the dynamics of post war modernisation and development became more complex with the emergence of the concept of welfare state and consequential expansion in the function and responsibilities of the state. this was compounded by the changing nature of science, communications and technology. in this context, public administration has a crucial role to play. development and modernisation of society, and the efficiency of the government, to a large extent, depends on the capacity of the administrative system and its ability to make and implement policies and plans. the administrative theories and models acquire significance in this context. it was assumed that transfer of administrative models of developed coutries, with few modifications, would meet the demand. but soon it was realised that such approach was defective and needed more appropriate models to meet the emerging development challenges of the new nations. fred riggs, who developed analytical models and approaches to study public administration on a comparative perspective, is a pioneer in this field and occupies a very prominent place in administrative model building.