Public Administration and Professional Virtue

Abstract

In this paper I examine a major issue public administration faces in the United States—the charge of impermissible delegation of lawmaking functions. I describe the deeply entrenched nature of this problem, which makes complete non-delegation highly unlikely. I then offer a significant partial solution to this issue. Specifically, in light of deeply rooted delegation to administrative agencies, scholars and practitioners of public administration must renew their attention to the virtues of public administrators. I develop in turn an outline of the virtues especially in need for public administrators today.