Danny L Balfour
Biographic Data
| ID | 4127898 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Danny L Balfour |
| GIVEN NAMES | Danny L |
| FAMILY NAME | Balfour |
| SIGNATURE | BALFOUR D L |
| AFFILIATIONS | Grand Valley State University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 63 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 19 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1991 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Reframing Ethics for the ‘New Normal
This essay argues that the crisis precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic and George Floyd homicide casts a harsh light on an ethical decline that has been underway for more than two decades. Case studies that teach administrators how to adhere to bureaucratic values and the conventional approach to politics and administration are not sufficient to guide administrators into the new normal where they will have to make their own contribution to creat…
Toward a Political Economy of Regime Values, Ethics, and Institutions in a Context of Globalization and Hypermodernity
In this article, we discuss the recent ascendancy of the market state and its consequences for regime values, ethics, and institutions. Three types of market states—entrepreneurial, managerial, and mercantile—are outlined, along with their primary ethical basis and associated public values. We then turn to a discussion of globalization and hypermodernity, which we argue characterize the current global cultural context. Difficult as it may be to i…
"Toward Restoring Integrity in "Praetorian Times
This article discusses the historical and cultural conditions that have undermined public life and have brought about a resurgence of corrupt "Praetorian times." An analysis of American regime values, focusing on individualism and the dominance of technical rationality, outlines the pathway to a withered public sphere made worse by the ascendancy of the market-state. Understanding current conditions as Praetorian, as unmasked by the financial mel…
Responsible Governance
Market-Based Government and the Decline of Organizational Ethics
This article discusses ethical challenges posed by market-based government and the degree to which contracting enhances or diminishes government’s ability to ensure that organizations that deliver public services adhere to ethical practices and public values, such as lawfulness, transparency, and accountability. A case study of an organization—Blackwater (now, Xe)—vividly illustrates the considerable difficulty in achieving ethical organizations …
Rethinking the “Banality of Evil”
Expiating Evil
Evil actions by human beings show little sign of diminution as the twenty‐first century unfolds. Evil can be defined as the knowing infliction of pain and suffering – physical and/or psychological – on another human being. It can be perpetrated by individuals, by organizations, and by nation states, among others. It can take the form of administrative evil, in which people participate in acts of evil while thinking they are just doing what they s…
Expiating Evil’
We are grateful to Professor Tschudi for his thoughtful comments on our article.No single article can encompass the breadth and depth of the problem of evil and its expiation, so we consider comments such as these a welcome contribution to an underdeveloped discourse.We certainly agree with Professor Tschudi that violations of human dignity can and often do constitute acts of evil, and would point out the close similarity to the defi nition of ev…
Abu Ghraib, Administrative Evil, and Moral Inversion
The torture and abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison and at other sites in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Cuba raise disturbing questions that have few, if any, easy answers. Were these intentionally evil acts committed by a few bad apples who took advantage of the power they wielded over the detainees? Or were they cases of administrative evil in which the obvious evil of torture and abuse was masked from the perpetrators, including those who perform…
Character, Corrosion and the Civil Servant
In The Corrosion of Character, Richard Sennett (1998) traces the effects of corporate reengineering, and similar reforms in private-sector management, on the individual worker. He argues that our drive for flexible, efficient business processes has produced a sense of detachment on the part of human actors and a disconnection between firms and society at-large. As such, the reform agenda has forced us to rethink our notions of work, organization …
Unmasking Administrative Evil
Historiography of the Holocaust
This article examines the historiography of the Holocaust and its implications for public administration. The analysis shows how bureaucratic procedures and values carried out by regular civil servants were essential to both the formulation and implementation of the Holocaust. This cautionary tale urges public administrators to reflect on the possibility that their systems and actions can contribute to the worst kinds of human behavior and to con…
Reforming the Public Service
Organizational Commitment
Transforming Lease-Purchase Housing Programs for Low Income Families
To what extent should lease-purchase programs for low income families emphasize the importance of home ownership? This paper suggests that the traditional emphasis on homeownership as a criterion for stability and thriving families and communities may be misplaced when dealing with housing for disadvantaged populations. While there is little research on the lease-purchase approach to ownership, the literature on homeownership and the authors’ stu…
The Unconscious Life of Organizations
The Unconscious Life of Organizations Get access Michael A. Diamond. The Unconscious Life of Organizations: Interpreting Organizational Identity. Westport, Conn.: Quorum, 1993. Danny L. Balfour Danny L. Balfour The University of Akron Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Volume 5, Issue 1, January 1995, Pages 104–108, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.j…
Organizational Culture and Competing Values
Journal Article Organizational Culture and Competing Values Get access Carolyn Ban. 1995. How Do Public Managers Manage? Bureaucratic Constraints, Organizational Culture, and the Potential for Reform. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Danny L. Balfour Danny L. Balfour The University of Akron Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Volume 5, Issue 4, October 1995, Pag…
Connecting the Local Narratives
Thus there is undoubtedly no understanding that is free of all prejudices, however much the will of our knowledge must be directed toward escaping their thrall. ...the certainty achieved by using scientific methods does not suffice to guarantee truth. This especially applies to the human sciences, but it does not mean that they are less scientific; on the contrary, it justifies the claim to special humane significance that they have always made. …
Child and Adult, X and Y
vided by theory Y. It is commonly recognized that public administration has evolved over time, and, by and large, that this evolution has implications for the desirable content of public administration education. What is not so generally recognized is that the evolution of the field may also have implications for the process of public administration education. The teaching and learning context andprocess-as well as the curricular contentteaches. …
Abu Ghraib, Administrative Evil, and Moral Inversion
The torture and abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison and at other sites in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Cuba raise disturbing questions that have few, if any, easy answers. Were these intentionally evil acts committed by a few bad apples who took advantage of the power they wielded over the detainees? Or were they cases of administrative evil in which the obvious evil of torture and abuse was masked from the perpetrators, including those who perform…
Market-Based Government and the Decline of Organizational Ethics
This article discusses ethical challenges posed by market-based government and the degree to which contracting enhances or diminishes government’s ability to ensure that organizations that deliver public services adhere to ethical practices and public values, such as lawfulness, transparency, and accountability. A case study of an organization—Blackwater (now, Xe)—vividly illustrates the considerable difficulty in achieving ethical organizations …
Transforming Lease-Purchase Housing Programs for Low Income Families
To what extent should lease-purchase programs for low income families emphasize the importance of home ownership? This paper suggests that the traditional emphasis on homeownership as a criterion for stability and thriving families and communities may be misplaced when dealing with housing for disadvantaged populations. While there is little research on the lease-purchase approach to ownership, the literature on homeownership and the authors’ stu…
Character, Corrosion and the Civil Servant
In The Corrosion of Character, Richard Sennett (1998) traces the effects of corporate reengineering, and similar reforms in private-sector management, on the individual worker. He argues that our drive for flexible, efficient business processes has produced a sense of detachment on the part of human actors and a disconnection between firms and society at-large. As such, the reform agenda has forced us to rethink our notions of work, organization …
"Toward Restoring Integrity in "Praetorian Times
This article discusses the historical and cultural conditions that have undermined public life and have brought about a resurgence of corrupt "Praetorian times." An analysis of American regime values, focusing on individualism and the dominance of technical rationality, outlines the pathway to a withered public sphere made worse by the ascendancy of the market-state. Understanding current conditions as Praetorian, as unmasked by the financial mel…
Expiating Evil
Evil actions by human beings show little sign of diminution as the twenty‐first century unfolds. Evil can be defined as the knowing infliction of pain and suffering – physical and/or psychological – on another human being. It can be perpetrated by individuals, by organizations, and by nation states, among others. It can take the form of administrative evil, in which people participate in acts of evil while thinking they are just doing what they s…
Toward a Political Economy of Regime Values, Ethics, and Institutions in a Context of Globalization and Hypermodernity
In this article, we discuss the recent ascendancy of the market state and its consequences for regime values, ethics, and institutions. Three types of market states—entrepreneurial, managerial, and mercantile—are outlined, along with their primary ethical basis and associated public values. We then turn to a discussion of globalization and hypermodernity, which we argue characterize the current global cultural context. Difficult as it may be to i…
Historiography of the Holocaust
This article examines the historiography of the Holocaust and its implications for public administration. The analysis shows how bureaucratic procedures and values carried out by regular civil servants were essential to both the formulation and implementation of the Holocaust. This cautionary tale urges public administrators to reflect on the possibility that their systems and actions can contribute to the worst kinds of human behavior and to con…
Reframing Ethics for the ‘New Normal
This essay argues that the crisis precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic and George Floyd homicide casts a harsh light on an ethical decline that has been underway for more than two decades. Case studies that teach administrators how to adhere to bureaucratic values and the conventional approach to politics and administration are not sufficient to guide administrators into the new normal where they will have to make their own contribution to creat…
Expiating Evil’
We are grateful to Professor Tschudi for his thoughtful comments on our article.No single article can encompass the breadth and depth of the problem of evil and its expiation, so we consider comments such as these a welcome contribution to an underdeveloped discourse.We certainly agree with Professor Tschudi that violations of human dignity can and often do constitute acts of evil, and would point out the close similarity to the defi nition of ev…
Child and Adult, X and Y
vided by theory Y. It is commonly recognized that public administration has evolved over time, and, by and large, that this evolution has implications for the desirable content of public administration education. What is not so generally recognized is that the evolution of the field may also have implications for the process of public administration education. The teaching and learning context andprocess-as well as the curricular contentteaches. …
Connecting the Local Narratives
Thus there is undoubtedly no understanding that is free of all prejudices, however much the will of our knowledge must be directed toward escaping their thrall. ...the certainty achieved by using scientific methods does not suffice to guarantee truth. This especially applies to the human sciences, but it does not mean that they are less scientific; on the contrary, it justifies the claim to special humane significance that they have always made. …
The Unconscious Life of Organizations
The Unconscious Life of Organizations Get access Michael A. Diamond. The Unconscious Life of Organizations: Interpreting Organizational Identity. Westport, Conn.: Quorum, 1993. Danny L. Balfour Danny L. Balfour The University of Akron Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Volume 5, Issue 1, January 1995, Pages 104–108, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.j…
Organizational Culture and Competing Values
Journal Article Organizational Culture and Competing Values Get access Carolyn Ban. 1995. How Do Public Managers Manage? Bureaucratic Constraints, Organizational Culture, and the Potential for Reform. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Danny L. Balfour Danny L. Balfour The University of Akron Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Volume 5, Issue 4, October 1995, Pag…
Organizational Commitment
Transforming Lease-Purchase Housing Programs for Low Income Families
To what extent should lease-purchase programs for low income families emphasize the importance of home ownership? This paper suggests that the traditional emphasis on homeownership as a criterion for stability and thriving families and communities may be misplaced when dealing with housing for disadvantaged populations. While there is little research on the lease-purchase approach to ownership, the literature on homeownership and the authors’ stu…
Historiography of the Holocaust
This article examines the historiography of the Holocaust and its implications for public administration. The analysis shows how bureaucratic procedures and values carried out by regular civil servants were essential to both the formulation and implementation of the Holocaust. This cautionary tale urges public administrators to reflect on the possibility that their systems and actions can contribute to the worst kinds of human behavior and to con…
Reforming the Public Service
Unmasking Administrative Evil
Character, Corrosion and the Civil Servant
In The Corrosion of Character, Richard Sennett (1998) traces the effects of corporate reengineering, and similar reforms in private-sector management, on the individual worker. He argues that our drive for flexible, efficient business processes has produced a sense of detachment on the part of human actors and a disconnection between firms and society at-large. As such, the reform agenda has forced us to rethink our notions of work, organization …
Abu Ghraib, Administrative Evil, and Moral Inversion
The torture and abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison and at other sites in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Cuba raise disturbing questions that have few, if any, easy answers. Were these intentionally evil acts committed by a few bad apples who took advantage of the power they wielded over the detainees? Or were they cases of administrative evil in which the obvious evil of torture and abuse was masked from the perpetrators, including those who perform…
Rethinking the “Banality of Evil”
Expiating Evil
Evil actions by human beings show little sign of diminution as the twenty‐first century unfolds. Evil can be defined as the knowing infliction of pain and suffering – physical and/or psychological – on another human being. It can be perpetrated by individuals, by organizations, and by nation states, among others. It can take the form of administrative evil, in which people participate in acts of evil while thinking they are just doing what they s…
Expiating Evil’
We are grateful to Professor Tschudi for his thoughtful comments on our article.No single article can encompass the breadth and depth of the problem of evil and its expiation, so we consider comments such as these a welcome contribution to an underdeveloped discourse.We certainly agree with Professor Tschudi that violations of human dignity can and often do constitute acts of evil, and would point out the close similarity to the defi nition of ev…
Market-Based Government and the Decline of Organizational Ethics
This article discusses ethical challenges posed by market-based government and the degree to which contracting enhances or diminishes government’s ability to ensure that organizations that deliver public services adhere to ethical practices and public values, such as lawfulness, transparency, and accountability. A case study of an organization—Blackwater (now, Xe)—vividly illustrates the considerable difficulty in achieving ethical organizations …
Responsible Governance
"Toward Restoring Integrity in "Praetorian Times
This article discusses the historical and cultural conditions that have undermined public life and have brought about a resurgence of corrupt "Praetorian times." An analysis of American regime values, focusing on individualism and the dominance of technical rationality, outlines the pathway to a withered public sphere made worse by the ascendancy of the market-state. Understanding current conditions as Praetorian, as unmasked by the financial mel…
Toward a Political Economy of Regime Values, Ethics, and Institutions in a Context of Globalization and Hypermodernity
In this article, we discuss the recent ascendancy of the market state and its consequences for regime values, ethics, and institutions. Three types of market states—entrepreneurial, managerial, and mercantile—are outlined, along with their primary ethical basis and associated public values. We then turn to a discussion of globalization and hypermodernity, which we argue characterize the current global cultural context. Difficult as it may be to i…
Reframing Ethics for the ‘New Normal
This essay argues that the crisis precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic and George Floyd homicide casts a harsh light on an ethical decline that has been underway for more than two decades. Case studies that teach administrators how to adhere to bureaucratic values and the conventional approach to politics and administration are not sufficient to guide administrators into the new normal where they will have to make their own contribution to creat…
Political science (17 works) · Sociology (14 works) · Law (12 works) · Law (10 works) · Public Administration (10 works) · Public Administration (9 works) · Public Policy and Administration Research (9 works) · Business (5 works) · Economics (5 works) · Politics (5 works)