Public service for all: How a global ethic prepares public administrators for a transnational century

ABSTRACT

In this moment of populist mistrust of globalization and amid attacks on liberal values of democracy, how can we best train the next generation of public administration professionals to serve a citizenry cynical about democratic governance? The article highlights the transnational philosophical underpinnings of global ethic of public service founded on the democratic values of the rule of law and respect for human rights that are vitally important to developing effective, legitimate, and transparent skillsets that promote trust in public administration and democratic governance.

KEYWORDS:

• Democracy
• ethical leadership
• global citizenship
• information technology
• NASPAA competency
• quotidian values
• social media

Notes

1. James Conniff (1994) suggests Burke’s understanding of trusteeship was “In short, the example of India made clear to Burke that some transcultural principles were necessary if British imperial government were to be called to account.” He referenced natural law and constitutional principles in defense of India but Conniff concludes that “Burke’s attempt to extend the idea of trusteeship to Indian affairs was only partially successful.” The Useful Cobbler: Edmund Burke and the Politics of Progress (New York: State University of New York Press, 1994):149–152.

2. Edmund Burke to the House of Commons on the East India Bill (December 1, 1783).

3. Burke’s defense of the East Indians resonated with calls for abolition of slavery in Britain’s territories in the West Indies where the sugar plantations of Jamaica and Barbados were administered by government officials and agents of the crown from Bermuda.

4. Stivers research on the foundations of public administration highlight the men associated with the New York Bureau of Municipal Research who established a science-based paradigm for public administration that devalued the contributions of women activists whose broader aims targeted improving the lives of citizens. “My thesis is that, by adopting a rhetoric of science – a pursuit that has been constitutively masculine since the early Christian era – the bureau men were able to counter and deflect the castigations of machine politicians about their deficient masculinity.” Bureau Men and Settlement Women: Constructing Public Administration in the Progressive Era (Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas Press, 2000): 125.

5. Ibid: 66.

6. In the essay “The Snare of Preparation” in Twenty Years at Hull-House, Addams describes the feelings of uselessness experienced by the first generation of college educated women who in late nineteenth century America had few opportunities for profession and aspired to public service to use their talents productively to address social problems. Inspired by Toynbee Hall in London, Addams returned to Chicago to form Hull-House “with high expectations and a certain belief that whatever perplexities and discouragement concerning the life of the poor were in store for me, I should at least know something at firsthand and have the solace of daily activity” (57).

7. Julia Lathrop became the first woman to head a federal bureau as director of the United States Children’s Bureau from 1912–1922. Florence Kelly founded the National Consumers League and was a co-founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

8. Shields provides her own defense of a public administration infused with the dignity of daily life against a public administration theory, which diminishes the quotidian, and the female. “Addams’ emphasis on the quotidian world of the everyday is an example of her feminism. For thousands of years women had dedicated their lives to the everyday tasks of caring for home and family. Society may have taken women’s work for granted; yet if it is left undone, society’s survival is threatened. Addams not only recognized the inherent dignity and worth of these activities, she incorporated them in her theories of civic reform and democracy.” Democracy and the Social Feminist Ethics of Jane Addams: A Vision for Public Administration in Administrative Theory & Praxis 28, no. 3 (2006): 436.

9. (1) Lead and manage in public governance; (2) participate in and contribute to the public policy process; (3) analyze, synthesize, think critically, solve problems, and make decisions; (4) apply a public service perspective; (5) communicate and interact productively with a diverse and changing workforce and citizenry.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Akhlaque Haque

Akhlaque Haque is a professor of Political Science and Public Administration at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. His research focuses on ethical use of information technology in a democracy, human diversity, and global citizenship in public administration.

Wendy Gunther-Canada is a professor of Political Science and Public Administration at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her research focuses on democratic citizenship and women’s rights as human rights.