Public Values and Public Interest: Counterbalancing Economic Individualism

Drawing on the concepts of the common good advocated by Aristotle, Saint Thomas Aquinas, John Locke, and John Dewey, Public Values and Public Interest offers a direct theoretical challenge to the "utility of economic individualism," the prevailing political theory in the western world. In constructing the case for adopting a new governmental paradigm based on what he terms "managing publicness," Bozeman demonstrates why economic indices alone fail to adequately value social choice in many cases. He explores the broad implications of privatization of a wide array of governmental services-among them Social Security, defense, prisons, and water supplies. Thoughtful, challenging, and timely, Public Values end Public Interest shows how the quest for fairness can once again play a full part in public policy debates and public administration.

About the Author:
Barry Bozeman is the Ander Crenshaw Professor of Public Policy and Regents' Professor of Public Policy at the University of Georgia's School of Public and International Affairs and adjunct honorary professor of political science at the University of Copenhagen