It is a pleasure to commend to you this short book designed to commemorate the 75 years that the Institute has existed. Under the chairmanship of Professor Fabio Rugge and guided by our Director General a group of eminent academic historians of administration have produced a powerful and, in total, balanced account of the evolution of our Institute since it was founded at Madrid in 1930. From the time of Albert Devèze, the first President until today, the International Institute of Administrative Sciences has played a key role in advancing international public administration. In this book you will find accounts of our early days, of the modern evolution, of the scientific impact, of the role of our host state, Belgium, and some suggestions also about the future.

All institutions embody an idea. In IIAS, of which I have the honour to be president, we develop and disseminate scientific knowledge and best practice for academics and practitioners in our field of administration and public management through our international networks. The goal is to share knowledge across generations and cultures and to provide our stakeholders with new competences for future challenges. We do this in Brussels and around the world. The articles attached from an international group that includes Guy Braibant, a former President himself, and reflects in its French and English texts the bilingualism and the diversity of the IIAS, contains some impressively detailed and concrete historical research. I hope that those who will in future hold responsibility for the growth of expertise in administrative science will find this text useful and inspiring.

Franz Strehl

O. Univ. Prof. Mag. Dr. F. Strehl, MBA, Head of Internationale Managementstudien, Johannes Kepler Universitat Linz, Austria. Past Rector of Linz University, elected IIAS President in Seoul, South Korea in July 2004 after having served for many years as a member of the IIAS Research Advisory Council.