1. Rising to Ostrom's Challenge: An invitation to walk on the bright side of politics, governance and public service
- Author
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Douglas, S, Schillemans, T, ‘t Hart, P, Ansell, C, Bøgh Andersen, L, Flinders, M, Head, B, Moynihan, D, Nabatchi, T, O'Flynn, J, Peters, BG, Raadschelders, J, Sancino, A, Sørensen, E, Torfing, J, Douglas, S, Schillemans, T, ‘t Hart, P, Ansell, C, Bøgh Andersen, L, Flinders, M, Head, B, Moynihan, D, Nabatchi, T, O'Flynn, J, Peters, BG, Raadschelders, J, Sancino, A, Sørensen, E, and Torfing, J
- Abstract
As a group of fifteen scholars from different sub-fields, countries, and generations, we argue that public administration would benefit from launching a self-conscious and cohesive strand of ‘positive’ scholarship, akin to social science subfields like positive psychology (Seligman & Csikshikszentmihalyi, 2000), positive organisational studies (Cameron & Dutton, 2003, p 4), and positive evaluation (Nielsen, Turksema & van der Knaap, 2015). We call for a program of research devoted to uncovering the factors and mechanisms that enable high performing public problem-solving and public service delivery; procedurally and distributively fair processes of tackling societal conflicts; and robust and resilient ways of coping with threats and risks. The core question driving positive public administration scholarship should be: Why is it that in a universe of like cases, specific public policies, programs, organizations, networks, or partnerships manage do much better than others to produce widely valued societal outcomes?
- Published
- 2021