Change and continuity in state administration: Administration leadership across four decades

State administration has often been referred to as the hidden branch of American state governments. This below-the-horizon component of state government has been subjected to intensified sets of fiscal pressures, federal mandates, selective devolution, and implementation issues. More attention needs to be focused on the administrative and managerial leaders of state government because they influence most, if not all, aspects of state policies and programs This essay examines long-term trend in the qualities of state administrative leadership from the 1960s to the 1990s. Most state agencies are headed by accomplished professionals who are better educated and more diverse in demographic characteristics and professional experiences than ever before. These administrators are embedded in combinations of horizontal and vertical relationships that have evolved across several decades. These evolving features and relationships constitute, in cumulative terms, a micro-level revolution in state administrative leadership. The larger implications of our findings are that the states are well positioned administratively, to confront the challenges of the twenty-first century.