PRAGMATISM - EXPLORING A PUBLIC ADMINISTRATIONS POLICY IMPRINT

Public administrators are often described as pragmatic. Yet few schola rs have investigated what this might mean. This article introduces the notion of policy imprint-the effect that professional groups have on policy. Pragmatism is championed as an organizing principle that expla ins the public administration (PA)policy imprint. The pragmatism of Wi lliam James and John Dewey is described and applied to PA. Because PA leaves its imprint where theory and practice meet, the article examine s the theory-practice nexus through the lenses of pragmatism Finally, pragmatism's link to democracy is developed.