Morgen Johansen (Ed.), Social Equity in the Asia‐Pacific Region: Conceptualizations and Realities (Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave MacMillan, 2019). 257pp. $64.99 (hardcover), ISBN: 978‐3‐030‐15919‐1

• Published date: 01 November 2020
• Author: Sean McCandless
• Date: 01 November 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13317

Book Review 1145

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 80, Iss. 6, pp. 1145–1147. © 2020 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.13317.

Reviewed by: Sean McCandless

University of Illinois Springfield

Morgen Johansen (Ed.), Social Equity in the Asia-Pacific

Region: Conceptualizations and Realities (Cham, Switzerland:

Palgrave MacMillan, 2019). 257pp. $64.99

(hardcover), ISBN: 978-3-030-15919-1

Gulick’s planning, organizing, staffing,

directing, coordinating, reporting, and

budgeting formulation still reasonably covers

many skills in which public administrators must be

competent (Stillman 2015). However, 21st century

administrators are also increasingly expected to be

competent in social equity and global awareness

(Klingner 2015; McCandless and Ronquillo 2020).

Social equity—often shorthand for fairness, due

process, equal protection, justice, and even equality

and the fourth pillar of public administration with

efficiency, effectiveness, and economy—concerns

public sector imperatives to admit culpability in

creating inequities but also to take responsibility

through improving access, processes, quality,

and outcomes of public services (Johnson and

Svara 2015). Relatedly, global awareness involves

administrators being aware of interconnectedness

and learning the cultural knowledge to interact and

collaborate with persons from numerous backgrounds

in a globalized environment (Klingner 2015).

Johansen’s important and much-needed edited book

resides at the intersections of these competencies.

It features an authoritative assembly of public

administration professionals speaking to social equity

across the Asia–Pacific region.

The Major Arguments

Johansen opens the first three chapters by arguing

that public administration needs a globalized view of

social equity and that it should not be assumed that

U.S.-based administrative practices are transferable

across global contexts. Johansen argues that Western-

and Eastern-based approaches to equity differ due

to societal values and governance approaches. For

instance, Western paradigms emphasize individual

rights, rationality, and protecting people from

government tyranny whereas Eastern ones evince

influences from communalist, Confucian, Buddhist,

and indigenous values of authoritative responsibility

to care for the people. She concludes: “In the Eastern

tradition, social equity relies on morally minded

officials to determine what is fair and just. In the

Western tradition, the law is used to determine what

is fair and just. However, governance and laws are

ultimately determined by social values, and are codified

and implemented by individuals in that society” (20).

The complexities of the Asia–Pacific region,

particularly diverse demographics, government

structures, economic development, gender gaps, and

general approaches to equity, belie straightforward

analyses. Further, countries’ societal values and

government arrangements demonstrate admixtures

of “traditional” values and colonialist legacies. Such

legacies shape social cleavages and, in many instances,

lead to impoverished opportunities for economic

development and growth.

After Johansen’s three opening contextual chapters, most

of the remaining chapters, each written by different

authors, detail aspects of specific countries. Authors

caution that chapters do not exhaustively cover all major

equity issues in a given country but examine the most

widespread issues most often addressed by governments.

Chapters follow a pattern of situating inequities in

historical context, defining social equity and issues in a

given country, surveying and assessing current strategies

to address inequities, and reflecting on possible futures.

Authors did not use a common definition of social

equity. Rather, they explored how principles of social

equity relate to the context of their expertise and how

values evident in countries implicate notions of equity.

In chapter 4, Kagan and Ronquillo focus on

Native Hawaiians. They remain covered less in the

social equity literature despite the fact that they

disproportionately face inequities related to poverty,

homelessness, health, and more. In chapter 5, Haigh

and Maloney focus on Australia, noting that it “has

no language of social equity in its administrative

training or disciplinary approaches” (62) and faces

equity issues related to Aboriginal populations—the

“recipients of generations of policy failure” (67)—and

Sean McCandless holds a doctorate

in public affairs and works as an assistant

professor of public administration and

associate director of the Doctorate in Public

Administration program at the University of

Illinois Springfield. He is chair of the Section

on Democracy and Social Justice of the

American Society for Public Administration

and, with Dr. Mary Guy, a coeditor of the

book Achieving Social Equity published

by Melvin & Leigh.

E-mail: smcca8@uis.edu