This article explores the relationship between public administration and deliberative democracy by examining the development in Jürgen Habermas’s thought on public administration. The argument is made that a shift has occurred in the way that Habermas conceptualizes public administration—a shift that makes it possible to see both the plausibility and necessity of a deliberative democratic form of state administration. Shown is how Habermas’s later democratic theory can be used as a resource for those defending the administrative discretion necessary to create a collaborative government with citizens.
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