Missing Links? Civic Trust, Civic Capital, and Public Administration

Abstract

Can collaborative efforts by APSA, NASPAA, and ASPA play any role in advancing civic trust, civic capital, and civic engagement in the United States? This essay reviews how recent national commissions on these topics have by design or inadvertence attributed little role to bureaucracy in these matters. In the process, and unlike the early decades of the twentieth century, they have marginalized the practice and study of public administration when it comes to addressing issues of governance in this nation. To counter the misperception that public administration research, theory, and practice have little knowledge to offer on these topics, this essay offers a sampling of what they can contribute to this debate. It then offers specific collaborative efforts that the three associations might undertake to raise the salience of public administration in future debates over governance issues in the twenty-first century.