Non-elected, non-appointed federal employees, referred to as "bureaucrats," are among the many policy actors that participate in policy discourse. This article investigates whether bureaucrats' administrative discourse promotes economic equality, as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. envisioned. Based on a qualitative analysis of data from congressional testimonies (n = 34) before and after the enactment of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, this study discusses the role of public administrators as contributors to welfare policy discourse and the resulting implications for the fight for equality and equal citizenship. It finds that bureaucrats' welfare policy discourse marginalized vulnerable populations, particularly African American women. Evidence for Practice • At its core, the discourse of welfare policy is embroiled in concepts such as citizenship, equity, and democracy. • Understanding the impact and influence of bureaucrats' language leads to the construction of an equitable and culturally competent public service lexicon. • Getting to the root of economic disparity begins by altering the way(s) in which we construct and discuss poverty. • Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called attention to a moral dilemma: either the nation must come to terms with the fact that its practices are in stark opposition to its current policies and economic structure, or changes need to be made to align the two. • Administrative discourse should consider equity within the context of the national ethos, highlighting the dissonance between what we say we value and what our policies do. A t its core, the discourse of welfare policy is embroiled in concepts such as citizenship (who is entitled to government assistance), equity (what is fair), and democracy (who is to decide) (Soss, Hackler, and Mettler 2007). The research examining welfare policy discourse and the social construction of welfare recipients lacks enough understanding of the discursive contributions of career public administrators in the policy-making process. Traditional views of public administration delimit its scope to the administration and management of public programs (Denhardt and Denhardt 2009). This approach perpetuates a false dichotomy between administration and politics. It implies that bureaucrats are neutral and objective providers of technical expertise guided by a chain of command to ensure that decisions are made by the appropriate authority (i.e., the people vis-à-vis elected officials)
State and local governments traditionally exerted leadership in policy areas that directly affected their communities and citizens. The leadership of cities, however, has expanded into a number of policy areas where the states and the national government have reduced their policy footprint. This article summarizes research on local policy leadership, examines it within the context of historical state–local intergovernmental relations, and reviews three expanding policy areas. As creatures of state government, localities are subject to legislative restrictions; however, recent research reveals a significant upsurge of state governments preempting policy actions of local governments. Therefore, it can be concluded that the flame of local government policy leadership burns brightly now, but forces appear to be gathering that may cause it to flicker.
Institutions of higher education are increasingly compelled to produce evidence that illustrates their contribution to society. In this age of demonstrating value, self-assessment is critical for urban and metropolitan universities. This study will explore the design and implementation of a landscape analysis-phase one of an in-depth self-assessment-at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO). This process is intended to help universities gain a better understanding of how community engagement is conceptualized and institutionalized on their campus. A thorough understanding of the meaning of, and linguistics associated with, community engagement is imperative for the creation of community engagement measurement and assessment mechanisms. The authors will share the methodology and key findings, which include the discovery of domains of community engagement and acknowledgement of a spectrum of engagement.
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