James H Svara
Biographic Data
| ID | 4128251 |
|---|---|
| NAME | James H Svara |
| GIVEN NAMES | James H |
| FAMILY NAME | Svara |
| SIGNATURE | SVARA J H |
| AFFILIATIONS | Arizona State University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 40 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 217 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 39 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1977 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2020 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
The Importance of Social Equity to Prevent a Hollow Public Administration
Justice for All: Promoting Social Equity in Public Administration: Promoting Social Equity in Public Administration
Justice for All: Promoting Social Equity in Public Administration
Social Equity in American Society and Public Administration
Social equity and the related values of equality and fairness have been central themes in American history. They are powerful ideals but they have been challenged and for a time overshadowed by other values. To explore the boundaries and possibilities of social equity in the present, it is necessary to examine its historical and conceptual foundations. The discussion can then turn to matters of definition and measurement
The Roles of Local Government Managers in Theory and Practice: A Centennial Perspective
The standard narrative to explain the evolution of roles filled by city managers suggests that managers originally served as administrative technicians who carried out the policy directives of city councils, but, over time, they became more involved in policy advice and community leadership. This article documents enduring involvement in policy and the recent expansion of community leadership, analyzing definitions of the manager's roles offered …
Who Are the Keepers of the Code? Articulating and Upholding Ethical Standards in the Field of Public Administration
Establishing a code of ethics has been a challenge in public administration. Ethics is central to the practice of administration, but the broad field of public administration has had difficulty articulating clear and meaningful standards of behavior and developing a means of upholding a code of ethics. Although a number of specialized professional associations in public service adopted codes, starting with the International City/County Management…
Macro-Ethics in the Code of the Pan-Generalist American Society for Public Administration
The development of a code of ethics is an important part of the development of ASPA as a professional association. Building on the 1981 principles and the 1984 code, the revised 1994 code is the basis of ASPA's approach to ethics. There is still a question, however, about whether the code matches the normative challenges of the field. Its chief shortcoming is the weakness of macro-ethical standards, that is, the values that define the responsibil…
Form of Government Still Matters: Fostering Innovation in U.S. Municipal Governments
Using data on the adoption of e-government, reinventing government, and strategic practices, and the Nelson and Svara (2010) typology of municipal government form, the authors investigate the characteristics of municipal governments that are related to the implementation of innovative practices. The authors find that higher innovation rates are associated with council-manager governments—both with and without an elected mayor, higher population, …
More than Mayor or Manager: Campaigns to Change Form of Government in America's Large Cities
Adaptation of Models Versus Variations in Form: Classifying Structures of City Government
A great deal of variability exists in American local government structures. It would be useful to analyze the differences in outcomes associated with different structures, but two factors stand in the way. First, there is no agreement about how to classify city governments. Second, many of the components used in existing classifications are inaccurately reported or missing in survey data. In this research note, a new classification system based o…
Introduction to the Symposium: The Nature of Public Professionalism and the Future of Aspa
Assessing and Managing Environmental Risk: Connecting Local Government Management with Emergency Management
Ensuring that a community is prepared to deal with a disaster is among the many tasks public managers are charged with addressing. Disaster preparedness and response requires adherence to standard planning practices, yet disasters are typically unpredictable. Dealing with disasters, therefore, requires a blend of traditional management skills and improvisation. Furthermore, like other aspects of administrative leadership, the top administrator mu…
The Present Challenges to Aspa as an Association That Promotes Public Professionalism
What is ASPA's place among core public professional organizations as well as public official associations? All public organizations are affected by tough competition for membership. Relatively few members of other public associations join ASPA, and vice versa. Only a minority of faculty members who teach in public affairs programs belong to ASPA, and at top schools, the proportion is even lower. When comparing ASPA to other public official associ…
Strengthening Local Government Leadership and Performance: Reexamining and Updating the Winter Commission Goals
The Winter Commission report of 1993 stressed cities with the mayor‐council form of government and emphasized removing barriers to executive authority in large cities. In order to assess and update the report, it is important to recognize that a majority of cities with populations over 100,000 use the council‐manager form, in which restrictions on the executive and fragmented authority are unlikely to be present because of the constitutional prin…
Beyond Dichotomy: Dwight Waldo and the Intertwined Politics–Administration Relationship
Dwight Waldo’s conception of the politics–administration question might be better understood as a “relationship” that contains elements of separation and intermixture rather than a “dichotomy,” according to this author‐commentator.To suggest that Waldo came to support the dichotomy presumes agreement about the meaning of the concept that is missing in Waldo’s writings and in the public administration literature
Conducting Research on Counties in the 21st Century: A New Agenda and Database Considerations
Given local, regional, national, and global events of the last few years and the ever‐increasing service roles and expectations of county governments, American counties warrant greater scholarly attention. To guide researchers, the research agenda published in this journal 15 years ago has been refined and expanded. This 11‐point agenda includes fiscal capacity and responsibility; the role of structure, politics, and political participation; inte…
The Ethics Primer for Public Administrators in Government and Nonprofit Organizations
"The Ethics Primer for Government and Nonprofit Administrators is a concise introduction to the complex topic of administrative ethics that guides the student to align his or her own ethical commitments with the ethical standards of the field. Further, it helps the reader understand how to put these standards into practice as an individual administrator and as a leader of a public or nonprofit organization. Top 5 Problem-Oriented Features: 1. Gro…
Forum: Complexity in Political-Administrative Relations and the Limits of the Dichotomy Concept
Understanding the relationship between politics and administration is critical for the field of public administration. This understanding has been obscured, however, by inappropriate emphasis on dichotomy as a central organizing concept. Although it is typically rejected as a normative and empirical guide, Patrick Overeem has attempted to restore the concept by reducing its scope to the mutual non-interference in the selection of counterpart offi…
Mayoral Leadership in One Universe of American Urban Politics: Are There Lessons for (and from) the Other
Social Equity Is a Pillar of Public Administration
In this article, the authors respond to points raised by David Rosenbloom regarding our 2004 J-PAE article “Filling in the Skeletal Pillar: Addressing Social Equity in Introductory Courses in Public Administration.” We conclude with an operational definition of social equity for public administrators.
Exploring Structures and Institutions in City Government
James C. Clingermayer and Richard C. Feiock, Institutional Constraints and Policy Choice: An Exploration of Local Governance H. George Frederickson, Gary A. Wood, and Curtis H. Wood, The Adapted City: Institutional Dynamics and Structural Change
Filling in the Skeletal Pillar: Addressing Social Equity in Introductory Courses in Public Administration
In this article, the authors investigate the coverage of social equity in introductory public administration textbooks. A framework for understanding and measuring social equity is first presented, followed by a detailed review of textbook content. Finding mixed attention to the issue, an “equity-across-the-survey-course” is suggested. The article concludes with specific recommendations for including social equity as a theme running throughout th…
Leadership At The Apex: Politicians and Administrators in Western Local Governments
The Myth of the Dichotomy: Complementarity of Politics and Administration in the Past and Future of Public Administration
Politics-Administration/Officials-Citizens: Exploring Linkages in Community Governance
Community governance arises from the interaction of citizens, elected officials, and administrators. Once we abandon simple models that connect citizens only to elected officials and separate elected officials from administrators, we must come to terms with complex interdependencies. Elected officials pay a critical, although often undeveloped role in representing citizens in the important task of determining the purpose and direction of their go…
Form of Government Still Matters: Fostering Innovation in U.S. Municipal Governments
Using data on the adoption of e-government, reinventing government, and strategic practices, and the Nelson and Svara (2010) typology of municipal government form, the authors investigate the characteristics of municipal governments that are related to the implementation of innovative practices. The authors find that higher innovation rates are associated with council-manager governments—both with and without an elected mayor, higher population, …
Adaptation of Models Versus Variations in Form: Classifying Structures of City Government
A great deal of variability exists in American local government structures. It would be useful to analyze the differences in outcomes associated with different structures, but two factors stand in the way. First, there is no agreement about how to classify city governments. Second, many of the components used in existing classifications are inaccurately reported or missing in survey data. In this research note, a new classification system based o…
Mayoral Leadership in Council-Manager Cities: Preconditions versus Preconceptions
The nature and types of leadership provided by mayors in council-manager cities have not been adequately developed in previous studies. A major shortcoming has been the tendency to measure the office and performance in terms of the executive mayor whose leadership, according to the innovator model, stresses policy innovation and implementation. Neither of these dimensions of leadership is appropriate to non-executive mayors who work with equals o…
Complementarity of Politics and Administration as a Legitimate Alternative to the Dichotomy Model
Although the politics-administration dichotomy model has frequently been presented as historically important but conceptually and empirically faulty, the criticisms have missed two fundamental points. First, it is not—as commonly presumed—the founding theory of public administration in the United States but rather a poorly grounded characterization of the early literature that took hold in the late 1950s. The term dichotomy was rarely used before…
Conducting Research on Counties in the 21st Century: A New Agenda and Database Considerations
Given local, regional, national, and global events of the last few years and the ever‐increasing service roles and expectations of county governments, American counties warrant greater scholarly attention. To guide researchers, the research agenda published in this journal 15 years ago has been refined and expanded. This 11‐point agenda includes fiscal capacity and responsibility; the role of structure, politics, and political participation; inte…
The Importance of Social Equity to Prevent a Hollow Public Administration
Forum: Complexity in Political-Administrative Relations and the Limits of the Dichotomy Concept
Understanding the relationship between politics and administration is critical for the field of public administration. This understanding has been obscured, however, by inappropriate emphasis on dichotomy as a central organizing concept. Although it is typically rejected as a normative and empirical guide, Patrick Overeem has attempted to restore the concept by reducing its scope to the mutual non-interference in the selection of counterpart offi…
Macro-Ethics in the Code of the Pan-Generalist American Society for Public Administration
The development of a code of ethics is an important part of the development of ASPA as a professional association. Building on the 1981 principles and the 1984 code, the revised 1994 code is the basis of ASPA's approach to ethics. There is still a question, however, about whether the code matches the normative challenges of the field. Its chief shortcoming is the weakness of macro-ethical standards, that is, the values that define the responsibil…
Council and Administrator Perspectives on the City Manager's Role: Conflict, Divergence, or Congruence
The conflict in role perceptions held by council members and city managers has been reported frequently in the literature on urban politics and administration. In this view, the city manager has emerged into a policy leadership role but must confine that leadership to safe areas because the council continues to view the manager as an administrative technician. This thesis needs to be reexamined to better understand city managers and their relatio…
Conflict, Cooperation, and Separation of Powers in City Government
The conflict that typifies urban politics has been considered a central characteristic of the relationship among city government officials as well. This need not be the case. If a distinction is made between the total political process in cities and the governmental process in cities, conflict does not necessarily dominate the latter. Interactions among officials may be characterized not simply by the absence of conflict but by the presence of po…
Unwrapping Institutional Packages in Urban Government: The Combination of Election Institutions in American Cities
Politics-Administration/Officials-Citizens: Exploring Linkages in Community Governance
Community governance arises from the interaction of citizens, elected officials, and administrators. Once we abandon simple models that connect citizens only to elected officials and separate elected officials from administrators, we must come to terms with complex interdependencies. Elected officials pay a critical, although often undeveloped role in representing citizens in the important task of determining the purpose and direction of their go…
Citizen Preference for Urban Election Institutions: Discarding Old Models of City Government
Unwrapping Institutional Packages in Urban Government: The Combination of Election Institutions in American Cities
Dichotomy and Duality: Reconceptualizing the Relationship between Policy and Administration in Council-Manager Cities
fairs have grappled with the perplexities of the relationship between policy and administration. Woodrow Wilson's formulation, simplified over time as the dichotomy of policy and administration, defined the terms for discussing the relative roles and proper contributions of elected officials and appointed staff in policy making for half a century. Since 1945, the model of separate spheres of authority has been attacked, rejected, and seemingly de…
Mayoral Leadership in Council-Manager Cities: Preconditions versus Preconceptions
The nature and types of leadership provided by mayors in council-manager cities have not been adequately developed in previous studies. A major shortcoming has been the tendency to measure the office and performance in terms of the executive mayor whose leadership, according to the innovator model, stresses policy innovation and implementation. Neither of these dimensions of leadership is appropriate to non-executive mayors who work with equals o…
Conflict, Cooperation, and Separation of Powers in City Government
The conflict that typifies urban politics has been considered a central characteristic of the relationship among city government officials as well. This need not be the case. If a distinction is made between the total political process in cities and the governmental process in cities, conflict does not necessarily dominate the latter. Interactions among officials may be characterized not simply by the absence of conflict but by the presence of po…
The Rediscovery of Municipal Officials
Official Leadership in the City: Patterns of Conflict and Cooperation
This work examines the roles of mayors, council members and administrators in the urban governmental process and seeks to identify ways to improve the performance of these key figures.
The Model City and County Charters: Innovation and Tradition in the Reform Movement
Council and Administrator Perspectives on the City Manager's Role: Conflict, Divergence, or Congruence
The conflict in role perceptions held by council members and city managers has been reported frequently in the literature on urban politics and administration. In this view, the city manager has emerged into a policy leadership role but must confine that leadership to safe areas because the council continues to view the manager as an administrative technician. This thesis needs to be reexamined to better understand city managers and their relatio…
In Search of Transformational Leadership: Managing Conflict and Change
Setting a Research Agenda for the Study of the American County
Reforming or Dismantling Government
The Politics-Administration Dichotomy Model as Aberration
One of the most important and enduring theoretical constructs in public administration is the politics-administration model. It has been useful for marking off the boundaries of public administration as an intellectual field and for asserting the normative relationship between elected officials and administrators in a democratic society. It has been a convenient straw man for public administrationists; to attack and has been criticized as being i…
Politics-Administration/Officials-Citizens: Exploring Linkages in Community Governance
Community governance arises from the interaction of citizens, elected officials, and administrators. Once we abandon simple models that connect citizens only to elected officials and separate elected officials from administrators, we must come to terms with complex interdependencies. Elected officials pay a critical, although often undeveloped role in representing citizens in the important task of determining the purpose and direction of their go…
Complementarity of Politics and Administration as a Legitimate Alternative to the Dichotomy Model
Although the politics-administration dichotomy model has frequently been presented as historically important but conceptually and empirically faulty, the criticisms have missed two fundamental points. First, it is not—as commonly presumed—the founding theory of public administration in the United States but rather a poorly grounded characterization of the early literature that took hold in the late 1950s. The term dichotomy was rarely used before…
The Shifting Boundary between Elected Officials and City Managers in Large Council-Manager Cities
Council-manager governments in the United States have been an important venue for observing the general relationship between politics and administration. Although the roles of the mayor and council members, on the one hand, and the city manager and staff, on the other, have sometimes been viewed as strictly separate, officials have blended democracy and professionalism in ways that maintain distinct but shared roles. It is possible, however, that…
The Myth of the Dichotomy: Complementarity of Politics and Administration in the Past and Future of Public Administration
Leadership At The Apex: Politicians and Administrators in Western Local Governments
Filling in the Skeletal Pillar: Addressing Social Equity in Introductory Courses in Public Administration
In this article, the authors investigate the coverage of social equity in introductory public administration textbooks. A framework for understanding and measuring social equity is first presented, followed by a detailed review of textbook content. Finding mixed attention to the issue, an “equity-across-the-survey-course” is suggested. The article concludes with specific recommendations for including social equity as a theme running throughout th…
Social Equity Is a Pillar of Public Administration
In this article, the authors respond to points raised by David Rosenbloom regarding our 2004 J-PAE article “Filling in the Skeletal Pillar: Addressing Social Equity in Introductory Courses in Public Administration.” We conclude with an operational definition of social equity for public administrators.
Exploring Structures and Institutions in City Government
James C. Clingermayer and Richard C. Feiock, Institutional Constraints and Policy Choice: An Exploration of Local Governance H. George Frederickson, Gary A. Wood, and Curtis H. Wood, The Adapted City: Institutional Dynamics and Structural Change
The Ethics Primer for Public Administrators in Government and Nonprofit Organizations
"The Ethics Primer for Government and Nonprofit Administrators is a concise introduction to the complex topic of administrative ethics that guides the student to align his or her own ethical commitments with the ethical standards of the field. Further, it helps the reader understand how to put these standards into practice as an individual administrator and as a leader of a public or nonprofit organization. Top 5 Problem-Oriented Features: 1. Gro…
Forum: Complexity in Political-Administrative Relations and the Limits of the Dichotomy Concept
Understanding the relationship between politics and administration is critical for the field of public administration. This understanding has been obscured, however, by inappropriate emphasis on dichotomy as a central organizing concept. Although it is typically rejected as a normative and empirical guide, Patrick Overeem has attempted to restore the concept by reducing its scope to the mutual non-interference in the selection of counterpart offi…
Mayoral Leadership in One Universe of American Urban Politics: Are There Lessons for (and from) the Other
Conducting Research on Counties in the 21st Century: A New Agenda and Database Considerations
Given local, regional, national, and global events of the last few years and the ever‐increasing service roles and expectations of county governments, American counties warrant greater scholarly attention. To guide researchers, the research agenda published in this journal 15 years ago has been refined and expanded. This 11‐point agenda includes fiscal capacity and responsibility; the role of structure, politics, and political participation; inte…
Political science (38 works) · Public Administration (29 works) · Law (23 works) · Public Administration (23 works) · Public Policy and Administration Research (23 works) · Sociology (18 works) · Law (17 works) · Politics (15 works) · Public relations (12 works) · Economics (11 works)