Good Bureaucracy: Max Weber and Public Administration Today

Abstract

Max Weber passed away on 14 June 1920 at the early age of 56, from consequences of the last pandemic – the Spanish Flu (Kaesler 2014: 15-16). During the last 100 years, Weber’s position as one of the world's great economists, sociologists, social science theorists, and public administration scholars has been secure, if with ups and downs. I will in this short tribute focus on public administration, because Weber’s eminence is probably the least contested there – not uncontested, for sure, as eminence must attract criticism. There are, even within the pages of Max Weber Studies, complaints that Weber has to be rediscovered – but these complaints are themselves part of the reason why this is not so, and a fortiori in public administration. Ups and downs yes, but Weber remains central in public administration. At a minimum, we may say that he is the most important public administration thinker of his time, even of modern public administration. One can think with or against Weber in public administration, but by and large, not really without him.