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Two thematic areas have grown in significance in the contemporary scientific literature of public governance, public administration and public management over the past 20 to 30 years: the theory and practice of public value, and theorisation of the neo-Weberian state (NWS). In this paper, we argue that, while these two important thematic areas have so far developed in a mostly unconnected way from each other, they both might benefit from integrating each other's perspective into their theoretical frame, and we outline the contours of such a framework. We argue that the NWS and public value might theoretically be combined in three forms of integration of the respective perspectives: the integration of the NWS conceived of as model with an approach to public value conceived of as an addition of value through the actions by public managers; the NWS as an ideal type with public value conceived of as an addition of value through the actions by public managers; and the NWS as an ideal type with public value conceived of as a contribution to the public sphere. The NWS may benefit from integrating the public value perspective in order to develop some of its core components: how it compounds input legitimacy with output legitimacy, and how it integrates the managerial components into a narrative of managerial action for the public purpose. The perspective of public value may benefit from engaging into a dialogue with NWS, if it aspires to be a truly global paradigm for managing public services. Points for practitioners: 1. Public managers could and should pursue courses of action aimed at creating public value within the frame of NWS institutions and processes. 2. The adoption of a public value perspective is compatible with an NWS framework and mutually beneficial. 3. The development of the NWS in jurisdictions across the world is strengthened by the integration of the public value perspective, which can lead to matching output legitimacy and input legitimacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public administration can be considered as an applied, interdisciplinary field, whose study demands the contribution of a range of disciplines, including political science, management, law, sociology and others. The article argues that the disciplines of public administration should also include philosophy, not as a discipline (philosophy is not a discipline in the sense modern sciences are; rather, at the roots of philosophy are key questions: what there is (ontology); who we are (philosophy of the mind); how to live well (ethics); how to live well together (political philosophy) and so on) but as the foundation of all the other disciplines studying public administration, from political science (whose roots are in political philosophy), to management and sociology (whose underpinnings are in ontological conceptions of the individual and society), to law (whose roots are in the philosophy of law) and so on. If philosophy is foundational to public administration, then two key questions arise: in researching public administration, what is the contribution of philosophy to advancing our understanding of public administration? And in the teaching of public administration, what is the place of philosophy in the curricula of public administration programmes? The article, after briefly reviewing the philosophical foundations of public administration, aims to discuss the latter question about the contribution of philosophy to educational and training programmes in the field of public administration, and the place of philosophy in public administration education curricula.

This is the introductory article to the special issue 'Religion as an explanatory factor in public administration: Directions for research'. We make the argument that religion matters for understanding public administration, and that the manifold relationships between religion and public administration deserve more systematic investigation. We present and critically consider the papers of this special issue with the goal of delineating the contours of a proposed research programme for advancing the study of the relationships between religion and public administration. We also notice the risks associated with the study of the influence of religion on public administration, and we argue for an ethics of responsibility in engaging with this important field of scholarly inquiry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article originates from the consideration that religion, spirituality and faith affect public administration, its configuration and its workings. Religion, spirituality, and faith are important explanatory factors and part of explanatory frameworks for several fields of inquiry in the field of public administration. Specifically, no literature review has been conducted so far about what has been written on the relationship between religion, spirituality and faith, and public administration. This study aims to fill this gap through a literature review of scholarly publications between 1960-2020. On this basis, the article identifies themes of research at the micro-, meso- and macro-level (that is, the level of individuals/people, organizations, and administrative systems respectively) about the manifold relations between religion and public administration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public Value (PV) is a notion and an approach to the governance and management of public services that has gained traction over the past three decades. However, there seems to be a major gap in PV theory: the influence that institutionalized religions have on public life in countries around the world and hence on the ways in which PV notions become acceptable across different countries. This article seeks to address this gap by developing an analytical framework to understand the influence of religions on PV. The nature of the religious regime in a given country—whether liberal or non-liberal—is a key mediating factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary societies are affected by profound and often disruptive changes leading to socio-economic turbulence. The COVID-19 pandemic has been one of such changes. Gaining a deeper understanding of how society-based responses – such as social innovation – work during turbulent times is of increased significance. This paper carries out a systematically conducted literature review on the forms of social innovation arisen during the first year of the pandemic. Based upon our findings, areas for middle range theorizing on how social innovation works under conditions of turbulence and a prospective research agenda are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]