Global developments over the past half-century have transformed public administration and brought it to maturity as an autonomous discipline at the intersection of many important fields of study. The trends and challenges which confront this discipline are analyzed in this festschrift, which honors Gerald E. Caiden and his numerous inputs to the field since his graduation in 1957. During five decades of research and teaching, Dr. Caiden's professional life has spread across four continents, contributing greatly to the development of scholars and professional practitioners throughout the world. Their advancement of our knowledge of the public sphere worldwide and support of enhanced practices, combined with Caiden's scholarship, continue to define vital aspects of contemporary public administration and its future prospects, both locally and globally. The administrative state, which peaked in the 1950s and 1960s, gave way to neoliberalism and the new public management during the 1980s an