Locating Resilient Governance: The Role of the Public Manager (2012)

Government, in its broadest sense, exists to manage that resist being solved by the marketplace or another system within a Good government, that is, a resiliency in a that insulates against inevitable failures in markets and social structures. (Mingus and Horiuchi, 2012a, p. 116). Resilience is an ability to recover from, or adjust to, misfortune or change. Before going further we need to unpack this concept of resiliency. After spending some time discussing the dynamics of this concept, I will propose that resiliency in governance requires a rather traditional role for public managers as policy analysts. I conclude by asking when and if public managers should step outside this role and how that impacts resiliency. coordinators for this series refer both to and government. They infer that a is when there is good government. They speak of that resist being solved by the marketplace or another system within a society and how good government creates a resiliency in a that insulates against inevitable failures in markets and social structures. So, resiliency is about government solving problems that markets or social systems/structures cannot solve. Here's the rub. What problems are we talking about? Or rather what IS a problem? Problem identification is key--and the concept of is often ideologically driven. issue of equity is a to some, but not to others. issue of individual freedom is more of a to some than to others. issue of a perceived security threat is more of a to some than to others. minute you talk about solving problems you enter an ideological thicket of definition. THE PROBLEM To unpack that resist being solved by the market, we have to specify what the market is understood to address. Classical economics understands the problem to be the efficient allocation of resources, and the solution to be a free enterprise market. Market failures happen when externalities, lack of perfect information, or market domination prevents efficient allocation. Perfect allocation is the point where resources are being used most efficiently. Market efficiency through perfect allocation is not based on equity or some publicly defined purpose, but on the consumers' desire and ability to pay. And a common definition of the purpose of government is to remedy market failures. We can easily see how values inform this discussion. Mingus and Horiuchi also add a reference to the failure of other social structures to solve problems. Yet, without specifying what the are you cannot determine whether or not they are being solved. Are we still talking about economically defined allocative efficiency? Mingus and Horiuchi state that resilient governance incorporates more than efficiency and cost effectiveness. So we are back to the question of definition. What are the problems in need of solutions? [For the purpose of this discussion I will not address Cohen, March and Olsen's (1972) proposal that the issue is really solutions in search of problems.] Economic inefficiency may be one problem, but equity, or public health or social values are understood to be under a different value system. So we return to the issue of ideology. What is your is not my problem. definition of is based on values. Mingus and Horiuchi state that Public Servants do best if they recognize and respond to these values-related issues to retain a and stable American society. So we throw in still another definitional issue--the end result of resiliency is to retain a vibrant and stable American society or The Good Life (Waldo, 1948) which, of course, is also defined by your value system. This deconstruction is not meant to deny or belittle the questions raised by this series. …