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The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ASPA as an organization.
By Stephen M. King
August 21, 2026
We recently celebrated the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. While the Declaration is not recognized as an official governing document, it nonetheless contains the remarkable statement written by Thomas Jefferson that has become a cornerstone of freedom and self-government over the last quarter of a millennium: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” Jefferson’s words established a moral foundation for the American experiment, affirming that government does not rest solely in the power of rulers but in the inherent dignity and God-given rights of the people.
Next year, 2027, marks the 140th anniversary of the publication of Woodrow Wilson’s famous essay “The Study of Administration.” While the essay does not reach the stature of the Declaration, one sentence, “It is getting (to be) harder to run a constitution than to frame one,” ignited academic and practitioner interest in the professional study of public administration. Wilson de-emphasized constitutional principles as guides for administrative action; instead, he recognized the utility of rational values such as competence, integrity, efficiency and effectiveness. Over the century, his essay helped establish public administration as a distinct field of inquiry, shaping generations of scholars and practitioners who sought to improve the capacity of democratic government. Today’s complex world of policy implementation, regulatory oversight and political polarization demonstrates that Wilson’s demand for the separation of politics and administration was going to be challenging at best and impossible at worst.
Wilson’s dichotomy never intended to insulate public administrators from the realities of democratic governance. Rather, his vision called for administrators to faithfully implement the policies established while exercising professional competence, sound judgment and technical expertise. In today’s increasingly polarized political environment, however, public administrators operate amid intense public scrutiny, competing stakeholder interests and contested policy arenas, making it nearly impossible to avoid the political current surrounding their work. Rebuilding public trust under these conditions requires more than administrative efficiency; it demands renewed commitment to constitutional stewardship, the consistent practice of ethical leadership and inter-sectoral collaboration. These complementary approaches enable administrators to preserve democratic legitimacy while navigating political complexity, fostering public confidence and achieving policy outcomes.
Wilson was correct that administration requires expertise, discipline and competence, but unlike Wilson, John Rohr believed the public administrator’s primary obligation was to guard and interpret administrative authority from the guiding principles of the Constitution. He described this as constitutional stewardship. Rohr’s model is one corrective to the search for political neutrality: It requires administrators not only to be aware of the efficacy of constitutional principles, but to appreciate the values inherent in the Constitution, such as limited government, equal protection and due process, to name a few. These values should be the conceptual and moral foundation for administrative decision-making. Still, fidelity to the stewardship of constitutional principles is incomplete if citizens do not have confidence in the institutions and those who exercise public authority. The crisis is not administrative performance, per se, but depreciation of public trust.
Trust, however, is enhanced by continuous attention to and practice of ethical leadership, a companion value to Rohr’s stewardship thesis. Ethical leadership is relational. It requires “interaction, trust, and accountability between leaders and followers.” Citizens evaluate government officials not only by achieving policy outcomes but by practicing public virtues, such as honesty, fairness and transparency. Ethical leadership is more than adherence to legal rules and regulations or compliance with a professional code of ethics; it also requires administrators to engage citizens as partners, not passive recipients, of public services.
Twenty-first-century public problems, such as homelessness, illegal immigration, public health calamities and many others, are complex and require solutions arrived at through a collaborative and inter-sectoral network. Public management scholars, such as William Eggers and Don Kettl, call this the bridgebuilding thesis. They argue that increased success in solving complex public problems is reached when “public agencies, nonprofit and faith-based organizations, private businesses, and citizens themselves work collectively and collaboratively.” Today’s public problems are not unilateral, contained in public “silos,” availing themselves to be addressed by one agency, one program and one type of public administrator. Administrators who are bridgebuilders are “nurturers, catalysts, and instillers of the ‘public spirit.’”
Running a government requires far more than administrative expertise, bureaucratic autonomy or aspirations toward political neutrality. The complexity of twenty-first-century governance demands an administrative philosophy that is constitutionally grounded, ethically informed and collaboratively engaged. Public administrators cannot function in isolation from the citizens they serve, nor can they view the public as passive recipients of government action. Citizens bear a reciprocal responsibility to demand and support this standard of public service, holding their institutions accountable while participating in the work of self-government. The strength of the American constitutional republic depends not only on the principles upon which it was founded, but on the character, wisdom and collaborative spirit with which those principles are administered.
Author: Stephen M. King is professor of government at Regent University in Virginia Beach, VA. He teaches undergraduate courses in American politics, state and local government and public policy and has taught graduate courses in public policy analysis and ethical leadership and administration. He publishes on the topics of ethics and public administration and leadership. He served as president of the Hampton Roads Chapter of ASPA (AY24-25), sat on the Advisory Council for SEIGov, ASPA (AY21-24) and is on the editorial board of the Virginia Journal of Public Administration (2025-). His latest book is Ethical Public Leadership: Foundation, Organization, and Discovery (New York: Routledge, 2023). Contact him at [email protected].
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