Symposium-Network Theory in the Twenty-First Century: New Direction or Dead-End for Public Administration?

Good Governance in Network Society: Reconfiguring the Political From Politics to Policy

This paper critically assesses the implications of the "good governance" program and its underpinning network approach to public governance-that is, the increased reliance on more or less informal networks as a way to mobilize and engage citizens, firms, and organizations in the development, implementation, and monitoring of public policy. We begin by positioning the network approach to public governance within the broader notion of an emerging network society. Second, we present the claim th...

Network and Complexity Theories: A Comparison and Prospects for a Synthesis

It is argued that a synthesis of network and complexity theories will help enhance the theoretical and methodological capabilities of understanding governance, policy, and public management networks. The similarities and differences of the two theories on stability and dynamism of social systems, self-organization, and uncertainty are identified. Potential contributions of the complexity concepts of nonlinearity and dissipative structures and agent-based simulation methods to studying network...

Networks in Contemporary Public Administration: A Discourse Analysis

Networks have generated increasing interest among public administration scholars. At the same time, the network literature has been criticized as being inconsistent and fragmented. A discourse analysis of the public administration network literature was conducted to assess the level of coherence or fragmentation of the literature, identify commonly used network attributes, and develop a minimal definition based on those common attributes. Analysis revealed a rich although highly fragmented li...

The Challenge of Social Networks

Research and theory focused on the contemporary development of social networks appears not to appreciate that this phenomenon may mark a new stage in the ongoing development of human consciousness. Given this, it seems that an entirely new paradigm is required if social networks are to be understood and the questions they raise for public administration theory and practice are to be articulated and addressed. A review of one possible history of the evolution of the human mind supports the ide...

Minnowbrook Iii-Part 1

Parsing the 'Minnowbrook Tradition'

One of the purposes of this article is to examine the actual practice of the Minnowbrook Conference and to address whether US public administration (PA) needs another one anyway. The author's observation of the most recent one is that it deserves the critique of being exclusive and elitist and of promoting the status quo in the field. In 20 years, the Minnowbrook Conference will likely be very different. Many of the participants in I and II will no longer be around, and the conference will be...

Minnowbrook Iii: What Was Missing?

The first Minnowbrook conference was convened in 1968 under the stewardship of Dwight Waldo. Held during a time of turmoil and conflict in the US, young scholars all under the age of thirty-five shifted the focus of the field and launched what became known as the New Public Administration. Asked to come prepared with papers to present at the conference, these young scholars took over the agenda and created a more open space for dialogue and debate. In 2008 Rosemary O'Leary from the Maxwell Sc...

Midnight in the Garden of Pa

Distinctive from the arts and sciences from which it draws, public administration scholarship is inextricably defined by zeitgeist; for such scholarship must, one way or the other, come to terms with "what is to be done" in the face of any number of pressing, real-time dilemmas. In this respect, the Minnowbrook "tradition" derives in major part from soul-searching efforts among public administration scholars following the revelations of the Kerner Report of 1968 into "civil disorders" occurri...

Legacies and Diversity: Postgathering Reflections On Minnowbrook Iii

Since the first Minnowbrook gathering in 1968, the 20-year intervals have provided a time for reflection on the status and direction of the field of public administration. Many of those who were at the first Minnowbrook have now retired or are on the verge of retiring. Many of those who were at Minnowbrook II are now the senior scholars of the field. By the next Minnowbrook, assuming that the 20-year cycle holds steady, those who attended Minnowbrook III will be in senior roles where they too...

Mobilization Via Frustration: A Minnowbrook Iii Tradition?

As the original Minnowbrook was a reaction to frustration that neither the study or practice of US public administration was responding in appropriate measure to the mounting turbulence and critical problems of the day, the present reflections are a reaction to frustration with the current Minnowbrook. For people who wanted to understand societal challenges and academic inquiry in collaboration with their colleagues, conversations at Minnowbrook III felt empty of both theory and praxis. Given...

Improving Quality and Creating Democracy in the Classroom

If one hopes students will practice democracy outside of the classroom, including encouraging more citizen participation, one needs to model the processes of democracy -- deliberative discourse, active participation, empowerment, and so on -- in the classroom. The model of democracy envisioned in this article is participatory, deliberative, and extra-formal -- that is, a democracy that includes a high level of interaction among citizens and between citizens and government, not necessarily par...

Governance in Dark Times: Practical Philosophy for Public Service

Governance in Dark Times: Practical Philosophy for Public Service, by Camilla Stivers, is reviewed.