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The Autopoiesis of Administrative Systems: Niklas Luhmann on Public Administration and Public Policy

Rossbach, Stefan, Brans, Marleen (1997) The Autopoiesis of Administrative Systems: Niklas Luhmann on Public Administration and Public Policy. Public Administration, 75 (3). pp. 417-439. ISSN 0033-3298. (doi:10.1111/1467-9299.00068) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:10814)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9299.00068

Abstract

This article offers an introduction to Niklas Luhmann's theory of social systems as it pertains to public administration and policy, as a first step towards both a critique and its empirical application to empirical reality. It reconstructs Luhmann's early writings on bureaucracy and policy-making and shows how this early, more empirical work grounded his abstract theory of social systems in general and the political system in particular. The article also introduces some central concepts of Luhmann's more recent work on the autopoietic nature of social systems and considers the latter's consequences for bureaucratic adaptiveness and governmental steering in the welfare state. One of the main benefits of applying Luhmann's theory to public administration, the article concludes, is that it conceptualizes the central concerns of public administration within a complex picture of society as a whole, in which both the agency that issues decisions and the realm affected by these decisions are included.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1111/1467-9299.00068
Subjects: J Political Science > JC Political theory
J Political Science > JF Political institutions and public administration
H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Politics and International Relations
Depositing User: Stefan Rossbach
Date Deposited: 20 Jul 2009 22:21 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 09:49 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/10814 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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