1. Quality of governance: values and violations. Introduction to this volume.
Hester Paanakker, Adam Masters and Leo Huberts
Part 1: Institutionalizing values in governance practices
2. Democratic legitimacy in bureaucratic structures: a precarious balance
Neal Buckwalter and Danny Balfour
3. Dissecting the semantics of accountability and its misuse
Ciarán O’Kelly and Melvin J. Dubnick
4. Transparency assessment in national systems
Sabina Schnell
5. Integrity and quality in different governance phases
Leo Huberts
6. The multi-interpretable nature of lawfulness in a national framework
Anna Simonati
Part 2: Translating values in practitioner behavior
7. Mission impossible for effectiveness? Service quality in public-private partnerships.
Anne-Marie Reynaers
8. Professionalism and public craftsmanship at street level
Hester Paanakker
9. Robustness and the governance sin of bureaucratic animosity
Adam Masters
Conclusion
10. Reviewing Quality of Governance: New perspectives and future research
Adam Masters, Hester Paanakker and Leo Huberts
Hester L. Paanakker is Assistant Professor of Public Administration at Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Her research focuses on issues of governance quality with a substantial focus on public craftsmanship, public values and ethics and integrity research.
Adam B. Masters is a lecturer in the Centre for Social Research & Methods, and Director of the Transnational Research Institute on Corruption (TRIC) at the Australian National University (ANU), with expertise in corruption and anti-corruption; transnational organized crime; and the influence of culture on international organizations.
Leo W.J.C. Huberts is Professor of Public Administration at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and author or editor of more than twenty books on systems of governance and power, police administration and integrity, public corruption and fraud and on integrity management.
“This volume arrives at a time when governance faces new, often dire, challenges and as traditional democratic values strain against the rise of populism and anti-government sentiment. This book should be read by anyone interested the values bases of governance and in exploring good ideas about how to improve policy and management.”
Barry Bozeman, Arizona State University, USA
“Public governance matters. It touches almost every aspect of our lives, from the most mundane to the most important. This book examines some of thorniest values and issues for 21st century governance, which are crucially important for practice and research on the quality of governance.”
Tina Nabatchi, Syracuse University, USA
“This volume provides an overview of key themes and theories about the quality of governance. Many of the field's most thoughtful scholars have contributed chapters on the positive and problematic dimensions of good governance. This book is a must read for scholars, students, and practitioners.”
Zeger van der Wal, National University of Singapore / Leiden University, the Netherlands
This volume unravels the meaning of public values for the quality of governance, for good and bad governance, and examines their significance in governance practices. It addresses public values in context, in different countries, policy sectors and levels of governance. A series of in-depth studies casts a critical eye over eight central values: democratic legitimacy, accountability, transparency, integrity, lawfulness, effectiveness, professionalism and craftsmanship, and robustness. How does integrity or lawfulness contribute to the accomplishment and preservation of quality, and what happens if we fail to address it adequately? This unique exercise yields important lessons on the differences in normative interpretation and application of often abstract values in the demanding administrative settings of today. Practitioners, scholars and students of public administration and political science will find the volume a vital resource.
Hester Paanakker is Assistant Professor of Public Administration at Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Adam Masters is Lecturer in Criminology at the Australian National University, Australia.
Leo Huberts is Professor of Public Administration at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands.