My critique for Phase I of Minnowbrook III
My critique for the Minnowbrook Conference III is titled “Public Administration in the Information Age.”
Reflecting on the legacy of “Minnowbrook perspectives,” I see a rapidly changing environment that raises new challenges for public administration, both as a profession of practice and as a field of study...
In the traditional notion, governments are entities that have exclusive powers (coercive authority in taxation, service monopoly, etc) to provide a special package of goods (governmental services) to residents within special jurisdictions. Today, I see each government functions like an individual node of information, together with other governments, other sectors, and the public, all intertwined in the huge network of public affairs. In the information age, governments may have to redefine their relations with the public, with other governments, and with other sectors...
The first Minnowbrook Conference marked the beginning of the ”New Public Administration,” which rejected the traditional perception that public administration should be “value neutral,” and urged that public administration should adopt an explicit value orientation, that is, the promotion of equity in income and power. Indeed, knowledge is subjective, value-laden, and culture-bounded, and thus we should not expect public administration to be an objective social science. Nevertheless, I disagree with the NPA perspective that public administration should be a proactive advocate for the “powerless minorities.” In today’s diverse world, we should realize that equity itself is value-laden and culture-bounded, and even the definition of minorities are sub jective. It is a key political question regarding whose interests to be promoted and to what level, which should be left for collective decision in a democratic society. Public administration should not be the judge of equity. Instead, it should act to reduce the information cost for the choice and access of public services, as a disseminator of practical knowledge, an interpreter of public issues, a clarifier of public preferences, and a facilitator of public interests...