Beyond Public Administration: Contemplating and Nudging Government-In-Context

How can public administration (P.A.) nudge government to govern fundamentally better in terms of policy? How critical is P.A. contemplation and nudges - prods, shoves or hammer blows - to government-in-context?

In this book, David John Farmer argues that government-in-context refers to government-in-totality, to what governs even if not called government and to what constrains government action. Constricting contextual features are infiltration, exfiltration and post-truth, raising questions relating to democracy. Infiltration into government is the action of gaining access that benefits big corporations, their owners and billionaires; findings are that it also mal-nudges government action through such elements as big money, lobbying, tax breaks and embrace of the free market. Reacting to factors like growing income inequality, what is explained as exfiltration occurs for middle- and lower-income people. Post-truth is noted as the Oxford Dictionary's word of the year for 2016, describing people concerned less with truths than with opinions. The book analyzes three practical hammer blow and 18 shove nudges to contradict the mal-nudges.

Beyond Public Administration will be of interest to P.A. scholars and graduate students, more specifically those interested in critical, normative, or interpretive scholarship focused on various aspects of P.A. theory, governance, and practical management.

David John Farmer is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Public Affairs at the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Prior to joining VCU in 1980, Dr. Farmer served as a budget analyst, an administrative analyst and an economist. He also served as director of operations management, special assistant to the New York City police commissioner and as a division director for the National Institute of Justice in the U.S. Department of Justice. Farmer has authored six books and 85 refereed articles and book chapters, and served as a member of four editorial boards.