Refounding Democratic Public Administration

Modern Paradoxes, Postmodern Challenges

James F. Wolf

• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc
• Year: 1996
• Print ISBN:
  9780803959774
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781452265049
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Public Policy
• Index: Politics & International Relations

The American political system is undergoing a serious governmental crisis--our political leaders know only how to campaign, not how to gain consensus on goals or direct a course that is for the good of the nation. Continuing research that began over a decade ago with Gary L. Wamsley?s Refounding Public Administration, this informative new volume continues the argument that public administration is at the center of the governance process and is therefore forced to compensate for the growing inadequacy of our leaders. Refounding Democratic Public Administration offers a revisualization of the relationship between public servants and the citizens they serve, as well as a continuing discourse on how public administration can constructively balance forces of change and stability in order for democracy to evolve and mature. This eye-opening volume will be required reading for students and professionals in public administration, political science, and management/organization studies.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Preface
• Introduction: Can a High-Modern Project Find Happiness in a Postmodern Era?
• Chapter 1 - On Governance and Reinventing Government
• Chapter 2 - Fencing in the Inherently Governmental Debate
• Chapter 3 - Public-Institutional Processes and Democratic Governance
• Chapter 4 - What a Difference a State Makes: Reflections on Governance in France
• Chapter 5 - Moving Beyond Prescriptions: Making Sense of Public Administration Action Contexts
• Chapter 6 - Administering in the Public Interest: The Facilitative Role for Public Administrators
• Chapter 7 - Postmodernism, Public Administration, and the Public Interest
• Chapter 8 - The Public Administration and the Problem of the Presidency
• Chapter 9 - Refusing to Get It Right: Citizenship, Difference, and the Refounding Project
• Chapter 10 - Understanding Social Process: The Key to Democratic Governance
• Chapter 11 - The Maturation of Public Administration: The Search for a Democratic Identity
• Chapter 12 - Thinking Government: Bringing Democratic Awareness to Public Administration
• Chapter 13 - A Public Philosophy and Ontological Disclosure as the Basis for Normatively Grounded Theorizing in Public Administration
• About the Contributors