Reform, Ethics and Leadership in Public Service. A Festschrift in honour of Richard A. Chapman
| Author | Robert Pyper |
| DOI | 10.1177/095207679901400106 |
| Published date | 01 January 1999 |
| Date | 01 January 1999 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
REVIEWS
Reform,
Ethics
and
Leadership
in
Public
Service.
A
Festschrift
in
honour
of
Richard
A.
Chapman,
Michael
Hunt
and
Barry
J.
O'Toole
(editors),
(Ashgate,
1998),
pp.x+206.
Together
with
their
fellow-contributors
to
this
volume,
Michael
Hunt
and
Barry
O'Toole
have
produced
a
fitting
tribute
to
the
man
they
rightly
describe
as
'the
doyen
of
the
study
of
public
administration
in
Britain.'
Readers
of
this
journal
will
be
well
aware
of
the
distinguished
service
given
to
our
discipline
by
the
current
Emeritus
Professor
of
Politics
at
the
University
of
Durham.
Even
so,
when
set
out
in
full,
within
the
Appendix
to
this
book,
Chapman's
achievements
to
date
are
placed
in
an
appropriate
context.
In
addition
to
his
many
academic
appointments
and
honours
and
his
role
in
a
quite
astonishing
range
of
academic
and
public
committees
and
boards,
the
range,
volume
and
quality
of
his
publications
stand
out.
The
work
continues,
of
course.
His
current
major
project
on
the
Civil
Service
Commission
is
at
an
early
stage
of
development,
and
we
await
publication
of
the
findings
of
this
research
in
2002.
In
their
introduction,
O'Toole
and
Hunt
review
Chapman's
career,
giving
due
emphasis
to
his
devotion
to
teaching,
his
personal
work
ethic
and
his
guiding
influence
upon
a
generation
of
scholars.
The
unfailing
personal
integrity,
helpfulness
and
courtesy
of
the
man
emerge
clearly
from
the
pages
of
the
introduction.
Although
each
essay
has
been
written
as
an
individual
work
of
scholarship,
by
a
range of
colleagues
whose
interests
are
linked
to
those
of
Richard
Chapman,
the
editors
make
it
clear
that
they
are
keen
for
the
book
to
be
judged
as
a
whole.
To
this
end,
they
have
structured
the
contents
around
three
related
themes
which
have
formed
the
main
foci
for
Chapman's
contributions
to
the
study
of
public
administration:
'reform',
'ethics'
and
'leadership'.
Beyond
this,
the
essays,
taken
as
a
whole,
are
indicative
of
Chapman's
view
of
public
administration
as
a
broad
church,
capable
of
encompassing
a
range
of
academic
perspectives
including
those
from
its
parent
discipline
of
political
science,
as
well
as,
inter
alia,
history,
philosophy
and
biography.
Chapman's
writings
make
it
clear
that
the
increasing
prominence
of
the
new
public
management
should
not
be
used
as
a
device
to
facilitate
the
narrowing
of
public
administration
through
an
unquestioning
acceptance
of
the
short-term,
utilitarian
dogmas
of
business
and
management
studies.
The
book
reflects
this
instinct.
In
the
main,
the
essays
also
reflect
Chapman's
preference
for
soundly-based
and
relatively
uncomplicated
research
methods,
coupled
with
a
writing
style
which
O'Toole
and
Hunt
accurately
Public
Policy
and
Administration
Volume
14
No.
I
Spring
1999
76
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