CHALLENGING TIMES FOR PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12032 |
| Published date | 01 March 2013 |
| Date | 01 March 2013 |
doi: 10.1111/padm.12032
EDITORIAL
CHALLENGING TIMES FOR PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
During the 90-year lifespan of this journal, our authors have persistently endeavoured to
describe, explain, and address the complex challenges that public administrators face on
a daily basis. New challenges have continued to emerge, becoming subjects of discussion
and analysis in the pages of this and other journals. This emergence of new challenges is
often accompanied by the observation that public administration is becoming increasingly
hard (in a memorable phrase, John Glidewell and Erwin Hargrove spoke of ‘impossible
jobs’).
The past few years have been particularly challenging for public administrators across
the world. The grinding financial crisis has given new meaning to the admonition to
‘do more with less’. If that were not enough, public administrators everywhere faced a
rising number of disasters. The problems that public administrators must confront are
increasingly transboundary in nature: they do not recognize geographic or policy borders.
These transboundary crises and disasters demand a transboundary response.
These challenges pose a task for scholars of public administration. This journal has
traditionally offered a platform for research that addresses these complex challenges.
This issue offers some fine examples of that tradition. In the symposium edited by Leo
McCann, the authors discuss the impacts of the financial crisis on the delivery of public
services. Our editorial board member Paul ’t Hart reflects on the response of Japan’s
government to the tsunami disaster that occurred two years ago.
Public Administration has a proud tradition when it comes to publishing scholarly
research on crisis and disaster management. As a service to our readers, we have opened
the vaults and selected a set of articles that reflect the breadth and depth of scholarship on
this topic. These articles are freely accessible in the ‘virtual issue’ section on the journal’s
website. We hope they will inspire scholars to continue this line of work in the pages of
this journal.
As we enter our third year as editorial stewards of this esteemed journal, we can safely
state that Public Administration is in excellent shape. We continue to enjoy an ever-rising
flow of excellent manuscripts and we have managed to minimize the turnaround time (90
per cent of submissions receive a first decision within two months). This is only possible
because of our editorial board members and our colleagues around the world who share
their valuable time to provide prospective authors with constructive reviews. We cannot
thank them enough for their help.
A final word of gratitude is reserved for Michael Connolly, our departing book review
editor. Mike has been a tireless supporter of the journal and its staff. He has mentored his
successor, Sanneke Kuipers. We salute him for his efforts and wish him well.
The Editors
Public Administration Vol. 91, No. 1, 2013 (1)
©2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden,
MA 02148, USA.
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