The deformation of democracy in the United States: When does bureaucratic neutral competence rise to complicity?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bozeman, Barry; Nelson, John P.; Bretschneider, Stuart; Lindsay, Spencer
• 署名单位: Arizona State University; Arizona State University-Downtown Phoenix; University System of Georgia; Georgia Institute of Technology; Syracuse University; Arizona State University; Arizona State University-Downtown Phoenix
• 刊物名称: PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0033-3352
• DOI: 10.1111/puar.13855
• 发表日期: 2024
• 页码: 796-816
• 关键词: Patience; ETHICS; VOICE; EXIT; whistleblowers; PROTECTION; emergency; POLITICS; Loyalty; VALUES

摘要

Recent years have seen a step-change in the severity and nature of threats to United States democracy, including extensive efforts by elected officials to undercut democratic governance. When elected officials undermine democracy, this constitutes deformation of democracy. As implementors and agents of policy, public administrators can sometimes play essential roles as bulwarks against democratic deformation. However, among public administrators there is historically a strong ethos emphasizing neutral competence and subordination to political authority, in some cases reinforced by law. How should public administrators respond when confronted by deformation and, at the same time, constrained by tradition and law? We selectively review strands of public administration theory, focusing on theory especially relevant to the United States governmental system, to construct and assess a catalog of responses that public administrators can take under democratic deformation. We conclude by offering a set of recommendations focused on institutionalized collective action by public administrators.