The State of Public Management (Paperback)

"This book's essays are some of the best papers presented at the second National Public Management Conference at the Robert M. LaFollette Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in October 1993. The chapters in the book mark important milestones in the new discipline of public management. They not only explore how public programs can be managed to work better, but they also chart the maturation of thinking about how it ought to be done." -- Norman Gill, Perspectives on Political Science

Public management stands at the unique intersection of theory and practice. It seeks to help scholars frame questions that will improve their understanding of how policy ideas become transformed into practice and to help government managers see past the narrow issues on their desks to the broader implications of their work.

In The State of Public Management, Donald F. Kettl and H. Brinton Milward bring together contributors who focus on the interdisciplinary nature of public management. Scholars from the social sciences -- economics, political science, sociology, and psychology -- examine what traditional disciplines bring to the debate. Other analysts build on this foundation to probe the theoretical bases of and practical solutions for public management.