Welcome to the scholarly home of Melvin J. Dubnick, PhD, political scientist and public administration scholar whose work has focused for more than four decades on the concept of accountability — its history, its meanings, and its role in governance, ethics, and public life.
- Fellow, National Academy of Public Administration
- Professor Emeritus, University of New Hampshire
- Professor Emeritus, Rutgers University
Email: mdubnick@gmail.com
Scholarly focus:
For more than four decades, my scholarly work has centered on accountability — its intellectual and conceptual history, its role in governance and public administration, and its often misunderstood relationship to ethics and performance. I am especially interested in how accountability functions as a cultural keyword that shapes our understanding of government, organizations, and democratic life.
I have also published on topics related to American government, administrative ethics, the concept of administrative evil and civic education.
I am available to comment on or discuss matters related to government, governance, public administration, and politics — with particular expertise on accountability in the public, nonprofit, and private sectors.
Featured works:
Selected Books
Dubnick & Frederickson (eds.)
Accountable Governance: Problems and Promises
M.E. Sharpe/Routledge, 2011
Available at Amazon
Bearfield & Dubnick (eds.)
Encyclopedia of Public Administration and Public Policy, 3rd edition
Taylor and Francis (CRC Press),2015
Pint and online
Online via Subscription
Gitelson, Dudley, & Dubnick
American Government: Myths and Realities
2016 Election (12th) Edition
Oxford University Press
2018
Most cited works:
- “Accountability in the Public Sector: Lessons from the Challenger Tragedy“ with Barbara S. Romzek — Public Administration Review 47 (3), 1987: 227–238.
- “Accountability and the Promise of Performance: In Search of the Mechanisms“ Public Performance & Management Review 28 (3), 2005: 376–417.
- “Seeking Salvation for Accountability“ Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, 2002.
- “Accountability and Ethics: Reconsidering the Relationships“ International Journal of Organization Theory & Behavior 6 (3), 2003: 405–441.
- “Clarifying Accountability: An Ethical Theory Framework“ in Public Sector Ethics, 1998: 68–81.
- “Accountability as a Cultural Keyword“ in Oxford Handbook of Public Accountability, Oxford University Press, 2014: 23-38.
Phil Dubnick Sites:
Phil Dubnick — music, mastering, mixing
