Abstract
The seminal work of Johann Caspar Bluntschli, a Swiss-born and German-trained scholar of public administration, should be known to a wider English-speaking readership. This article offers insights into Bluntschli’s organic theory of the state, his concept of public administration, and his understanding of the politicsadministration dichotomy. Considering Bluntschli’s intellectual influence on classic American authors like Woodrow Wilson and Frank J. Goodnow, the study contributes to a deeper understanding of the normative foundations of early American scholarship on public administration. It concludes with a discussion of organic state philosophy as a source of inspiration for contemporary administrative research and theory.