Public Administration and the Exchange of Democratic Values

• In Event: Democracy and Administration: Accountability, Representation, Capacity and Power

Abstract

Does public administration reinforce the values of representative government? We present a positive theory of value exchange between citizens and public administration that builds from a thesis of separation between citizens and the state. Citizens come to their initial interactions with the state with a prioritized array of democratic values they have gleaned from their social environments. The institutions of public administration also preserve, through structural design, a prioritized array of democratic values, but which may conflict with those of the citizens who encounter or become involved in them. Encounters are interactions with public administration for the purposes of engaging public services, complying with regulations, and so forth. Involvement occurs when citizens do policy work – implement aspects of public policy – through public employment, contract, or volunteerism. Interactions and encounters are points of value conflict and they result in value exchange. Our theory yields claims that value exchange can both reinforce and recast the nature of representative democracy. We test these claims using survey experiments performed in the United States and United Kingdom.

Authors

• Anthony Michael Bertelli, Pennsylvania State University

• Silvia Cannas, Bocconi