A case for particularism in public administration

The recent entrepreneurial movement represents the latest in a series of at tempts to define appropriate principles of public administration. Current e ntrepreneurial reforms, such as reinvention, aim explicitly to made,ale the excesses of bureaucratic organization, but they also carry an implicit man date to continue the assault on particularism begun by Progressive Era refo rmers. The authors contend that public administration theory should conside r particularism a legitimate ethical principle and explore was of integrati ng particularism with ethical principles central to the bureaucratic and en trepreneurial approaches to public administration. The authors analyze the manner in which the bureaucratic and entrepreneurial approaches detract fro m our understanding of particularism in public administration and explore w ays that a better understanding of particularism can enhance public adminis tration theory.