Discretion Advocacy in Public Administration Theory
- 1 August 1990
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Administration & Society
- Vol. 22 (2) , 249-271
- https://doi.org/10.1177/009539979002200206
Abstract
This article identifies a "discretion school" or position within current public administration theory and the proximate historical causes for its articulation. The extent to which administrative discretion is thought to be permissible, and the justifications for it, are explored by way of comparing current views to Plato `s explication of the functions of the guardian class in the ideal Republic. Contemporary analogues to "knowledge of the good " (public interest and regime values) and the role of education are arrayed. The article concludes by posing problematics heretofore insufficiently resolved by discretionist points of view.Keywords
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