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H. George Frederickson’s The Spirit of Public Administration Essay

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H. George Frederickson’s “The Spirit of Public Administration” is an informative yet drab look at motivating public administrators. Frederickson discusses a wide variety of topics that would be useful to any public administrator, but the verbiage used is a bit difficult for an individual that may be entering into the service field “The Spirit of Public Administration is broken down into three parts. These parts are:
Part I: Governance, Politics, and the Public
Part II: Issues of Fairness
Part III: Ethics, Citizenship, and Benevolence in Public Administration
Frederickson did take the initiative to explain public administration and some of its functions before going in-depth on different facets of the role. Some great topics discussed …show more content…

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Chapter 2 and 3 discusses the political aspect of public administration and governance. In Chapter2, Frederickson discusses the theory on which his book is based upon, the Hamiltonian tradition. This chapter makes valid points in how important it is for administrators to be versed in politics. Administrators are not delegated power through the U.S. Constitution, but state constitutions are political processes allow for administrators to be more involved in government. Through this vital tool, administrators are able to profoundly assist the public. After addressing the political aspect, Frederickson makes a smooth transition in Chapter 3 to discuss governance. Frederickson points out that there are several different definitions in defining governance. Frederickson makes a profound remark by stating, “it is likely that governance is the preferred modern theory that attempts to marry politics to administration (p. 92).” Frederickson also list five vital points pertaining to governance (p.92):
1. Governance is a positive symbol
2. Governance is a remarkable fusion of popular literature on government reform, popular executive politics, serious empirical scholarship, and modern public administration theory.
3. Public administration as

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