Description
Book SynopsisEconomic individualism and market-based values dominate today's policymaking and public management circles - often at the expense of the common good. In his new book, Barry Bozeman demonstrates the continuing need for public interest theory in government. "Public Values and Public Interest" offers a direct theoretical challenge to the "utility of economic individualism," the prevailing political theory in the western world. The book's arguments are steeped in a practical and practicable theory that advances public interest as a viable and important measure in any analysis of policy or public administration. According to Bozeman, public interest theory offers a dynamic and flexible approach that easily adapts to changing situations and balances today's market-driven attitudes with the concepts of common good advocated by Aristotle, Saint Thomas Aquinas, John Locke, and John Dewey. In constructing the case for adopting a new governmental paradigm based on what he terms "managing publicness," Bozeman demonstrates why economic indices alone fail to adequately value social choice in many cases. He explores the implications of privatization of a wide array of governmental services - among them Social Security, defense, prisons, and water supplies. Bozeman constructs analyses from both perspectives in an extended study of genetically modified crops to compare the policy outcomes using different core values and questions the public value of engaging in the practice solely for the sake of cheaper food. Thoughtful, challenging, and timely, "Public Values and Public Interest" shows how the quest for fairness can once again play a full part in public policy debates and public administration.
Trade ReviewProvides such a thorough and thoughtful plea for the need of a continuous emphasis on what is public about government conduct and why; it is, as such, the first of its kind. Public Administration Review
Table of Contents1. The Privatization of Public Value 2. Economic Individualism and the "Publicness" of Policies: Cases and Controversies 3. Economic Individualism in Public Policy 4. Economic Individualism in Public Management 5. Public Interest Theory and Its Problems 6. Toward A Pragmatic Public Interest Theory 7. Values, Value Theory, and Collective Action 8. Public Values 9. Public Value Mapping: The Case of Genetically Modified Foods and the "Terminator Gene" 10. Managing Publicness References Index
