ABSTRACT
Governance and government today are more complex than ever before. This complexity stems, for instance, from the values shared in society yet interpreted differently in terms of their meaning for public action, from the multiple and conflicting demands upon government, from the existence of so many public organizations and so many societal associations, and from the multitude of interactions between individual actors of various institutional and professional allegiance. The sheer size of government in terms of revenue and expenditure, personnel, and the scope of its activities makes it such a complex social phenomenon that the study of a specific aspect rather than of the whole is inviting. While the understanding of governance and government is, without doubt, advanced through specialized inquiry, it is at the same time impaired when various bodies of knowledge are not brought together in a holistic framework.
