Among Professor Drechsler's areas of scholarly interest are the theory and history of Public Administration, Political Philosophy, the epistemology of Economics, the role of the State in economic growth, academic administration, and municipal autonomy.
His publications include Die selbstverwaltete Gemeinde (1999, ed.), Paradiama (Otto Kaiser 75), Trames (1999, ed.), On the Eminence of the Social Sciences at the University of Dorpat (1998, also in Estonian), Foundations of Public Administration (1997, ed., in Estonian; some translations forthcoming), Johann Ulrich v. Cramer's Opuscula (5 vols., 1996, ed.), Andrew D. White in Germany (1989), and theme issues of World Affairs on Estonia in Transition (1995) and Reforming Higher Education and Research in Eastern Germany (1992), as well as over 50 scholarly articles. He is on the editorial board, i.a., of the European Journal of Law and Economics, of Estonia's main social sciences and humanities journal Trames, of Kluwer's "The European Heritage in Economics and the Social Sciences" book series, and of NISPAcee's own Occasional Papers in Public Administration and Public Policy.