IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jpamgt/v20y2001i2p283-314.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cases and Controversies: How Novitiates Are Trained to Be Masters of the Public Policy Universe

Author

Listed:
  • Carol Chetkovich

    (Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University)

  • David L. Kirp

    (Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley)

Abstract

Public policy schools were established 30 years ago to provide analytic and management skills to aspiring policy professionals. A centerpiece of policy management training has been the action-centered teaching case, modeled after the cases long used in business schools. Though other aspects of public management teaching and research have been vigorously debated, little attention has been paid to the content of teaching cases.Taking these texts as a central element in policy student socialization, the authors ask what implicit lessons they convey. A close reading of 10 best-selling cases from the Kennedy School of Government finds the policy world to be the domain of high-level, lone protagonists beset by hostile political forces; collaborative problem-solving is rare, street-level actors insignificant, and historical, social, and institutional contexts of minimal importance. The article discusses the implications of this construction and raises questions about its appropriateness for the training of future public servants. © 2001 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.

Suggested Citation

  • Carol Chetkovich & David L. Kirp, 2001. "Cases and Controversies: How Novitiates Are Trained to Be Masters of the Public Policy Universe," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(2), pages 283-314.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:jpamgt:v:20:y:2001:i:2:p:283-314
    DOI: 10.1002/pam.2026
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1002/pam.2026
    File Function: Link to full text; subscription required
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/pam.2026?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Laurence E. Lynn, 1994. "Public management research: The triumph of art over science," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(2), pages 231-259.
    2. Eugene Bardach, 1994. "Comment: The problem of “best practice” research," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(2), pages 260-268.
    3. Jane E. Fountain, 1994. "Comment: Disciplining public management research," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(2), pages 269-277.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kristan Cockerill & Lacy Daniel & Leonard Malczynski & Vincent Tidwell, 2009. "A fresh look at a policy sciences methodology: collaborative modeling for more effective policy," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 42(3), pages 211-225, August.
    2. Neng Liang & Shu Lin, 2008. "Erroneous Learning from the West? A Narrative Analysis of Chinese MBA Cases Published in 1992, 1999 and 2003," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 48(5), pages 603-638, November.
    3. Sally J. Kenney, 2004. "Gender, the public policy enterprise, and case teaching," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(1), pages 159-178.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fred Thompson, 1997. "The state of public management," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(3), pages 484-489.
    2. Ani MATEI & Carmen SĂVULESCU & Corina-Georgiana ANTONOVICI, 2016. "From public services to networks of social enterprises. Strategic trends for South-Eastern Europe," Theoretical and Applied Economics, Asociatia Generala a Economistilor din Romania - AGER, vol. 0(2(607), S), pages 103-116, Summer.
    3. Edward F. Lawlor, 1996. "Policy change and learning: An advocacy coalition approach, edited by Paul Sabatier and Hank C. Jenkins-Smith. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1993, 290 pp., $65.00 cloth, $24.95 paper," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(1), pages 110-121.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:jpamgt:v:20:y:2001:i:2:p:283-314. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/34787/home .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.