Expanding the Reach of Representativeness, Discretion, and Collaboration: The Unrealized Potential of Public Administration Research in Atrocity Prevention.

Mass atrocities constitute a "wicked" problem that warrants greater attention from public administration scholars. The role bureaucrats have in committing or contributing to mass atrocities is well documented, yet bureaucrats also have the potential to play crucial roles in stopping current, preventing future, and responding to past atrocities. Despite the central role of public administrators in mass atrocities and prevention, public administration scholarship is largely silent on such topics, effectively ceding this problem to other disciplines and professions. Using three pressing challenges facing atrocity prevention practitioners and scholars as examples, this article illustrates how public administration theories and public administrators in practice can contribute to prevention by focusing their attention on upstream (before conflict) stages. The overarching goal is to frame atrocity prevention in terms that will resonate with public administration scholars while also providing a roadmap for the field's engagement with these issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]