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This paper explores governance failure through an investigation of the philosophical assumptions oF three modes of societal governance hierarchy, interactive (or network) and markets--and their behavioral implications. The analysis utilizes a typology drawn from the philosophy of the social sciences to identify the foundational assumptions of these societal governance modes. The paper then considers their epistemological, ontological and nomological limitations, and proceeds, through a behavioral analysis, to identify the implications of these various philosophical issues for the relationship between governors and the governed. Finally, it proposes, drawing upon recent developments in the philosophy of the social sciences, the philosophical requirements for the resolution of governance failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is only one sex left, `we are all women in spirit.' (Montesquieu, Charles de Secondat, 1689-1755) The modernist administrative ethos does not permit space.for a radical reconstruction of gender--restricting and thereby oppressing the articulation of a radical feminist project in public administration. This paper addresses gender discourse in anti-administration, suggesting that multigendering is one remedy for the pervasive melancholy that afflicts women, men and organizations the oppressed and the oppressors, alike. The feminist experience and perspective, largely absent in public administration discourse, brings radically different and new insights to old problems in theory and praxis. The paper concludes with a plea.for a "new enlightenment" that resists the "urges to power" which undermine prospects for anti-administration and anti-melancholy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Should an anti-administrative consciousness extend to a discourse (a writing) of laughter? This paper plays with the possibility of this discourse in order to point to debilitating constraints in traditional PA. thinking. Join me and imagine a PA. discourse of laughter that is somatic in origin, and that.focuses on the "funny peculiar," which in the PA. case is understood to be socially constructed elements that are privileged in being misconceived as natural entities in any and all PA. discourses. The paper draws on Helene Cixous' "The Laugh of the Medusa" and Cixous' discussions of feminine writing and the burdens of imposed meanings. It imagines that the use of a libidinal discourse of laughter is to liberate ourselves from the distortions of our particular disciplinary discourse. It gives macro examples of political and economic myth-like stories that have become inscribed on our bodies and that make up our "governing" political and economic discourses. Using a term discussed by Milan Kundera, I suggest that a value lies in bringing us closer in touch with traditional PA.'s "litost." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conservative commentators have decried our society's move away from traditional moral standards in favor of a preoccupation with individual feelings, and with therapy as the means of unfettering those feelings from external moral constraints. This paper examines the corresponding notion of a "therapeutic state," one that grounds its legitimacy in its ability to influence the feelings of citizens. It suggests that the problems apparently associated with therapeutic governance follow in large part from the inadequacy of modernist vocabulary in describing the concern for human emotion expressed in certain anti-modernist approaches to public service. This paper seeks to redescribe the notion of therapeutic governance in a way more consistent with those approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the ontological evolution of public administration theory from a speculative point set one to two decades out in the future--as the scholars of this symposium might typically reach the heights of influence in their careers. The intention is to discuss the threats and opportunities for public administration and to create a vision of how the field can be considered and shaped as it evolves. Its conclusions are not so much normative as they are intended as a stimulus for normative discussions on the future of the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between public administration and social science in light of the postmodern condition. It is argued here that the postmodern condition limits the role of conventional social science in public administration because it increases the incidence, as well as the visibility, of conflict between incompatible and incommensurable human ends or values. While conventional social science can still make a useful contribution to public administration enquiry, as an expression of certain important values, other modes of enquiry, including philosophy and history, are also important in helping us to become more self-conscious about the political and ethical values that we express in public administration discourse and practice and the conflicts that can occur between them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much theory in public administration assumes that citizens are, or should be, deeply involved in public affairs. However, most people are not involved in public discourse, leaving them vulnerable to actions taken by the small percentage of the population who do participate. Public administrators are key actors in shaping perceptions of which problems should rise to the public agenda, what action alternatives are available, and how implementation of programmatic decisions affects members' of the public. In this role, they are a remaining buffer between public action and potentially disruptive or damaging impacts on private lives. The paper suggests that in adopting an antiadministrative stance toward administrative action, public professionals might exercise imagination as a means of protecting private lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Calls for papers on the role of theorists in public administration, to be featured in the December 2003 issue of 'Administrative Theory & Praxis.'