Valuing Bureaucracy: The Case for Professional Government (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781316629666)

To be effective, government must be run by professional managers. When decisions that should be taken by government officials are delegated to private contractors without adequate oversight, the public interest is jeopardized. Verkuil uses his inside perspectives on government performance and accountability to examine the tendencies at both the federal and state levels to 'deprofessionalize' government. Viewing the turn to contractors and private sector solutions in ideological and functional terms, he acknowledges that the problem cannot be solved without meaningful civil service reforms that make it easier to hire, incent and, where necessary, fire career employees and officials. The indispensable goal is to revitalize bureaucracy so it can continue to competently deliver essential services. By highlighting the leadership that already exists in the career ranks, Verkuil senses a willingness, or even eagerness, to make government, like America, great again.

Author: Paul R. Verkuil
ISBN-10: 131662966X
ISBN-13: 9781316629666
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 05/09/2017
Pages: 180
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.58lbs
Size: 9.12h x 6.39w x 0.49d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 05/01/2018