Jewish Administrative Practice and a Philosophy of Public Administration

Abstract

To speak of “the” philosophy of public administration or of “public administration theory” as a timeless and placeless umbrella term presupposes a universalism in the meaning of its referents, including its three components, “public,” “administration,” and “public administration.” Yet taking constructivist ontological and interpretive epistemological arguments seriously should lead us to expect that the sociopolitical values of different national or cultural settings would be embedded in their respective administrative practices as well as in their theorizing, leading to potential differences among “public administrations” (in the plural). This essay seeks to explore the possibility that there is an administrative ethic informed by the values of Judaism. As seen in and through its foundational texts, such an ethic leads to administrative practices that are different from the dominant American model of public administration. Its existence as a distinct mode (or as one with distinctive features) would call into question its melding into a “Judaeo-Christian” practice, as well as the putative universality of public administration theory.

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