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Citizen, Customer, Partner: Rethinking the Place of the Public in Public Management
Author(s) -
Thomas John Clayton
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
public administration review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.721
H-Index - 139
eISSN - 1540-6210
pISSN - 0033-3352
DOI - 10.1111/puar.12109
Subject(s) - public management , public relations , premise , context (archaeology) , government (linguistics) , new public management , principal (computer security) , work (physics) , public administration , business , political science , public sector , law , mechanical engineering , paleontology , philosophy , linguistics , computer science , biology , operating system , engineering
Scholars and practitioners have long debated what role the public should play in public management. When members of the public interact with the administrative side of government, should they be treated as customers, as citizens, or in some other manner? This article takes as its premise that members of the public assume three principal roles relative to public management: as customers, as partners, and as citizens. After placing these roles in the context of the history of public administration, the article draws from recent research to recommend guidelines for how public managers can work effectively with the public in these several capacities .