Practicing a Virtuous Politics: Bill Bolling and the Atlanta Community Food Bank

• 成果类型: Biographical-Item
• 署名作者: Thomas, John Clayton
• 署名单位: University System of Georgia; Georgia State University
• 刊物名称: PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0033-3352
• DOI: 10.1111/puar.12810
• 发表日期: 2017
• 页码: 933-941
• 关键词: SKILL; BEHAVIOR

摘要

Bill Bolling created the Atlanta Community Food Bank (ACFB) in 1979 and, as its executive director from then until 2015, transformed a fledgling effort in a church basement into the equivalent of a $100 million company. This article tells the story of how Bolling built the ACFB from scratch, arguing that his accomplishments can be traced to his effectiveness as a political leader. The article explains how Bolling practiced a virtuous politics in building informal sources of power and in developing and applying political skills on behalf of the ACFB. In the process, the article challenges the traditional critical scholarly view of political leadership, offering Bolling as a case illustration of an emerging theory of a benevolent and effective form of political leadership.