Public administration is government in action. Public administration is a contextual response to governance. Since the context is important, one has to grapple with the ideological inputs whereby ‘the art of governance’ is articulated. Starting with the Wilsonian conceptualization of public administration as independent of politics, the discipline has become far more complex than is usually admitted. The reason lies in the fact that the government of the day is invariably influenced by the prevalent socioeconomic and political milieu. One, therefore, cannot ignore the ambience in which public administration is conceptualized. Linked with this is the idea that the nature of public administration differs from one context to another. So, there cannot be a universal design. Despite the theoretical importance of the Weberian ‘ideal form of organization’, it would be wrong to undermine the ‘spatial’ nature of public administration. Models of administration are, therefore, contingent on the historical circumstances. Whatever is relevant today may not remain so in the days to come