Ethos Issue 4, Apr 2008

Not Just Service Delivery
B. Guy Peters

In summary, the delivery of public services is more than the mechanical completion of certain mandated activities on behalf of the public; it is also a central political activity linking the public with their government. Public servants are central to this linkage and therefore are in the rather difficult position of having to balance demands for responsiveness to the citizens with demands for responsibility to law, and to their political and administrative leaders. Phrased somewhat differently, public servants must be aware of serving their immediate clients as well as serving the public in general.

Professor B. Guy Peters is the Maurice Falk Professor of American Government at the Department of Political Science and Research Professor of the University Center for International Studies, University of Pittsburgh. He is also the Distinguished Professor of Comparative Governance at the Zeppelin University, Germany. His area of expertise is in comparative public policy and administration as well as American public administration. Professor Peters has authored and edited/coedited numerous books and published widely in international refereed journals. Some recent publications include Handbook of Public Policy (co-edited with Jon Pierre; Sage Publications, 2006); The Future of Governing (University Press of Kansas, 2001); and The Politics of Bureaucracy, 5th ed. (Taylor & Francis Kindle Edition, 2007).

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