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The New Public Service: Serving, not Steering provides a framework for the many voices calling for the reaffirmation of democratic values, citizenship, and service in the public interest. It is organized around a set of seven core principles: (1) serve citizens, not customers; (2) seek the public interest; (3) value citizenship and public service above entrepreneurship; (4) think strategically, act democratically; (5) recognize that accountability isn't simple; (6) serve, rather than steer; and (7) value people, not just productivity.
The New Public Service asks us to think carefully and critically about what public service is, why it is important, and what values ought to guide what we do and how we do it. It celebrates what is distinctive, important, and meaningful about public service and considers how we might better live up to those ideals and values. The revised fourth edition includes a new chapter that examines how the role and significance of these New Public Service values have expanded in practice and research over the past 15 years.
Although the debate about governance will surely continue for many years, this compact, clearly written volume both provides an important framework for a public service based on citizen discourse and the public interest and demonstrates how these values have been put into practice. It is essential reading fo students and serious practitioners in public administration and public policy.
Robert B. Denhardt
Robert B. Denhardt is Professor of Public Administration in the Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California. He was previously Regents Professor and Director of the School of Public Affairs at Arizona State University.
Dr. Denhardt is a past president of the American Society for Public Administration, a nationwide organization of academics and practitioners in the field of public administration at all levels of government. He is also a member of the prestigious National Academy of Public Administration, the field’s equivalent of the National Academy of Science. He was the 2004 recipient of ASPA’s Dwight Waldo Award, celebrating lifetime achievement in scholarship in public administration.
Dr. Denhardt has published a dozen books, including Just Plain Good Management, The Dance of Leadership, The New Public Service, Managing Human Behavior in Public and Nonprofit Organizations, The Pursuit of Significance, In the Shadow of Organization, Theories of Public Organization, and Public Administration: An Action Orientation.
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