Serving Citizens


Book Description

This book focuses on civil service reform within the central administration in Latin America. It analyzes updated versions of the country assessments carried out by the Inter-American Development Bank in 2004 in 16 countries and presents a comparative analysis of the ways in which the countries have evolved during the last decade. The methodology is based on the principles of the Ibero-American Charter for Public Service. In addition, it draws lessons from reform processes, identifying strategies for civil service modernization in the region. Finally, the book proposes a possible future agenda to continue the efforts to further professionalize the civil service in Latin America.




American Public Administration


Book Description

American Public Administration has been the go-to introductory textbook for Public Administration courses with a focus on civil society for the last decade. Now in an extensively revised and updated second edition, authors Cropf and Wagner weave the most recent and compelling research throughout every chapter to give students a useful, in-depth understanding of the field today. Changes to this edition include: A stronger focus on e-governance, and the ways in which technological change (e.g. social media, government information policy, surveillance) have transformed the government’s relationship with citizens as well as the role of the public servant/nonprofit worker at the federal, state, and local levels An expanded discussion of citizen participation in all aspects of governing, including the 2016 elections, the Occupy Wall Street movement, and the Black Lives Matter movement Updated mini case studies throughout the text on topics such as climate change, LGBT rights, and violent extremism to maximize student engagement A new section on major local government issues, including public–private partnerships, land-use planning, and economic development – and their relevance to Public Administration A chapter focusing on environmental policy administration and the role and responsibilities of public administrators in a time of global climate change Expanded coverage of the nonprofit sector and discussion of important linkages between Public Administration and Nonprofit Management A comprehensive suite of online supplements including PowerPoint slides, an Instructor’s Manual with suggested lectures, discussion questions, and a test bank (includes multiple choice, true-false, matching), as well as student exercises (written, individual, group, and web-based). Comprehensive, well-written, and offering a careful consideration of the fundamentals, American Public Administration, Second Edition is an ideal introductory text for courses at the undergraduate or graduate level, offering students a broader civil society context in which to understand public service.




More Than Self


Book Description

Thousands of citizens dedicate themselves to public service at the most intimate and democratic level: the municipality. Serving residents, business and property owners, and visitors, these men and women experience both the joy of serving others and, at times, the pain of being attacked by those who fail to understand what cities and public servants can and cannot do. Whether appreciated or attacked, municipal public servants still do their job, providing the services that keep people safe, afford them access to transportation and recreation, and preserve public well-being.Dr. Scott Paine has been sharing his insights into municipal public service with readers of his magazine columns and blogs, as well as attendees at conferences and workshops across the country, for more than a dozen years. In this collection of many of his articles from Quality Cities Magazine, Scott draws upon his years in municipal service, conversations with hundreds of other public servants, his studies of government and communication, and everyday life experiences. His thought-provoking and inspiring reflections will help readers discover, or rediscover, the nature and importance of public service.




Power to the Public


Book Description

“Worth a read for anyone who cares about making change happen.”—Barack Obama A powerful new blueprint for how governments and nonprofits can harness the power of digital technology to help solve the most serious problems of the twenty-first century As the speed and complexity of the world increases, governments and nonprofit organizations need new ways to effectively tackle the critical challenges of our time—from pandemics and global warming to social media warfare. In Power to the Public, Tara Dawson McGuinness and Hana Schank describe a revolutionary new approach—public interest technology—that has the potential to transform the way governments and nonprofits around the world solve problems. Through inspiring stories about successful projects ranging from a texting service for teenagers in crisis to a streamlined foster care system, the authors show how public interest technology can make the delivery of services to the public more effective and efficient. At its heart, public interest technology means putting users at the center of the policymaking process, using data and metrics in a smart way, and running small experiments and pilot programs before scaling up. And while this approach may well involve the innovative use of digital technology, technology alone is no panacea—and some of the best solutions may even be decidedly low-tech. Clear-eyed yet profoundly optimistic, Power to the Public presents a powerful blueprint for how government and nonprofits can help solve society’s most serious problems.







American Public Administration


Book Description

This collection of essays highlights the “peculiarly American” issues of public administration ranging from 1870 to 1974, when they were first published. Every contributor was assigned a period of American history and given the opportunity to write on what he or she deemed the most important or relevant concern of that period. This method, employed for this book and the connected National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration conference, resulted in a wide-reaching, if eclectic, collection. Supplanted by Mosher’s impressive summarization of the field throughout the years, the book still holds prominence as a source for scholars, workers, and students alike in public administration. The essays raise such issues as the education of civil servants, the changes necessitated by crises, the growth of social sciences in governmental concerns, and primarily, the role of public administrators in America. Each author is a distinguished expert in his own right, and each essay can stand alone as a remarkable insight into the changing world of public administration within American society. Frederick Mosher’s expertise and supervision shapes this work into a remarkable and holistic perspective on public administration over time.




Street-Level Public Servants


Book Description

This cutting-edge new casebook challenges the dominant White-centric narrative of public administration, offering a fresh array of perspectives, with the lofty aim of ending the marginalization of communities in public policy implementation. Contributors adopt a liberatory framework to examine street-level public administrators (e.g., teachers, security officers, policy analysts, and human resource experts) most responsible for implementing public policy in the United States, including and amplifying previously unrecognized narratives on the front lines of public administration. Case studies explore real-life public servants, not traditionally heard of, offering counter-narratives. Each chapter concludes with an empowerment exercise and assignment for faculty to adopt in their classroom. This edited volume, a first of its kind, is written by experts in public policy and administration, bringing together top and emerging scholars in one volume to amplify underrepresented voices in public administration and policy. Chapters are rooted in qualitative approaches and center the narratives of marginalized communities, including women, People of Color, and LGBTQIA+ public servants. Street-Level Public Servants offers a much-needed casebook for public administration and public policy courses in the twenty-first century.




Public Service Logic


Book Description

This book is based upon and extends the theoretical and empirical work of the author over the last decade. It integrates material deriving from his previous conceptual and empirical work in this field, together with new empirical evidence from emerging research. Public Service Logic challenges the product-dominant assumptions of the New Public Management (NPM) about the nature and management of public service delivery. Whilst the NPM has led to some important developments in public management, it has also had significant limitations and weaknesses. The book presents an alternative to this, as a framework for the future delivery and reform of public services globally. It draws upon the extant literature in the field of service management to argue for a Public Service Logic (PSL) for the delivery of public services. This situates public service delivery within the vibrant and influential field of service-dominant research and theory. It argues that effective public service management requires both that these services are understood as services not as products and that, consequently, public service management requires a focus on value creation as its over-arching rationale. The book presents a major new framework of value creation for public service delivery as a basis for public service reform, explores the role of service managers and staff and of citizens and service users in this value creation process, and evaluates the implications of this new framework for both the strategic and operational management of public service delivery, their performance management and the development and innovation of new forms of public services. It will be of interest to researchers and students in the fields of public management and public administration, as well as to policy makers and public service managers.




ICT, Public Administration and Democracy in the Coming Decade


Book Description

The physicist Neils Bohr allegedly wrote that “Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future”. Many academics believe that serious scholars should never attempt to write about the future, but some awareness of the ways in which the future of e-government may evolve is needed if well-grounded long-term decisions about issues such as infrastructures, institutions and educational programs are to be made. In addition, future-oriented research is of the utmost importance for informed public debate about technological developments with far reaching societal implications. This book marks the 25th anniversary of the permanent study group on e-government of the European Group for Public Administration, and the papers here were first presented at their 2012 meeting in Bucharest, Romania. The invited authors were not asked for rigorous analyses based on systematic empirical research or deeply rooted in a theoretical framework; instead they were challenged to write thoughtful and measured, but provocative, essays about ICT and public administration in the coming decade. Their contributions are reflections on the nature of new and emerging technologies in the public sector and their impact on government and on democracy itself. The book is divided into three sections: the past and present as starting point for thinking about the future of e-government, imagining the future of government, and implications for research and practice. The many questions raised by developments in ICT for future public administration are presented in a clear and thought-provoking manner, and merit more debate. This volume represents a departure from the normal run of academic publications. It is intended both to provoke academics and administrators to think about questions which will affect all of our futures and to offer a range of creative ideas about how the opportunities presented by technology can be exploited to provide better government and governance.




Public Service


Book Description

This volume includes perspectives on public service selected from six decades of major public administration journals. Recurring themes include: motivations to enter the public service, positive and negative images of public servants and of government, conflicts between loyalty to the organization and loyalty to the public, morale, burnout, and turnover. The volume also includes cross-national analyses of the public service in other systems, proposals for rethinking public service systems, and questions as to the future of the public service. It recaptures a long, continuing debate as to the health of the public service, and in so doing suggests agendas for university research and administrative action.