Commanded to Enjoy: The Waning of Traditional Authority and its Implications for Public Administration

This article addresses the recent changes in social experience and the effect these changes have on the practice of public administration. It is argued that we have moved from a society of prohibition to a society of commanded enjoyment. This thesis is explored using the frame of Lacanian psychoanalysis. The central claim is that the waning of traditional authority means that enjoyment or jouissance operates on an axis of possibility or impossibility. In such a realm, the coterminous relationship of science and the market make most things possible

Book Review of \u3ci\u3ePostmodern Public Administration\u3c/i\u3e By Charles Fox and Hugh Miller

The final decade of this century is proving to be both ruthless and rewarding for all of us in public administration. A period of fractured meaning has displaced the narrative of unity and progress embedded in our modernist consciousness. Postmodernism burst full-tilt onto the public administration theory scene in the late 1980\u27s and has reconfigured the intellectual ground in new and dynamic ways. Because of it, new space for discourse--albeit limited space for idealism and a perceived (perhaps misunderstood)1 greater space for cynicism exists

Theory and Generation X

This special issues section of JPAE provides an opportunity to address the experience of the new generation of MPA students who are often labeled the X Generation. The term Generation X was coined by Coupland (1991); X in this case refers to the mathematical symbol for indeterminacy or the unknown. The argument implicit in the moniker is that, while all previous generations had some point of reference that provided them with a social anchor, the current generation does not have such an anchor through which to interpret their social experience. As a result, they are often depicted as slackers with little commitment to anything meaningful. Based on my encounters with Generation X students in the classroom, I cannot agree. I do, however, see their mindset and their experience as different from those of mid-career students. In this essay, I discuss the literature addressing Generation X and Generation X students\u27 learning experience as related to theories of organization

The Practice of Transformational Stewardship, review of \u3ci\u3eTransforming Public and Nonprofit Organizations\u3c/i\u3e, by James Kee and Kathryn Newcomer

In the past quarter century, the theory and practice of public administration has undergone a dramatic change. Public organizations are increasingly decentralized and multi-sectoral. This creates new challenges for organizing and leading public sector organizations as well as for sustaining the democratic character of public administration. This book provides students, practitioners and academics with an understanding of how to lead change in an era of new governance

Review of \u3ci\u3ePublic Administration in Perspective: Theory and Practice Through Multiple Lenses\u3c/i\u3e by David John Farmer

David Farmer’s book Public Administration in Perspective: Theory and Practice Through Multiple Lenses maps the field of public administration in a new and comprehensive way. Farmer is, by far, one of the most knowledgeable writers in our field. His writing is creative, bold, and imaginative. Within public administration and political science, Farmer is a mentor to many and an inspiration to all who know him

“Anti-Matter and Public Administration, “ review of Papers on the Art of Anti-Administration, edited by David J. Farmer

Papers on the Art of Anti-Administration is a book to which writers in public administration ought to pay attention. It contains thirteen works, which comprise a postmodern response to the central organizing principles of public administration. The volume\u27s title holds special significance in this regard

“The Practice of Transformational Stewardship,” review of \u3ci\u3eTransforming Public and Nonprofit Organizations\u3c/i\u3e, by James Kee and Kathryn Newcomer

The concept of transformational stewardship as a force for change was explored in Transforming Public and Nonprofit Organizations: Stewardship for Leading Change by James Edwin Kee and Kathryn E. Newcomer. But how does a public manager become a transformational steward? How is the concept of stewardship related to public leadership

Public Administration and the Public Interest: Re-Presenting a Lost Concept

This article analyzes how the concept of the public interest has been articulated in the field of public administration. It traces the intellectual development of the term and highlights the differences between a definition of the public interest that emphasizes a “community of meaning” and a definition that emphasizes the “objective control of administration.” The article then goes on to discuss how the current debates concerning the postmodern experience inform a definition of the public interest for the 21st century

Echoes of the “Misfounding” of Public Administration: The Voices of Generation X

This paper build on previous research into the X Generation, in particular their apparent cynicism about all theories of organization as being mere strategies of manipulation. Their voices were described in that study as the voice of a new cohort of students that we will increasingly find in our classrooms (Marshall, 1997). Current MPA students at the University of Nebraska at Omaha participated in focus group discussions designed to elicit information about their motivations for enrolling in our graduate program. Initial findings confirmed the organizational commitment of older age cohorts, as well as their identification with large governmental institutions. The younger cohort expressed significant public service idealism despite cynicism about large public bureaucracies. Neither the organizational commitment of the older students nor the idealism of the younger cohort were apparently related to whether they were currently working in the public service. Instead the differences seemed to be related to age and to their various formative social experiences. The X\u27ers had a coherent view of public service, although not the traditional one we know. Their skepticism about large-scale organizations was balanced by a commitment to participatory governance and to the idea of community

The Status of the At-Will Employment Doctrine in Virginia after Bowman v. State Bank of Keysville

The development of the employment-at-will doctrine has tracked the changing character of the work force from the days of simple master-servant domestic relations to the commercial realities of twentieth-century industrial capitalism. The rule grew out of the humane principle that it would be unjust to employ a laborer during the planting and harvesting months, only to discharge that laborer during the harsh winter. Hence, the realities of the agrarian economy of the British Isles and the closeness of the master and domestic servant relationship shaped the yearly hiring rule. This rule developed into a presumption that a hiring for an indefinite term was a hiring for a year and extended to all types of workers