Falling Between Two Cracks: The Indeterminate Character of Mid-level Government

This article argues that the neglect of mid-level government among public administration scholars is regrettable because the investigation of developments within this level of governmental could shed new light on various core themes in public administration. In order to understand developments taking place at the local level, it is often necessary to investigate what is going on at the mid-level. This article concludes that public administration scholars should develop a general framework to judge the policies and position of mid level government, investigate whether the provincial level is the appropriate level for developing policies, conduct more independent evaluations of processes taking place at the mid-level layer of government; and conduct comparative research into the causal mechanisms that determine the needs for midlevel government.