Unlocking the Iron Cage

This article explores the relationship between public administration and deliberative democracy by examining the development in Jürgen Habermas’s thought on public administration. The argument is made that a shift has occurred in the way that Habermas conceptualizes public administration—a shift that makes it possible to see both the plausibility and necessity of a deliberative democratic form of state administration. Shown is how Habermas’s later democratic theory can be used as a resource for those defending the administrative discretion necessary to create a collaborative government with citizens.