Reinventing Government or Reinventing Ourselves

Viewing the public as owners rather than customers of government, this book argues that better performance by public agencies requires active and responsible citizens as well as efficient organizations.Challenging the assumptions of the "reinventing-government" movement now in vogue, this book unites a call for active citizenship with the current concern for improving public-agency performance. The author argues that citizens should not be viewed as customers of government, as reinventing-government advocates assume, but rather as government's owners. By analyzing a turn-of-the-century model of urban reform that depicts this relationship between citizens and government, Schachter shows how reinvigorating an active public is essential to increasing agency efficiency and responsiveness. She offers two strategies for moving toward active citizenship: better citizenship education, including service learning, and public agencies' provision of better-focused information for their owners. This book will spark much-needed debate on the role of active citizens in administrative reform.