The Glass Is Half Full: Enhancing Government Performance in an Era of Cynicism

• Author: Jeremy Vickers
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12616
• Published date: 01 September 2016
• Date: 01 September 2016

830 Public Administration Review • September | October 2016

Jeremy Vickers joined the University

of Texas at Dallas in 2015 as executive

director of the Institute for Innovation

and Entrepreneurship where he focuses

on cross-campus startup activity and

entrepreneurship programs. Before joining

UT Dallas, he served the startup community

in Dallas by helping to found the Dallas

Entrepreneur Center, Texas Research

Alliance, and Dallas Innovates. He received

his master ’ s at SMU ’ s Cox School of

Business and bachelor ’ s at Baylor University.

E-mail: jeremy.vickers@utdallas.edu

P eter Schuck ’ s Why Government Fails So Often

provides readers with a data-filled story on

growing public mistrust of the U.S. federal

government. Schuck ’ s thesis begins with a statement

of five facts about why government actually fails,

which builds the case for how it can eventually do

better. First, the federal government is performing

poorly in many of its domestic programs, and the

public is more aware than ever due to the two-party

system and media prevalence. Second, the legislative

process is highly dysfunctional regardless of where one

sits on the party system. Third, there is a perception

gap between what Americans believe is everyday

democracy and that portrayed in Washington, DC.

Fourth, a prosperous nation such as the United States

lends itself to more critique and higher expectations

from its citizens. Fifth, American civilians do not take

responsibility for government failure; instead, they put

the entire blame on politicians and agendas. Herein,

Schuck presents an explanation of why government

is failing through a series of in-depth, economic, and

policy-related evaluations of programs without any

apparent bias, although Schuck openly proclaims

his democratic voting history and fruitful attempt at

neutrality.

The book is laid out into three main parts, each

with a successful flow and appropriate logic to their

placement. Part 1 introduces Schuck ’ s methodology of

policy analysis that carries throughout the remainder

of the book and is applied to a series of programs.

Schuck continues his first section by explaining

how the process of public policy making works

by discussing its functions, processes, missions,

instruments, and institutions. In wrapping up Part

1, Schuck probes political culture based on 10

characteristics: constitutionalism, decentralization,

protection of individual rights, interest group

Danny L. Balfour and Stephanie P. Newbold , Editors

Jeremy Vickers

University of Texas at Dallas

The Glass Is Half Full:

Enhancing Government Performance in an Era of Cynicism

Peter H. Schuck , Why Government Fails So Often:

And How It Can Do Better (Princeton, NJ:

Princeton University Press, 2014). 488 pp. $27.95

(hardcover), ISBN: 9780691161624 .

pluralism, tolerance for inequality, religion and

political moralism, social diversity, populism, public

opinion, and civil society.

The first part also includes a summary of structural

flaws. Schuck presents six structural flaws with

policy failure that lead to his eventual solution.

Schuck believes that officeholders and citizens

are divided on incentives and public interest.

Second, federal government administrators often

operate without sufficient information and strong

management experience. Third, elected officials

are frequently lacking the skills and experience to

properly understand economic markets and how

government affects them. Fourth, social programs

are often run through many conflicting cycles and

layers of bureaucracy that, by the time they are

enacted, these programs become mild, meek, and

difficult to measure. Fifth, the government has

slowly extended its operating domain over a wider

breadth of areas, which limits its legitimacy but

extends its lack of control due to inexperience and

incapable management. Sixth, due to the growth of

administration and bureaucracy, significant fracturing

has occurred with conflicting objectives, causing

further inefficiency and ineffectiveness.

Part 2 is the meat of the book and encompasses

a deep evaluation and consideration of a series of

programs and policies. Schuck begins with an analysis

of the fundamental characteristics that shape public

policy and differentiate it from the private sector.

These characteristics include the incentives of policy

makers, irrationality of policy makers’ decisions,

deficiency of information, lack of flexibility in

the policy system, credibility problems with key

groups, and mismanagement that can lead to abuse,

fraud, and waste. An evaluation of how markets

affect policy is provided, and this leads to nine

reasons for failure: speed, diversity, informational

demands, price and substitution effects, trans-

jurisdictional effects, political influence, obstacles to

policy enforcement, informal markets, and a lack of

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 76, Iss. 5, pp. 830–832. © 2016 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.12616.