在20世纪七八十年代，由于新公共管理运动的兴起，一些信奉新自由主义的学者开始借助于经济学的语言对政府及其行政发起了猛烈攻击，使公共行政陷入严重的合法性危机之中。然而，这也促使一些坚守公共行政理念的学者从合法性的角度去思考公共行政问题，从而形成了公共行政发展史上的一个独特视角。在对公共行政的合法性辩护中，“黑堡学派”是最重要的代表，他们证明了公共行政在美国宪法与民主中的合法性。除了黑堡学派，其他学者也对公共行政的合法性问题发表了不同的意见。这些意见从合法性的角度为公共行政的概念注入了许多新的内涵，推进了公共行政概念的发展。

In the 1970s and 1980s, with the rise of the New Public Management, some scholars who believe in the new liberalism launched a fierce attack on the government and its administration by means of the language of economics, thus landing public administration into a serious crisis of legitimacy. On the other hand, however, this has also inspired some scholars adhering to the concept of public administration to ponder over public administration from the perspective of legitimacy, thus giving rise to a unique perspective in the development of Public Administration. In the defense of the legitimacy of public administration, the “Blacksburg School” turns out to be the most important representatives, who prove the legitimacy of public administration in the American Constitution and democracy. In addition to the Blacksburg School, other scholars have provided different views on the legitimacy of public administration. From a legitimacy perspective, these views bring about new connotations and implications to the concept of public administration, thereby promoting the development of the concept.