Change and Continuity in State Administration: Administrative Leadership across Four Decades.

The article examines long-term trends in the qualities of American state administrative leadership from the 1960s to the 1990s. There are multiple reasons why the administrative status and capacity of the states are of major significance. First, as decentralization from the national government to the states proceeds, the ability of the states to accept and discharge duties in implementing the devolved programs depends heavily on each state's administrative capacities. Second, given the nature and character of the American federal system, state governments have historically played a critical role in governing as autonomous and semi-sovereign political entities. Third, the American states have appropriately been called "laboratories of democracy." A fourth and less direct reason argues for the significance of state administration. Administration has been generally perceived as a hidden or inconsequential component of governance in the states. State administrators are working executives who allocate their time among competing internal and external claims, and who function within important horizontal and vertical networks. Typically they work over 50 hours per week, split their time about equally between internal and external relations, interact intensively with the governor and legislative actors, and have the highest levels of contacts with citizens, clientele groups, and their peers who head other state agencies.