Display Full Text | Download Full Text
508.75 kB PDF file

Degree

, Cleveland State University, Levin College of Urban Affairs, 2007.

Abstract

American Public Administration has identified more closely with management than with governance. Therefore, its constitutional legitimacy is often questioned. Many of the current scholars emphasize the importance of the legitimacy of the administrative state from a constitutional perspective. John Rohr is both the pioneering and the standard setting work in this area. Rohr attempts to legitimate the administrative state in terms of a comprehensive constitutional perspective based on the founding of the American Republic. This study examined Rohr’s constitutional philosophy of the administrative state and tested its usefulness to Public Administrators. The study looked at both the administrative agencies and processes created by the USA Patriot Act 2001 and their compatibility with Rohr’s constitutional framework. The major research question posed: Is the USA PATRIOT Act 2001 legitimate within Rohr’s framework of the administrative state? Specifically, does the USA PATRIOT Act create and empower executive agencies beyond the pale of separation of powers as developed by Rohr? The study concluded that selected provisions from the statute are problematic in terms of their compatibility with the constitutional traditions and regime values as defined by Rohr. However, to successfully use the framework, American public administration must address issues of structure and authority. One, high-level civil servants must possess sufficient discretionary power. They must be able to say no to the political leaders. Second, they must possess working legal knowledge of the Constitution and understand the core values embedded in our constitutional traditions of democratic governance.

Keywords

Administrative State; Regime Values; Rohr's Philosophy; Public Administration

Advisor

Camilla Stivers

Pages

142p.

Document number: csu1199824023
Permalink: http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1199824023

This ETD has been downloaded 716 times (through March 2013)