LAUSR

Public administration is in a time of crisis. The Trump Administration threatens longstanding democratic norms, as it pursues the deconstruction of the administrative state. The current situation follows decades of declining public trust in the institutions of government, which will likely worsen as the effects of the crisis are fully articulated. What toolkit does the field of public administration have to respond effectively to this debacle? For many the answer is to resuscitate the not-so-new ideas of New Public Management (NPM), a framework that is well past its prime and useless in addressing the problems of today. What we need is a new paradigm, a fresh arsenal of ideas and tools, to rebuild public trust and strengthen governance at all levels. Our field has an ethical and professional imperative to address the lack of an overall doctrine to guide us toward fair and effective governance. During the decades of antigovernment rhetoric that gave us President Trump, public administration has been engaged in a seemingly endless debate over the ideas of NPM. Many of our theoretical discussions have focused on applying market mechanisms to measuring performance; citizens’ interactions with government; and the daily work of public administrators. Yet, public administration’s adherence to the tired ideas of NPM has done little to advance our field and our mission to serve the public good. It is time to bury the ghost of NPM. In theory and in practice, we need to move from the ideas of NPM and toward a doctrine of action rooted in what I am asserting as curiosity. We need to deconstruct current public administration theory and rebuild it with a concern for asking why questions and by practicing empathy. Under the curiosity doctrine, public administrators will seek evidence-based