The Public Context

Abstract

The extent to which mission-extrinsic public values differentiate the public context from private enterprise is a qualitative matter. Looking through the lenses of management, politics, and law one can observe a number of attributes that, taken as a whole, differentiate the public context from everything else in society. Public managers at the federal and state levels run constitutions by coordinating the separation of powers. They are under the joint custody of, and subordinate to, three sets of directors: legislatures, chief executives, and courts. Public managers also coordinate federalism and intergovernmental relations. So many programs now involve two or three levels of government that coordinating them can be a full-time public management job. Administrative law is the regulatory law of public administration. It regulates agency rulemaking, adjudication, enforcement, handling of information and transparency, formal relationships with stakeholders, public participation, and some aspects of decision making. Prioritizing mission-extrinsic public values presents a public management puzzle.