Dwight Waldo and Education for Public Administration

Author(s): H. George Frederickson

Source: Journal of Public Affairs Education , Jan., 1999, Vol. 5, No. 1 (Jan., 1999), pp.
5-11
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.

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 Dwight Waldo and Education for Public Administration

H. George Frederickson
The University of Kansas

Abstract To study modern public administration is to have been influenced

by Dwight Waldo; to do research in public administration is to have
Dwight Waldo, a primary influence in public
administration education from the 1940s been influenced by Dwight Waldo. Although it is less well known, it is
through the 1970s, continues to profoundly also the case that to teach public administration is to have been influ-
affect educators and researchers.This article
enced by Dwight Waldo.This is true not only in the United States but
examines Waldo's far-reaching and forward-look-
ing contributions to public administration, in much of the world. The breadth and depth of that influence is
including his impact on pedagogy, the use of the great, too great for this article; therefore, I shall take a narrow slice and
case method, his appreciation for art and the
attempt to digest it.
administrative novel in teaching, his views on
appropriate elements of the public administra- Education for public administration has been a continuing and
tion curriculum, and the relationship of public recurring theme in Dwight Waldo's writing. Most of his essays and
administration to political science.
books after The Administrative State (1948) include at least a section,
and often a healthy section, on the subject. Several well-known Waldo
essays exclusively address education for public administration (1958,
1962, 1977). If there is an expert on the subject of education for pub-
lic administration in the period from 1950 through 1970, it would be
Dwight Waldo. He would, of course, deny any such standing and claim
no such expertise.
To understand Waldo's beliefs and opinions about education for
public administration, one must begin with what he labeled self-aware
public administration- that is, public administration as a field of study
in contrast to public administration as a practice.The Waldo synthesis
of self-aware public administration understands the field to be a form
of politics; regards the separation of facts and values associated with
logical positivism to be wrongheaded; believes that ethics and values
are or should be at the core of the study of politics and therefore the
study of public administration; sees public administration as an
applied, interdisciplinary field of professional practice; regards history
and philosophy as essential to an understanding of the field; and con-
nects citizenship and culture to public administration.
With this background, I turn to Dwight Waldo's specific contribu-
tions to education for public administration: pedagogy and teaching;
the case method; art and the administrative novel; the proper content
of the MPA curriculum; and the place of public administration in polit-
JPAE5(1999):1:5-11 ical science.

Journal of Public Affairs Education 5

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Dwight Waldo and Education for Public Administration

Pedagogy and Teaching In the 1990s, the public choice perspective is one
Waldo taught public administration for almost of the dominant theories, if not the dominant theory,
four decades, and was once asked what lessons he of public administration. In the early 1970s, Vincent
would pass on to others. He said, "Four questions Ostrom published The Intellectual Crisis in
were central in much teaching in the social-science American Public Administration, one of the leading
area.The first is: What are we talking about? Is this early presentations of the public choice argument.
Waldo said of Ostrom, and by comparison, of him-
thing a concept, a problem or a fact? Second, how do
we know? What tests of truth are relevant and admis- self:

sible? Third, compared to what? Fourth, what differ-

ence does it make" (Brown and Stillman, 1986, 141). Ostrom had experienced the intellectual-theoret-
This somewhat Socratic formula seems to match ical criticisms and problems I reviewed. In addi-
the common graduate student critique of the Waldo tion, his practical experience had demonstrated
method. A Waldo seminar was based on the literature the inapplicability- and worse- of old rigid
and involved definitions, theories, ideas, evidence, doctrines. And he had what it seems proper to
examples. Waldo himself seldom professed. Indeed, call a "conversion" experience.The proper
he is a self-described centrist, a professor who approach, he came to believe, had been revealed
knows the questions, knows their importance, and is by the Public Choice school. As I see it, there is
prepared to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of little gain in replacing the "dogmas of centraliza-
"answers" (Waldo, 1980). tion" with those of devolution, privatization and
As both a technique of analysis and a form of ped- private enterprise, as Ostrom does. I am perenni-
agogy, Waldo often used the "paired alternatives" ally in the middle, or perhaps in a muddle, and I
method. He is famous, of course, for his considera- seek a path between the two extremes (Brown
tion of bureaucracy and democracy as paired alterna- and Stillman, 1986, 105).
tives. In the midst of the turmoil of the late 1960s
and early 1970s, and following the Minnowbrook The description of Ostrom's conversion to public
Conference, Waldo published a collection of essays choice theory can be compared to Waldo's own con-
under the title Public Administration in a Time of version to public administration. (Recall that both
Turbulence (1971). His closing essay is the most Ostrom and Waldo served as editor-in-chief of the
complete available example of his paired alternativesPublic Administration Review.)WMo was a student
method. Along with democracy-bureaucracy, this of English, history, and political theory. He never
essay is a thoughtful treatment of centralization- took a course in public administration. Writing his
decentralization, politics-administration, efficiency- dissertation taught him public administration. He
inefficiency, stability-change, and rising-lowering had, as he describes it, an immaculate conversion,
expectations. without aid of curriculum, course, or degree. His
In Waldo's final semester at the Maxwell School, understanding of the field was deeply informed by
he gave a series of "out-of-course valedictory lec- his knowledge of history and philosophy and his
tures" that were later published as The Enterprise of acquired knowledge of public administration. It was
Public Administration (1980).Again he used paired his richly informed attitude and perspective that was
alternatives, such as the rise and decline of adminis- unique (Waldo, 1984, ix).
tration, and variations on paired alternatives, such as Both conversions were powerfully influential in
the development of a map of competing obligations, public administration and in education for public
to explain issues of ethics in public administration. administration, but in different ways. Ostrom is per-
Throughout his writing and his teaching one often haps stronger on answers, and particularly the
encounters words such as dilemma, paradox, and answer. Waldo is stronger on the understanding of
ambivalence. questions and on the nuances of possible answers.

5 Journal of Public Affairs Education

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 Dwight Waldo and Education for Public Administration

Waldo's centrist perspectives may be partially a ly sought to escape "the dead hand of social sci-
function of his personality. He tends to a natural ence."To replace an empiricism derived from behav-
reserve, until acquainted, with others. He is an extra- ioral social science research, the policy schools
ordinary listener. He tends to be as careful in conver- turned to in-depth case analysis as the basis of poli-
sation as he is in scholarship. It was not unusual for cy knowledge and as the centerpiece of the gradu-
young graduate students calling on Professor Waldo ate public policy curriculum. With the widespread
for the first time to experience uncomfortably long use of the case method in public policy schools, the
periods of silence. Gradually they learned that Waldo vigor of the case program at the Kennedy School,
was fully prepared to discuss the literature, matters and the prominence of cases in so-called postbehav-
of theory, and the like, but he seldom guided the ioral research, cases are in vogue. Waldo was at least
conversation or felt obliged to keep it going.The twenty years ahead of his time.
most deadly questions tended to be those that
sought personal advice or even professional guid- ART AND THE ADMINISTRATIVE NOVEL
ance.This should not be mistaken for a lack of car- Akin to Waldo's interest in cases is his early work
ing or interest. Waldo worked closely with students on the novel and the novelist:

and colleagues in a highly effective manner. He is

simply cautious with prescription and most comfort- When, in the forties, I turned first to the prac-
able in the world of ideas. tice and then to the professional study of public
administration, I turned also to the reading of
The Case Method "administrative novels"- as I have come to call
Waldo served for many years on the board of the them. . . .With the passage of time my interest in
Inter-University Case Program. He is favorably the administrative novel became what might be
inclined to the use of cases in public administration described as a hobby. ... I became- and
education, because cases in many ways match his remain- convinced that from such novels one

synthesis of the field and his views of theory. For can learn a great deal of value, and learn it pain-
example, cases are both empirical and practical; they lessly; and that practicing administrators and stu-
are based on experience and are not limited to logic dents of administration ought to be aware of
or deduction; they are useful in the classroom; they and exploit this resource (1968).
are historical; they constitute a vicarious (these days
we would say virtual) experience; and they enhance These words are from a mimeographed 157-page
the capacity to see the whole matter rather than just monograph bound in a green University of
one part.The case is compatible with Waldo's con- California, Berkeley, Institute of Governmental
cern for context. Most important, by case analysis it Studies cover. Despite the fugitive nature of this pub-
is possible to explore the subtleties of, for example, lication, it was widely distributed and read. Waldo
the gray areas between politics and administration. later said of it, "I had a chance to publish this work
Finally, the case method is an especially useful commercially. But I chose soft cover. ... My reason
approach to illuminating issues of ethics in public was that I was afraid of what the "literary" reviewers
administration. Waldo praises the Wayne Leys book would do with their sharp knives if they caught me
on ethics and public policy for its use of the case between hard covers" (Brown and Stillman, 1986,
method in bringing ethical questions to life (1952). 111).
Waldo's essay on the case method in public He may still be right.To public administration
administration education was published in 1962. For scholars, however, Waldo's little monograph on the
twenty years these views were probably beyond the novels and novelists became a precious teaching
second standard deviation from the mean opinion in resource.Although the novels used as examples are
the field.Then in the late 1970s and the early 1980s, now dated, I believe that Waldo's eighty-page essay
the public policy schools emerged and conspicuous- on the administrative novel (the other half of the

Journal of Public Affairs Education 7

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Dwight Waldo and Education for Public Administration

monograph is composed of paragraph-long abstracts ty without the irritations of bureaucra

of administrative novels) is still without parallel. rat-race of contemporary affairs.
Again, Waldo was ahead of his time. In the last five On the other hand, who among us d
years, the Section on Humanistic, Artistic and find bureaucracy irritating and does no
Reflective Expressions has been established in the the rat-race were less of a race (and had
American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), rats in it, of course)? (Waldo, 1965, 54).
and the section journal Public Voices has begun pub-
lication (Waldo is on the board of editors). Panels on When viewed this way, literature, the ad
novels and poetry have been presented at recent tive novel, and administrative fiction are
annual meetings of both ASPA and the American which to "see" public administration. Our
Political Science Association (APSA). In 1995, Charles would probably attest that bureaucracy c
T. Goodsell and Nancy Murray edited and published ing to study and teach. Waldo, given his
Public Administration Illuminated and Inspired by and philosophical perspectives, underst
the Arts. In the preface they wrote, early on and recognized that good literat
primary tool by which the study of bure
For general intellectual inspiration in the could be made interesting.
endeavor, we must thank Dwight Waldo. Dr.
Waldo began the first serious inquiry into this The MPA Curriculum

subject nearly forty years ago. As all students of Waldo's views of the public administration cur-
public administration know, his influence on the riculum (assume that the subject of curriculum usu-
development of the field has been of epic pro- ally means the curriculum for the MPA degree) are,
portions, with his work on administrative fiction as one would expect, at the median.They are framed
but a small segment of the pioneering work he by his opinions of what the primary objectives of
has done all across the discipline (xi). teaching political science should be. In opposition to
political scientists identified with behavioralism and
In one of his paired alternatives, Waldo compared logical positivism and who tend to favor methodolo-
the differences between the administrative subcul- gy and economics as the MPA core, Waldo argues
ture (culture is a favorite Waldo method for consider- that ethics and values should be the core of the pub-
ing context) and the literary subculture.The literary lic administration curriculum and that its purposes
subculture, to Waldo, comprises "those who write should be to teach students citizenship and democ-
and read 'serious' literature. . .in terms of ideas, atti- racy, to prepare them for public service, and only
tudes and skills" (Waldo, 1965, 53)The administra- after that to train them for research (Waldo, 1958).
tive subculture is, of course, bureaucracy (either in While president of NASPAA, Waldo presided over
the corporate or governmental sphere) and the peo- the development of the peer review process, which
ple like us who study and teach it. Waldo (1965, 54) later evolved into the accreditation of MPA pro-
finds estrangement between these subcultures, and grams. Waldo favors accreditation and a baseline MPA
he finds it worth our concern: curriculum with "common curriculum components"
that include organizational knowledge and manage-
The man of letters strikes me as often ignorant ment skills, quantitative analytic skills, economic and
and confused. He is hostile and unhappy, and he financial knowledge, and so forth.There are now
strikes out against the administrative subculture more than one hundred accredited MPA programs,
that seems to him to create, or represent, the and it is safe to say that there now is considerable
shabby, nasty, dangerous world he sees standardization of what is understood to constitute a
he really wants, it would seem, proper
is anMPA education.
unreal
world which has all of the essentials of moderni-

8 Journal of Public Affairs Education

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 Dtuight Waldo and Education for Public Administration

Waldo believes that there should be more law and casebook in the field, Public Administration and
history in the MPA curriculum, that ethics should bePolicy Development. It is a book of particular impor-
a requirement, and that a knowledge of American tance according to Waldo because it was, at the time,
democratic institutions is essential. the fullest articulation of the close connection
He was not worried about a NASPAA monopoly between public administration and public policy. In
on the MPA or the development of a one-size-fits-all the 1960s and 1970s, Waldo, along with everyone
MPA curriculum forced on all universities wishing to else, witnessed the discontinuation of MPA programs
be accredited. Because the MPA degree has flour- in the political science departments of many of the
ished under accreditation, he has been proved to be leading universities in the United States and their
right. replacement with schools or programs of policy
Waldo supports the NASPAA big-tent assumption analysis or policy study. Waldo argued that ASPA and
that MPA degrees or their equivalents could be other professional associations should be more
based in political science departments, schools of responsive to the emergence of policy schools and
public policy, schools of business or management, or that it was unwise to let the field balkanize into pub-
in freestanding or autonomous schools or depart- lic administration and policy studies camps:
ments. In the past twenty-five years, NASPAA has suc-
cessfully kept most of the public administration edu- I think the policy studies initiative was in order.
cation family together under the big tent, while at Public administration, having recognized policy
the same time it has achieved a shared understand- making as a part of administration, has not
ing of what the MPA degree should be. Waldo was responded as it should to the challenge. On the
right about both curriculum and the logic of the big other hand, the initial advantage of a new name
tent, and NASPAAs continued success is good evi- and a fresh start has faded. What I see happening
dence of it. is some convergence, under whatever label, of
In public administration education we tend to the interests represented by more or less tradi-
take our symbols and style seriously. Thus we debate tional public administration and more or less new
the meaning of public administration as compared to policy studies (Brown and Stillman, 1986, 149).
public management, as compared to public affairs,
and as compared to public policy. Waldo is ecumeni- The balkanization Waldo feared did to some
cal on the matter: extent occur, particularly with the emergence of the
Association for Public Policy Analysis and
My argument is this: Let's pay attention to the Management (APPAM). Universities, students, and fac-
substance and not argue over words. If the style ulties are influenced by style and status, often as
"public administration" is not strategic in any weak surrogates for quality, and when several presti-
given situation- if it conjures up POSDCORB gious universities developed public policy programs
and all that- then don't push it.To the contrary, that were pointedly described as not public adminis-
if public affairs, public management, or adminis- tration, there was some balkanization. Master's
trative sciences are stylish, take advantage of degree programs in public policy associated with
them in mounting a program of integrity. But, APPAM have recently embraced public management
yes, in my ideal world, I'll opt for public adminis- and leadership and are now somewhat less
tration. Its lineage is honorable and its meaning estranged from traditional public administration.
is most correct and apt (Brown and Stillman, NASPAA has been a help because, even if faculty
1986, 120). from these schools have not been active in ASPA or
APSA, many are members of NASPAA, their deans par-
Harold Stein, the first director of the Inter- ticipate in NASPAA, and some even have their mas-
University Case Program, produced the first major ter's degree programs in public policy accredited.

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Dwight Waldo and Education for Public Administration

The Puce of Public Administration democratic government, and, therefore, contempo-

in Political Science rary writing and teaching about bureaucracy and
Finally, there is the matter of what Waldo democracy almost always begins with Waldo. He also
describes as the estrangement of public administra-set the standards for quality of writing, for clarity of
elaboration, and for moving academic public admin-
tion from political science. Having lived through the
behavioral revolution in political science, and at istration from just knowledge to understanding-
which is, after all, the purpose of education.
Berkeley to boot, it is no wonder that he was and is
concerned that the place of public administration as In the late 1960s, Waldo wrote a lengthy supple-
ment to an issue of the Annals of the American
a self-aware field be secure among political scientists
as a legitimate subfield.The recent news is good.The
Academy of Political and Social Sciences, simply
Section on Public Administration is one of the largest
called "Developments in Public Administration." In it
and most vigorous inAPSA.The Gaus Award, which he made several predictions about public administra-
tion and processes of societal transformation. He
goes annually to a leading political scientist specializ-
ing in public administration (and which Waldo guessed that public administration would be central-
received in 1992), is now one of the primary eventsly involved in the processes and substance of social
at the annual conference. Recent and upcoming change and transformation; that public administra-
tion would in itself be a subject of stress, ferment,
presidents of ASPA include such noted public admin-
istration specialists as Aaron Wildavsky, James Q. and change; and that public administration would
Wilson, and Elinor Ostrom. In some respects, publicface an entire range of new administrative and orga-
nizational issues.
administration is having it both ways - as a separate
academic subject and still a part of political science.These were good guesses. Public administration
Now that requires good politics. has been at the center of major stress and ferment,
Dwight Waldo, more than anyone else, made pub- manifest in bureaucrat bashing; charges of fraud,
lic administration safe for political science.The waste, and abuse; cutback; downsizing; privatization;
Waldo synthesis is generally embraced by political and all the rest. Public administration is probably
scientists who specialize in public administration. changing more rapidly now than at any time in
For MPA programs in political science departmentsrecent history (Kettl, 1993). One reason for this rapid
change is governmental devolution; another is the
(about 40 percent of MPA programs), this is a partic-
ularly important point. Waldo's rejection of logical shift to contracts, coproduction, and privatization.
positivism and his reservations about the behavioralStill another reason is arguments in both the politi-
movement were well out of the main stream twenty-
cal sphere and in the public administration sphere
five years ago.Today, however, his emphasis on for reinventing government- a combination of mar-
ket logic, competition, entrepreneurial leadership,
ethics, values, service, and above all on public admin-
contracting, and innovation- a muscular, almost
istration as a form of politics are increasingly accept-
able in even the best of political science circles. swaggering, public administration that claims to do
more with less (Osborne and Gaebler, 1992). Despite
Conclusions the claim that reinventing government is essentially
If there was a primary influence in education for
a management argument, it is, as Waldo teaches us, a
public administration from the mid 1940s to the late
political argument clothed in the language of man-
1970s, it was Dwight Waldo. He influenced curricu-agement (Kettl, 1994).
lum and pedagogy, and he influenced how those of So Waldo had it right all along. From bureaucrat
us who teach public administration see and under-
bashing to reinventing government, public adminis-
stand the field. He set the standards for contempo-tration is politics.
rary considerations of issues of bureaucracy in

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 Dwight Waldo and Education for Public Administration

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H. George Frederickson is the Edwin O. Stene Distinguished Professor of Public Administration at the University of Kansas. He is president
emeritus of Eastern Washington University, a past president of the American Society for Public Administration, and a fellow of the National
Academy of Public Administration. He has received the Charles Levine, Dwight Waldo, and Distinguished Research Awards.

Journal of Public Affairs Education 11

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