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Challenges to Public Value Creation

Authority, Process, and Complexity

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  • © 2024

Overview

Editors:
  1. Brian J. Cook

    1. Public Administration and Policy, Virginia Tech, Arlington, USA

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  • Examines fundamental questions about the public value of public decisions
  • Assesses how government officials can justify their decisions in terms of public value
  • Offers a diverse array of perspectives on the challenges of identifying and measuring public value claims

Part of the book series: Public Sector Organizations (PSO)

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Table of contents (16 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xix
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  2. Introduction

    • Brian J. Cook
    Pages 1-10

  3. Conclusion

    • Brian J. Cook, Mark Prebble
    Pages 285-297

  4. The Puzzle of Public Value, Public Authority, and Public Governance

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 11-11
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    2. The Challenge of Government: Public Value Is Unknowable

      • Mark Prebble
      Pages 13-33

    3. Searching for Sufficient Legitimacy to Make Public Policy Choices

      • Mark H. Moore
      Pages 35-55

    4. The Cloud of Unknowing: The Theory and Practice of Public Value in Times of Extremity

      • John Benington, Jean Hartley
      Pages 57-76

    5. Some Optimism About Public Governance

      • B. Guy Peters
      Pages 77-84

    6. Public Value Is Knowable, Public Value Creation Is Not

      • Timo Meynhardt
      Pages 85-97

    7. Public Value, Knowability, and Legitimacy: A Thought Experiment

      • Mark Prebble
      Pages 99-107

  5. The Complexities of Authority and Process in Defining and Creating Public Value in Particular Contexts

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 109-109
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    2. Creating Public Value Through Nonprofit Involvement in Service Delivery: The Case of Veterans Services

      • Kelly LeRoux, Jun Li
      Pages 111-127

    3. Public Value Contestation in the Era of Fiscal Austerity and Crisis: Lessons from the State Takeover System in Michigan

      • Kyu-Nahm Jun, Alisa V. Moldavanova
      Pages 129-158

    4. Leading and Recognising Public Value

      • Jean Hartley, Steven Parker, Jim Beashel
      Pages 159-182

    5. Frontline Value Crafting: On the Micro-creation of Public Value at the Street Level

      • Hester Paanakker, Noortje Hoevens, Lars Stevenson
      Pages 183-203

    6. Reception and Application of the Concept of Public Value in Latin America

      • B. Guy Peters, Jose-Luis Mendez
      Pages 205-223

  6. Rethinking and Reshaping Processes and Authorities to Create Public Value

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 225-225
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    2. Unknowability, Heuristics, and Ethical Imperatives of Public Value Creation

      • Kaifeng Yang, Naon Min
      Pages 227-246

    3. Invulnerability as Public Value: A Micro-level Approach for Public Value Creation, Implementation, and Evaluation

      • Henry Smart
      Pages 247-268

    4. Developing Strategies for the Creation of Public Value: An Exercise in Futility?

      • Lauren Hamilton Edwards
      Pages 269-284
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Keywords

About this book

This volume examines fundamental questions about the public value of public decisions. More specifically, it seeks to assess whether all public decisions create public value, if it is possible to know what value for the public as a whole a government decision will create, and how government officials can justify their decisions in terms of public value. Leading experts bring a diverse array of perspectives on the normative, epistemological, and processual challenges to identifying, describing, measuring, and evaluating the public value claims that public officials often articulate in defending their decisions, and the results that citizens often seek. The book will appeal to scholars and students of public policy and public administration.

Reviews

"This powerful collection shows that 'public value' has come of age. Launched in the 1990s mainly as an inspirational heuristic for public managers, it has matured well. It has philosophical debate about the nature and purpose of government and public service. It has informed an ever expanding array of empirical studies across sectors and levels of government. Its reach has extended far beyond the Anglosphere from which it has emerged. And it provides a prism for strategic thinking about how governments are to deal with the grittiness of the contexts and challenge they currently face. This must-read volume sits at the cutting edge of these important developments."—Paul 't Hart, Professor of Public Administration, Utrecht University, The Netherlands 


"Challenges to Public Value Creation is a wonderful addition to the growing literature on public value creation. The authors engage deeply with the many challenges – especially those related to authority, process, and complexity – in trying to produce what the public values and is also good for the public in democratic societies. Academics and reflective practitioners will find great value in this book!"
—John M. Bryson, McKnight Presidential Professor Emeritus, University of Minnesota, USA

“The purpose of government is to create public value.” While this has become an increasingly accepted refrain in public policy, administration, and management, numerous questions remain about how where, when, why, how, and by whom public value is created. With everything from philosophical and conceptual arguments to empirical analyses and cases, the contributors to this noteworthy volume begin to address those questions. In doing so, they offer new ideas, reveal important insights, suggest exciting directions for research and practice, and ultimately give more substance and shape to the idea of public value creation."
—Tina Nabatchi, Joseph A. Strasser Endowed Professor in Public Administration, Syracuse University, USA


Editors and Affiliations

  • Public Administration and Policy, Virginia Tech, Arlington, USA

    Brian J. Cook

About the editor

Brian J. Cook is Emeritus Professor of Public Administration and Policy at Virginia Tech, USA. He served as chair of the Center for Public Administration and Policy from 2010 to 2014 and 2018 to 2019. He also served on the political science faculty at Clark University from 1984 to 2008.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Challenges to Public Value Creation

  • Book Subtitle: Authority, Process, and Complexity

  • Editors: Brian J. Cook

  • Series Title: Public Sector Organizations

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46030-2

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Political Science and International Studies, Political Science and International Studies (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-46029-6Published: 29 March 2024

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-46032-6Due: 01 May 2024

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-46030-2Published: 27 March 2024

  • Series ISSN: 2946-2290

  • Series E-ISSN: 2946-2304

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XIX, 309

  • Number of Illustrations: 9 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Public Policy, Public Administration, Industries

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