Democracy and the New Public Service

In 1968, Frederick Mosher published his influential book Democracy and the Public Service. This article revisits themes Mosher developed in the book to assess the status of our democracy in the context of a new public service. The author argues that the new public service poses significant challenges for democracy. One is that new public service is simultaneously more heterogeneous and more loosely tied to traditions of public service. Another attribute is that the rules embedded in new governance structures, which are tied to market forces, are likely the most compelling influences on behavior in the new public service. A third attribute is that the flexibilities of the new public service create a work world in which attachments are temporary and their temporariness may break down bonds among citizens and public servants. The author offers four proposals for reconciling democracy and the new public service.