Public Values and Public Interest: Counterbalancing Economic Individualism (Public Management and Change)

Bozeman's account of the necessity for taking public values into account is solid and well conceived. He provides clear criteria for determining the publicness of values and offers clear recommendations for how they can be advanced in the public interest. In so doing he offers a counter to the traditional liberal emphasis on individual interests. He reminds us that politics and public policy are about the things that we really care about which cannot be reduced to material interests, such as the common good, sustainability, and human dignity. This emphasis on values could help to focus us on some of the key aspects of our effort to manage the federal deficit in the context of what we value as a society. The one shortcoming is his failure to incorporate the useful insights about values in public policy that have been developed over the years by Frank Fischer.

Awesome book. I use it in the public policy introductory courses I teach. It is easily accessible to undergraduate students.

I had to read this book for a graduate course and it was actually very informative. Master of Public Administration students should read if it is not already a required text.