JPART Symposium Introduction: Researching Intergovernmental Relations

Abstract

This article presents information on the symposium of the "Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory." So long as there have been systems of dividing decisions and functions of governments there have been attempts to organize and manage them. Intergovernmental relations, not always recognized as such and certainly not so denominated, have been a matter of concern to man living in organized society throughout the ages, regardless of race, creed or color, of time, place or circumstance. Relations between central and subnational governments are inevitably of a varying nature, demonstrating elements of control, cooperation, conflict, negotiation, passivity, and so on. in a more contemporary sense the pillars of public administration's theoretical response to the "disarticulated state." This symposium is designed to demonstrate that a number of scholars are resisting the Washington counting syndrome and focusing on real action. The research emphasis is at the administrative level.