Book Review: Public Governance and the Classical-Liberal Perspective: Political Economy Foundations by Aligica, P. D., Boettke, P. J., & Tarko, V.

DOI10.1177/02750740221098797
Date01 July 2022
Published date01 July 2022
Subject MatterBook review
Book Review
Aligica, P. D., Boettke, P. J., & Tarko, V. (2019). Public Governance and the Classical-Liberal Perspective: Political Economy Foundations.
New York, NY: Oxford University Press. pp. 224 $62.39. ISBN 9780190267032.
Reviewed by: Nina Alvandipour , School of Public Administration, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA
DOI: 10.1177/02750740221098797
This fascinatingbook calls upon public administration to reor-
ganize and reconstruct its governance and institutional princi-
ples on a positive doctrine of public governance based on the
classical-liberal ethos. Drawing upon insights from Austria,
Virginia, and Bloomington Schools of Political Economy,
Aligica, Boettke, and Tarko attempt to bridge the classical-
liberal view of political economy, new institutionalism, and
public choice with public administration.
The book is an endeavor to answer some of the most
crucial metaquestions facing the audience in the f‌ield of
public administration, such as what is the viable role of gov-
ernment in a democratic society? What is the suitable range
of government activities and legitimate tools, instruments,
and procedures for governing collective affairs?
The authors explore the answers to these questions by
identifying and exploring the classical-liberal conceptual
framework, tools, features, and procedures of the administra-
tion of collective affairs. This framework is grounded in
individualism, freedom of choice, freedom of association
(p.25). The authors build and develop their argument by
addressing the issue of collective coordination in the public
sector through a polycentric understanding of multiple
nodes of competing powers.
The book is divided into 3 sections and 11 chapters. In
section one, A Distinctive Perspective on Governance,
Aligica, Boettke, and Tarko emphasize the ever-changing
logic of the private and public relationships based on
Normative Individualism and Public Choice. Building on
the work of scholars and philosophers such as F.A. Hayek,
James Buchanan, and Vincent and Elinor Ostrom, they
explore the public administration f‌ield from the angle of
freedom of choice, voluntary association, knowledge, and
learning, adaptability and resilienceto f‌ind a solution for
the knowledge and power problems related to bureaucratic
public administration based on authority, hierarchy, and
control(p.80).
The classical-liberal governance approach invites us to
govern with citizens; see like a citizenrather than rule
over citizens; see like a state(p.24). Without prioritizing
individuals and their choices, there is no democratic view
of public administration. As a result, they offer the notion
of Dynamic Governanceas an adaptive institutional
systemthat can capture the ever-changing nature of the
collective affairs based on private-public mixed arrange-
ments, quasi-markets, quasi-governments, and nonprof‌it
and civil society organizationsrather than pure market or
a pure government(p.122).
Public governance can often be carried out through civic/
civil society organizations or the third sector. These institu-
tions can limit social conf‌licts and satisfy the preferences of
people who are directly impacted by programs and policies.
Based on this view, local knowledge embedded in the com-
plexities of our everyday life plays a critical role. They
argue that in contrast to top-down direct government
control, co-production with citizens and bottom-up gover-
nance is essential for solving the knowledge problem
(p.130) by empowering people to access local, and often
tacit, knowledge of time and place.
Section two, Public Choice and Public Administration,
begins with a chapter mapping the foundations of public
choice as the leading carrier of the classical-liberal ethos,
and merging it with public administration literature and its
evolution. In the next two chapters, Aligica, Boettke, and
Tarko provide context and relevance on how the classical-
liberal theory of governance based on individuals (as nor-
mative and analytical units), voluntary association, and self-
governance(p. 153). This is accomplished by discussing
Vincent and Elinor Ostroms scholarship on new
Institutionalism and a democratic understanding of public
administration as a self-governing arrangement that supports
self-governance, competition, pluralism, and polycentricity.
Self-governance is structured in response to the classical-
liberal understanding of public governance by taking the
knowledge and power problems seriously. It offers innova-
tive tools for resource provision in some policy areas regard-
ing collective action dilemmas. A prosperous self-governing
arrangement provides its members with the most signif‌icant
possible opportunity to set rules and live under them while
at the same time upholding a broad sense of community.
But for that to happen, individuals have to play a critical
role in creating those rules (co-production of rules).
In this case, public governance is more about social pro-
cesses driven by individual incentives and the governance
of spontaneous orders rather than ideal types and end
states. It is about the decisions, institutions, and procedures
between the private and the public interface. Each chapter
Book review
American Review of Public Administration
2022, Vol. 52(5) 398399
© The Author(s) 2022
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
journals.sagepub.com/home/arp

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT