Administrators' Beliefs About the Role of the Public: the Case of American Federal Executives

Abstract

Faced with the steady growth of technological operations in government, to what extent and in what way can citizen participation in administra tion be preserved? A century ago the distinction between citizen and official was slight, passage from one status to the other was easy. Now inexpert participation in whole blocks of administration has become im possible, the distinction between official and citizen is more definite and permanent, a bureaucracy has emerged out of the conditions of modern government.... The reconciliation of democratic institutions and a pro fessionalized bureaucracy ... is one of the major perplexities of the future. ¹