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. For more information on my written work, see the Publications and Papers, etc. pages on this site.
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
