This article presents the epistemological bases underpinning the New Public Service model proposed by Denhardt and analyzes the way how they can contribute for extending the Public Administration Theory. As contributions, we suggest that there is a need to consider what are the institutional mechanisms that Public Administration has to enable the individual to express himself with regard to what he has, needs, or wishes; that the criticism to the criteria of efficiency and effectiveness as the only ones used to support certain Public Administration models allows recognizing that it acts on a set of diffuse, legitimate, and often divergent interests and that criteria as equity or justice, for instance, seem more pertinent to provide it with support; that Public Administration needs to extend its participation bases, facilitating the interconnection of the multiple interests of society, through governance networks that would define how decisions would be made, and how the groups would interact in the formulation of public purposes and in the implementation of public policies; that the great challenge involves redefining the vision and the role of the State itself, which would be seen as an association that would be in charge of the interconnection and governance of the public policy formulation networks and the mobilization of the resources needed to achieve these ends.
Public administration; Epistemology; New Public Service