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Watching the Borders of Administrative Evil

Human Volition and Policy Intention

University of Dayton, Ohio

This article assesses the utility of Adams and Balfour’s treatment of administrative evil (Unmasking Administrative Evil) for diagnosing what Perrow calls the "difficult and messy" cases in mainstream public management. It reexamines the human dimension and public policy context as boundaries of administrative evil, articulating four alternative explanations of evil in public agency settings, one of which aligns closely with Adams and Balfour’s ideas. A subsequent section presents a case study that depicts how the Florida Department of Children and Families weathered its recent difficulties accounting for, and providing for the safety of, foster care children. The Florida case offers points of reference for evaluating the four explanations of evil. Finally, case events invite assessment of how administrative evil can explain the suffering inflicted on children in the Florida foster care system. This discussion also explores the relevance of this analytical approach in studying provocative administrative actions in other global settings.

Key Words: administrative evil • ethics • discretion • state bureaucracy • human services

The American Review of Public Administration, Vol. 36, No. 4, 419-436 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0275074006286223


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