Editors' Introduction

• Author: Stephanie P. Newbold,Danny L. Balfour
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12704
• Published date: 01 January 2017
• Date: 01 January 2017

Book Review Editors’ Introduction 135

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 77, Iss. 1, pp. 135. © 2016 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.12704.

Book Review

Editors’

Introduction

T he books reviewed for this issue of PAR

speak to the functional heart of public

administration and the challenges posed by

the social, political, and economic environment of

the twenty-first century. As Donijo Robbins points

out in her review, Rethinking Public Administration

expresses much of the frustration felt by public

managers as they confront these challenges and

search for new and better ways to manage and

engage with citizens’ concerns. Don Kettl ’ s book,

reviewed by Al Roberts, looks to the spirit of

Progressivism to urge public administration to

adopt a more macro perspective and ask the big

questions that will make the field more relevant

and effective in the contemporary environment.

Bob Behn ’ s book on the PerformanceStat, cogently

reviewed by Adam Eckerd, seeks to do just that:

to invigorate evidence-based management with

dynamic, participatory, and informed leadership.

His book dovetails nicely with that of Nabatchi

and Leighninger, reviewed by Arizona State

University PhD candidate Oriol Vidal-Aparicio,

which provides a comprehensive guide to enhancing

and managing public participation in governance,

another essential component for making public

administration relevant in an era of general distrust

of government and institutions. Finally, Gerrits and

Verweij bring a critical perspective to the focus on

governance networks, which is now so ubiquitous

in public management circles. They conclude their

review of Governance Networks in the Public Sector

with a statement that reflects what all the books

reviewed in this issue strive for: that “…we still need

to make big steps in further testing and critically

researching the main ideas and assumptions using

novel and more sophisticated methods. That

also needs to be part of the agenda, next to the

normative stance that governance is good.”

Danny L. Balfour

Grand Valley State University

Stephanie P. Newbold

Rutgers University-Newark