Synopses & Reviews
Why Public Service Matters conveys the importance, purpose, and nobility of a career as a civil servant in the United States. It does so, however, with an unflinching eye on the realpolitik that drives public administration in America's "compensatory state" and on the pitfalls of reformers' focus on bureaucratic, rather than democratic, administration. The book links the nation's ability to handle contemporary policy problems with the strategic, tactical, and normative quality of public management. In doing so, it offers newcomers a rare, concise, and accessible overview of the field. Readers will gain an appreciation for the challenges, choices, and opportunities facing public managers as they help advance a sense of common purpose informed by democratic constitutional values in twenty-first century America.
Synopsis
Why Public Service Matters conveys the importance, purpose, and nobility of a career as a civil servant in the United States.
About the Author
Robert Durant is Professor of Public Administration and Policy at American University, USA. He is the recipient of three lifetime awards for his contributions to public administration and policy research: the Dwight Waldo Award from the American Society for Public Administration, the John M. Gaus Award and Lectureship from the American Political Science Association, and the Charles H. Levine Memorial Award from the American Society for Public Administration and the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration.
Table of Contents
1.Engaging the Call to Public Service
2.Thinking Ecologically
3.Linking Problems, Policy, and Public Management
4.Aligning Structure and Strategy
5.Shooting the Political Rapids
6.Informing Policy Decisions
7.Linking People to Public Purposes
8.Stewarding a Nation's Treasure
9.Networking in the Shadow of Hierarchy
10. Revitalizing a Sense of Common Purpose