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"This volume crisply reviews the phenomenological and linguistic turns in recent policy analysis."--S. Plotkin inChoiceCharles Fox and Hugh Miller attempt to redirect current thinking about public policy and administration in light of the postmodern condition. Postmodern Public Administration rejects existing and accepted theories such as public management doctrine, constitutionalism, and communitarianism in favor of constructing a "discourse" theory of public administration. Not only does this work provide an exciting and provocative new look at public administration in postmodern times, but it also provides an invaluable, thorough, and clear review of the doctrines and philosophies that have, to date, dominated the field.Students and scholars of public administration and political science will find this volume to be a comprehensive review of existing philosophies, and a valuable new contribution to thefield."The bold purpose of this little book is to put the study of policy and administration on a postmodernist footing. For Charles J. Fox and Hugh T. Miller policy is less the expression of formal organization than the ′recursive practice′ of highly charged ′public energy fields,′ loosely configured ′nodes′ where officials, experts, journalists, and activists ′socially construct′ policy amidst struggles to capture meaning. The authors seek to establish conditions of rational, democratic discussion in arenas now dominated by illusory forms of symbolic politics. ′Discourse theory′ helps by providing criteria for rational ′policy conversation.′ This volume crisply reviews the phenomenological and linguistic turns in recent policy analysis; as brief introduction to these fields, chapters 3-5 are very useful. . . .Recommend for graduate students and upper-division undergraduates."--Choice

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• Part 1 Critique
• A New Approach to Democratic Governance
• Orthodoxy and Its Alternatives
• The Growing Gap between Words and Deeds
• Postmodern Symbolic Politics
• Part 2 Discourse Theory
• Theoretical Underpinnings of Discourse Theory
• Phenomenology, Constructivism, Structuration Theory and Energy Fields
• Warrants for Discourse
• Nascent Forms of Discourse

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CHOICE Review

The bold purpose of this little book is to put the study of policy and administration on a postmodernist footing. For Fox and Miller policy is less the expression of formal organization than the "recursive practice" of highly charged "public energy fields," loosely configured "nodes" where officials, experts, journalists, and activists "socially construct" policy amidst struggles to capture meaning. The authors seek to establish conditions of rational, democratic discussion in arenas now dominated by illusory forms of symbolic politics. "Discourse theory" helps by providing criteria for rational "policy conversation." This volume crisply reviews the phenomenological and linguistic turns in recent policy analysis; as brief introductions to these fields, chapters 3-5 are extremely useful. One remains skeptical, however, about whether discourse theory is sufficient to understand policy. As current politics attempts to shrink the state, the issue of what we can legitimately talk about with respect to politics would seem at least as important as how we talk about it. Eager to unearth the proper conditions of rational discussion, Fox and Miller do not say enough about the proper domain of politics. Recommended for graduate students and upper-division undergraduates. S. Plotkin; Vassar College