| Summary: |
Government jurisdictions in the United States have frequently
reformed their administrative systems as they have struggled with
changing political and economic circumstances. These administra-
tive reforms are typically designed to reflect popular new models or
emerging paradigms for public management. They are driven by
complex and not necessarily congruent combinations of values and
purposes ranging from the purely partisan to the largely technical.
During the twentieth century, for example, there were at least twelve
highly visible efforts to reform federal administrative arrange-
ments—about one every eight years.1 There were also innumerable
similar reforms enacted by state and local governments. With each
reform, changes, both large and small, in the administrative machin-
ery of government are implemented, and the effects of those changes
often last long after the reform itself has become a distant memory.
It is interesting to observe that, more often than not, public person-
nel or civil service systems are at the top of the reform agenda.
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