectivist or individualist nature. Relationships between ontology and governance practices are established, drawing upon a wide range of social, political, and administrative theory. Employing the ideal-type method and dialectical analysis to establish meanings, the authors develop a typology of four dominant approaches to governance.

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