This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by ADAMS, G. B. Articles by CATRON, B. L. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Communitarianism, Vickers, and Revisioning American Public Administration

University of Missouri—Columbia

BAYARD L. CATRON

George Washington University

Classical liberalism and the unrestrained individualism that is of its essence are inappropriate for current ever-increasing interdependence. Recent communitarian thinking in the United States suggests that the exclusive pursuit of private interest is, in fact, inimical in the long run to individual liberty. Sustained policy change depends, however, on a fundamental rethinking of ethics and epistemology; Vickers's concept of appreciation is an important contribution to this task. The authors conclude that there is a need both for more government and for more democracy; greater intrusions on autonomy are inevitable if Western culture in its present form is to survive.

The sanest like the maddest of us cling like spiders to a self-spun web, obscurely moored in vacancy and fiercely shaken by the winds of change. Yet this frail web, through which many see only the void, is the one enduring artifact, the one authentic signature of humankind, and its weaving is our prime responsibility.

—Geoffrey Vickers

"The Psychology of Policymaking and Social Change"

American Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 38, No. 1, 44-63 (1994)
DOI: 10.1177/0002764294038001005


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				L. A. Brainard Citizen Organizing in Cyberspace: Illustrations from Health Care and Implications for Public Administration The American Review of Public Administration, December 1, 2003; 33(4): 384 - 406. [Abstract] [PDF]