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John M. Maki, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, died December 7, 2006, at age
97. His wife, Mary, "an ideal wife," partner in an "ideally happy
marriage," died in 1990. (Quotations are drawn from his
autobiography, Voyage through the Twentieth Century
[2004].) Two sons, John A. and James P., survive him. So, too, his
good reputation.

Public administration has, during recent decades, been widely held to be a study in disarray, without an integrating theory, neither a discipline nor a component of a discipline. The orthodox solution is to affirm that it is an interdisciplinary study, requiring no central theory. 7The study should not and cannot be founded in a single discipline. This essay examines and challenges the case for public administration as an interdisciplinary study. It suggests politics as the discourse in which public administration most appropriately finds its place.

Can goodness be taught? How? Though committed to ethical concerns in the teaching and practice of public administration, this article warns how little basis there is for an evidently burgeoning confidence in the ability to prepare others to do good actions. Yet skepticism is not despair, and ethical reflection is surely required. Ethics may, paradoxically, be both the easiest and the most difficult element of public administration to teach. This article examines the possibilities of teaching a "vulgar ethics" of public administration.

It is argued that Africans are naturally religious; therefore, the African state ought to integrate the religious dimension into its political ideology: the forces of nationalism & spirituality could be used to reconcile the power of imported religions -- primarily Islam & Christianity -- with animism. African states are also challenged to resolve the problem of church & state inherited from the colonial era. Cases of religious persecution are discussed, based on Amnesty International reports. The conclusion is that African states ought to strive for greater pluralism, grounding their policies in the principle of religious freedom which, it is argued, is foundational to the emancipation of the human spirit. Modified AA

The two papers that follow both deal with prospects for achieving efficiency in education. Psacharopoulos identifies the extent of government‐induced distortions directly or indirectly related to education, and assesses the likely effects of such distortions on social welfare. He concludes that, among other things, governments should not attempt directly to provide or manage schooling services. Levin's article focuses upon one particular management decision…namely, extending the length of the school day and increasing the number of school days per year. He argues that mechanically increasing school sessions through legislative acts or through administrative mandates does not appear, in itself, to be a promising use of scarce resources.

With comments and a response. Apartheid and the position of the South African government, the African National Congress, and other opponents of the regime.

South Africa, a meeting point of European & African cultures, is situated within the North-South movement of civilization. The historical origins of its ethnically heterogenous population & the concept of apartheid are traced. Apartheid is argued to have originated from a version of Calvinism held by many Boers, in which their "trek" is given providential meaning & a parallelism to ancient Israel, making the Boers a chosen nation whose mission is to preserve Christianity in Africa. They are prepared to convert blacks to Christianity but believe that they should develop within their own traditions. This originally theological idea has now been given legal & political form as the concentration of power in the hands of the white minority. Whites fear that giving voting rights to the black majority would leave South Africa at the level of other independent African nations; blacks find the denial of voting rights frustrating & resist it. It is argued that gradual constitutional change toward emancipation of the black population is necessary & practical, & that power should be joined with moral responsibility to fulfill the rights & needs of all South Africans. The aid of the US & other Western nations in attaining this is needed. In Comment, J. A. Harrison calls for more stress on two points: Soviet desire to control South Africa, & the genuine grievances of black South Africans. In Comment, A. D. Louw (Human Sciences Research Council, Privaatsak X41 0001 Pretoria South Africa) notes the distinction between blacks who favor generalized black nationalism & blacks who are more concerned with ethnicity issues; the two sets have different policy preferences. The South African government has begun to move toward genuine reform. In Comment, J. R. Lambson argues that apartheid was created not only by Afrikaaners but by English-speaking South Africans also. An alternative to confrontation politics is needed to solve South African problems. In Rejoinder, Rayapen sees the black/white conflict as central in South Africa, & hopes for the attainment of an interracial society based on Western democratic & Christian principles. Modified AA