Postmodernism and American public administration in the 1990s

The 1990s debate on postmodernism as a metatheoretical basis for American p ublic administration is reviewed based on its progress over rime, Important themes in the debates are social constructivism and anti-foundationalism; deconstruction and narrative and linguistic analysis: pragmatism; and quant um theory. Considerable differences exist between the participants, and str ictly speaking, there are rather few true postmodernists, bur there is a la rge group of theorists who share a strong skepticism for the generalizing t ype of theory and instead recommend more situational analysis. Most of thes e theorists are pragmatists with a strong interest in public administration as an instrument to achieve a better society on the basis of democratic pa rticipation.