AGENDA-SETTING, THE 3RD WAVE, AND THE ADMINISTRATIVE STATE

On the eve of a new millennium the United States appears bent on diffu sing the administrative state's (Waldo) authority to address social pr oblems throughout the public, market, and civic spheres. Ascendant pre sently in informing this ''neoadministrative'' state is a ''downsizing , defunding, and devolution'' (D-3) agenda premised on behavioral, ins trumental, and normative assumptions that are not so much wrong as ser iously incomplete. This article argues that appropriately matching the metes and bounds of the neoadministrative state with the challenges p osed by Third Wave transformations will elude the United States unless an alternative agenda is offered This agenda must go beyond one-size- fits-all prescriptions, be better informed by empirically based resear ch, and be culturally resonant with the values Lipset identifies as th e ''American Creed.'' To this end, the rudiments of-and important ques tions posed by-a ''reconnecting, reconceptualizing, and reengaging '' (R-3) agenda are offered, which may yet reframe debates over the neoad ministrative state in the 21st century.