Public administration is, broadly speaking, the study and implementation of policy. As a moral endeavor, public administration is linked to pursuing the public good through the creation of civil society and social justice. The adjective ‘public’ often denotes ‘government’, though it increasingly encompasses Non-governmental organizations such as those of civil society or any entity and its management not specifically acting in self-interest.
The term public administration sometimes is taken to refer to bureaucracy (as in Federal Administration). Although used negatively, bureaucracy is needed to perform day-to-day functions of government. In truth, public administration and bureaucracy are in a sense, the same thing.