Teaching American government in public affairs education: Creating a foundation for success
| Published date | 01 October 2024 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/01447394231204696 |
| Author | David C Powell |
| Date | 01 October 2024 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Teaching Public Administration
2024, Vol. 42(3) 275–288
© The Author(s) 2023
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/01447394231204696
journals.sagepub.com/home/tpa
Teaching American
government in public affairs
education: Creating a
foundation for success
David C Powell
Graduate Center for Public Policy and Administration, California State University Long Beach, Long Beach, CA,
USA
Abstract
Public administration has a long tradition of close connections to the field of political
science. As the field of public administration evolved from a basic politics administration
dichotomy, it became evident that the distinction between politics and administration was
nebulous at best. As such, public affairs students need exposure to, and knowledge of, the
founding documents and basic principles that underpin American government. This
article explores the reasons for including American government instruction in intro-
ductory public affairs courses, student knowledge and preparation in American gov-
ernment, and strategies for enhancing the coverage of the principles of American
government in public affairs programs.
Keywords
Public, administration, American, government, teaching
Introduction
The connection between public administration and political science is well established as
evidenced by the close proximity between MPA programs and departments of political
science in many institutions across the nation. In addition to being housed within political
science departments, many graduate public affairs programs are collocated with a variety
of other academic disciplines. This lends support to the notion that public administration
Corresponding author:
David C Powell, Graduate Center for Public Policy and Administration, California State University Long
Beach, 1250 Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach 90840-0004, CA, USA.
Email: David.Powell@csulb.edu
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