The Loss of Capacity in Public Organizations: A Public Administration Challenge

Important challenges to the administrative, policy-making, and implementation capacities of public organizations have arisen in recent years. These challenges may arise from many quarters, including budget cuts, organizational reforms, and most ominously, political subterfuge. Although limits on capacity may be familiar to the public organizations that must cope with them, they are less well understood by outside observers. This analytical gap undermines our ability to appraise the policy and constitutional implications of capacity loss. To begin the process of deepening our knowledge of public sector organizational capacities, this essay calls for greater investment in understanding the organizational dynamics associated with capacity loss.