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Demons, Spirits, And Elephants: Reflections On The Failure Of Public Administration Theory, Melvin Dubnick

Faculty Publications

Author's Note: This paper was originally written and presented in 1999 as both a critical reflection on Public Administration's ongoing "identity crisis" and a rather (often too harsh) assessment of several recently published works that seemed exemplary of the problem being highlighted. Although some aspects of the argument made in the paper did find an outlet (see Dubnick, 2000), its length and contentious tone meant it was unlikely to find a mainstream outlet for publication. Nevertheless, it did circulate among colleagues and generated some collegial and published reaction (see Bogason et al., 2000). Eventually relegated to a location at the …