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Deliberating like a State: locating public administration within the deliberative system

Deliberating like a State: locating public administration within the deliberative system
Deliberating like a State: locating public administration within the deliberative system
Public administration is the largest part of the democratic state and a key consideration in understanding its legitimacy. Despite this, democratic theory is notoriously quiet about public administration. One exception is deliberative systems theories, which have recognized the importance of public administration and attempted to incorporate it within their orbit. This article examines how deliberative systems approaches have represented (a) the actors and institutions of public administration, (b) its mode of coordination, (c) its key legitimacy functions, (d) its legitimacy relationships, and (e) the possibilities for deliberative intervention. It argues that constructing public administration through the pre-existing conceptual categories of deliberative democracy, largely developed to explain the legitimacy of law-making, has led to some significant omissions and misunderstandings. The article redresses these issues by providing an expanded conceptualization of public administration, connected to the core concerns of deliberative and other democratic theories with democratic legitimacy and democratic reform.
bureaucracy, deliberative democracy, network governance, public administration, systems theory
0032-3217
924-943
Dean, Rikki
a830dbdb-7c38-41d3-9d18-02c335d645cb
Dean, Rikki
a830dbdb-7c38-41d3-9d18-02c335d645cb

Dean, Rikki (2024) Deliberating like a State: locating public administration within the deliberative system. Political Studies, 72 (3), 924-943. (doi:10.1177/00323217231166285).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Public administration is the largest part of the democratic state and a key consideration in understanding its legitimacy. Despite this, democratic theory is notoriously quiet about public administration. One exception is deliberative systems theories, which have recognized the importance of public administration and attempted to incorporate it within their orbit. This article examines how deliberative systems approaches have represented (a) the actors and institutions of public administration, (b) its mode of coordination, (c) its key legitimacy functions, (d) its legitimacy relationships, and (e) the possibilities for deliberative intervention. It argues that constructing public administration through the pre-existing conceptual categories of deliberative democracy, largely developed to explain the legitimacy of law-making, has led to some significant omissions and misunderstandings. The article redresses these issues by providing an expanded conceptualization of public administration, connected to the core concerns of deliberative and other democratic theories with democratic legitimacy and democratic reform.

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Published date: January 2024
Keywords: bureaucracy, deliberative democracy, network governance, public administration, systems theory

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 504707
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/504707
ISSN: 0032-3217
PURE UUID: 5cd68b01-da41-43a3-9b5d-d0b453963d1a
ORCID for Rikki Dean: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-5381-4532

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Date deposited: 18 Sep 2025 16:35
Last modified: 19 Sep 2025 02:15

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Author: Rikki Dean ORCID iD

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