Product Description

While skepticism about government is n enduring feature of American political culture, today's climate of anti-government sentiment has grown aggressive and even violent. Not only do citizens feel distrustful and powerless, but many public administrators too are demoralized, alienated, cynical, and even frightened. Furthermore, proposals to "reinvent government" appear to exacerbate the problems by taking government ineptness and efficiency as a given and offering solutions designed more appropriately for corporate business.

Although the question of the legitimacy of public administration has been widely addressed in scholarly literature, it is often theory-based and fairly divorced from actual administrative practices. And it is mired in the enduring tension between "beaurocracy" and "democracy". This volume, made up of a community of prominent voices in public administration theory and practice, will examine the current anti-government climate and its effect on the working lives of administrators and their relationships with citizens. It will document the sources of citizen discontent with government, explore its effects upon career civil servants' ability to do their work and attempt to understand the implications for public administration practice in an anti-government area.

謝麗爾•西姆拉爾•金，現為華盛頓常春藤州立大學MPA項目總監，曾在阿剋倫大學任職，主要從事公共行政和城市管理的研究工作。她受到的訓練主要是心理學和公共行政，著作集中在性彆對公共管理、領導、組織理論的影響以及公共行政理論方麵。她研究興趣廣泛，主要包括社區研究、治理、組織理論、政治哲學與公共行政等等。在從事學術工作以前，她曾在社區組織與私人部門中擔任過多項職務。

卡米拉•斯蒂福斯，在威斯理大學獲得學士學位，南加州大學獲得MPA，弗吉尼亞理工暨州立大學獲得博士學位。她在公共和非營利組織從事瞭20年的行政工作，主要是衛生服務和社區發展。1986－1987年，她是《公共衛生的未來》——全國醫療報告學院的副研究主任。1987年以來，她在華盛頓奧林匹亞常青藤州立學院教授公共行政課程。她也是《重建公共行政》一書的閤作者，她的研究在許多論文集、學術刊物上發錶。她是《行政與社會》期刊的編委會成員，《文化與社會的女性研究期刊》的顧問委員會成員，美國公共行政全國委員會的成員。