Public Service
The fourth of NASPAA's core competencies requires the ability to articulate, apply, and advance a public service perspective.
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To address Public Service, I chose the essay “Increasing Public Trust in Government” that I wrote for Introduction to Public Administration and another paper for Managing Public Organizations, entitled “Spheres of Responsibility in Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century.”
Increasing Public Trust in Government
Introduction to Public Administration (Spring 2023)
This short paper discusses why public trust in federal and state governments has fallen regularly for decades and what can be done to improve public perception of government. To that end, theories posited by Waldo, Green, Kingdon, and other public administrators are discussed. Suggestions include protecting representative democracy, valuing democratic values as much as efficiency, protecting constitutional norms, and other bedrock ideas of public administration. Although many factors influence public trust in government, it is the hope that this essay provides actionable steps for public administrators.
Spheres of Responsibility in Timothy Snyder’s
On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
Managing Public Organizations (Spring 2023)
A paper viewing Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century through different levels of responsibility. These include personal responsibility, professional responsibility, and societal responsibility most broadly. Through these networks of responsibilities, dictators and bad leaders can be prevented or at least the scope of their power can be minimized. This essay focuses mainly on the responsibilities that public administrators and other government officials have due to their duties to the public and the rule of law. For good public service, public administrators ought to keep in mind the specific power they have in government.