ABSTRACT
Comparative public administration and international public administration both avoid concentration on the administrative system of a particular nation-state. The study of public administration has tended historically to concentrate on the administrative systems of individual nation-states. Interest in international administration emerged between the two world wars as a byproduct of international organization as a field of specialization in political science. The explanation seems to be that contributors to comparative public administration, on the one hand, and international public administration, on the other, have drawn on different intellectual sources in their work. Characteristics of the post-war comparative administration movement shaped the dimensions of the contemporary comparative perspective. International public administration never succeeded in establishing a separate identity to the extent that comparative public administration did beginning in the 1950s. In the 1970s and 1980s, comparative and international administration, along with numerous other social and behavioral science specializations, sought to become more scientific in their efforts to acquire knowledge.
