¹San Diego Mesa College

²Michelle Rodriguez is Assistant Professor of Political Science at San Diego Mesa College. Her work focuses on the tensions between democracy and the administrative state, especially with regards to environmental politics and policy. She can be reached at mrodrigu@sdccd.edu.

^*I thank Richard Flathman, Matthew Crenson, Camilla Stivers, and Susan Bickford for comments on earlier drafts, and the anonymous reviewers at Polity for their very thoughtful and productive comments.

Abstract

The administrative state poses important challenges to those concerned with reconciling administrative tasks and political freedom. Hannah Arendt's notion of "good government" offers a novel approach to meeting these challenges. Part one of the essay argues that Arendt's notion of administration is significantly more complex than is generally recognized: rather than lying on a continuum with totalitarian bureaucracy, centralized administration in a modern society serves as an important counterpart and irritant to political action when it is a part of what Arendt calls "good government" that keeps the world, rather than society or the earth. Parts two and three look at the implications of Arendt's account for participation and science in public administration. These sections begin by examining what Arendt says about these topics, and then turn to literature in the field of public administration to see how Arendt's account can illuminate current theory and practice. Surprisingly, one of the clearest examples of her conception of administration is provided by her discussion of the Little Rock school integration episode. This discussion allows for an exploration of the promise of and problems with understanding of the place of administration in political life.