Reconciling postmodern public administration and constitutionalism: some reflections on the ideas of stuart hampshire

Drawing on the ideas of Stuart Hampshire, this paper argues that American constitutionalism, thought of as a set of practices for resolving conflict, may be especially helpful in the postmodern condition because it encourages the resolution of conflict among different cultural conceptions of the good by practices of adversarial argument and procedural justice, rather than simply by force and violence. Consequently, a constitutional approach to American public administration has merit in directing our attention towards our particular practices for resolving value conflict. However, a constitutional approach cannot provide universal standards for the fair resolution of conflict. Also, any attempt to legitimate public administration in our constitutional practices is always potentially problematic because such practices, themselves, are always contestable.