PARADIGMS OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: CONFIGURATIONS OF THE FIELD IN OUR TIME

Abstract

Public Administration has evolved from a relatively narrow, state-centric administrative craft into a multi-paradigmatic field drawing on economics, sociology, psychology, and governance studies. Building on Nicholas Henry’s classic notion of paradigms in public administration, this article reviews how contemporary public administration science is structured around several partially competing, partially complementary paradigms, including Traditional Public Administration, New Public Management, New Public Governance, the New Public Service, public value, and digital era-oriented approaches, and Behavioral Public Administration. Using a narrative literature review, it examines their core assumptions regarding the role of the state, the image of the citizen, dominant values, and preferred instruments. The discussion shows that, rather than a linear replacement of one paradigm by another, current public administration is characterized by hybridization and contextual variation across countries and levels of government. The conclusion makes the case that this multi-paradigmatic situation is likely to continue and that future studies should concentrate on how many paradigms are selectively merged in reality, particularly in non-Western contexts and in times of polycrisis and digital transition.