Handbook of administrative history

by J. C. N. Raadschelders

In this volume, Jos C. N. Raadschelders demonstrates that public administration has, in fact, a long-standing tradition, both in practice and in writing; administration has been an issue ever since human beings recognized the need to organize themselves in order to organize the environment in which they lived. This history, in turn, underlines the need for administrators to be aware of the importance and contemporary impact of past decisions and old traditions. Raadschelders begins by laying out the scope of administrative history as a field of study. The first three chapters of part 1 provide a general introduction to the discipline, its scholarly literature, and problems and methods of research. Chapter 4 explores existing theories of the development of administration against the background of evolutionary theories in the social sciences. Focusing mainly on the Western world, parts 2 and 3 cover what the author terms administrative history proper and administrative history in a broad