Public administration is a discipline in transition. In fact, it has always been in continuous movement, but not always in the same direction. Contrary to the heavy, formal, and inflexible image of bureaucracies, public sector bodies in
America, Europe, and elsewhere have been in a rapidly intensifying transition since the early 1990s. During the last century, public administration underwent significant changes resulting from crises, as well as breakthroughs in an ultradynamic environment. Some 30 years ago, Waldo (1968) noted that these ongoing transformations reflected an identity crisis of a science in formation. They also signaled a struggle for the recognition and legitimacy of public administration as an art, a body of knowledge, and a profession (Lynn, 1996). It seems that today, at the beginning of the 21st century, the formation of public administration is still unfinished business.