The Democratic Ethos and Public Management

Abstract

One of the few issues on which public management scholars agree in theory is the centrality of the democratic ethos. Public policy has recently paid attention to more democratic forms of policy making (e.g., participatory policy analysis), and public administration has periodically studied and advocated increased citizen participation in the processes of government. But the field of public management scholarship has yet to make a similar commitment to the democratic ethos, despite some contemporary practices (flattened hierarchies, self-managing teams) that represent democratization in public organizations. This essay reviews reasons why public management should be more democratic, some ways in which it is not, and proposes some ways in which the focus of scholarship and practice should be directed.