Public Administration Complexity and Its Implications on Theory, Research and Practice
Public Administration Complexity and Its Implications on Theory, Research and Practice

Summary/Abstract: Public administration is in itself a very complex human endeavour and deals with a complexenvironment, as manifested in the various actors included and wicked issues that have to be dealtwith. Starting from the concept of complexity, the paper applies this concept to public administra-tion and analyse the implications of public administration complexity on research and practice. Theconcept of complexity constitutes an important element of classical public administration theoriessuch as systems theory and organisation theory, as well as a vital part of modern theoretical (e.g.network theory) and practical/doctrinal approaches to public administration such as the variousconcepts connected with the overarching and sometimes elusive concept of “governance” (e.g. goodgovernance, multi-level governance, etc.). The article is structured around the main dimensions ofpublic administration complexity, which are built on the basis of different complexity sources thathave implications on public administration theory and research.

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