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Government Is Us
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Government Is Us
Strategies for an Anti-Government Era


February 1998 | 240 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc

In recent years, American attitudes about government have become increasingly disaffected and critical. After the 1995 bombing of the Federal building in Oklahoma City, a newspaper ad sponsored by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees brought to the nation's attention the heroism of government workers' rescue efforts, with the reminder that "This is our government."

This volume, the result of collaboration by practicing administrators and academics, explores the current anti-government climate and its effect on the work and working lives of public employees and their relationships with citizens. If offers economic, political, historical, and philosophical perspectives on citizen discontent and tells stories of actual working relationships between public agencies and citizens. The collaborators maintain that while government workers cannot control the economy or the bureaucracy as a whole, they can take practical steps to improve their interactions with citizens.

While many books advise citizens how to get what they want from government, few have been written to help career civil servants work better with citizens. In a time of public negativism, Government Is Us is about building relationships, listening, making connections, and hope.


 
PART ONE: THE ANTI-GOVERNMENT CONTEXT
Cheryl Simrell King and Camilla M Stivers
Introduction
The Anti-Government Era

 
Camilla M Stivers, Cheryl Simrell King, and Renee Nank
Citizenship and its Discontents
The Political and Economic Context

 
Ralph Hummel and Camilla M Stivers
Government Isn't Us
The Possibility of Democratic Knowledge in Representative Government

 
Cheryl Simrell King and Camilla M Stivers
Citizens and Administrators
Roles and Relationships

 
 
PART TWO: STRATEGIES FOR COLLABORATION
Cheryl Simrell King and Camilla M Stivers
Introduction
Strategies for Collaboration

 
Mary M Timney
Overcoming Administrative Barriers to Citizen Participation
Citizens as Partners, Not Adversaries

 
Lisa A Zanetti
At the Nexus of State and Civil Society
The Transformative Practice of Public Administration

 
Walter W Kovalick Jr and Margaret M Kelly
The EPA Seeks Its Voice and Role with Citizens
Evolutionary Engagement

 
Dolores Foley
We Want Your Input
Dilemmas of Citizen Participation

 
Richard C Box and Deborah A Sagen
Working with Citizens
Breaking Down Barriers to Citizen Self-Governance

 
Joseph E Gray and Linda W Chapin
Targeted Community Initiative
`Putting Citizens First!'

 
Cheryl Simrell King and Camilla M Stivers
Conclusion
Strategies for an Anti-Government Era

 

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