Reimagining Otherness, Recreating the Public Space: Public Administration and the U.S.-Mexico Border

Abstract

How can public administrators tasked with enforcing immigration laws bring care and commitment to human relationships and public connections? The contemporary anti-immigrant (anti-Other) “narrative” related to immigration policy is provided as exemplary socio-political-administrative terrain for exploring this question. Considering the undocumented alien as the “other” that possess a threat to the whole is problematic for democratic immigration policy making and governance. This paper suggests that pragmatism and Hannah Arendt’s political theory of publicness offer a theoretical groundwork for understanding and overcoming the destructive dynamics of “othering.” This framework can help administrators, through reflection in action and situational awareness, make sense of their daily practice. Finally, the discussion centers on lessons for street-level bureaucrats to reconsider the border and “others” under a new light, as constitutive of the public space.

Revealing the Spatiality of Crises: Lessons from Failures of Boundary Work in a Cross-Border Crisis

“…Nevertheless, the crisis response process was essentially weakened by the lack of awareness of multiple demarcations (associated with both borders and boundaries) that were at stake. In addition, our work answers recent calls for building a framework that helps administrators enhance their awareness of daily practices at the operational level (Elías, 2022). Highlighting the interrelation between borders and boundaries during a crisis, as we did a posteriori in the Mont-Blanc case, can help public administrators build a more adapted repertoire of responses to the crisis (Boin & Rhinard, 2008).…”

“…Public administration studies focus on the institutional level to reveal how administrators shape borders to prevent or deal with a crisis through political negotiation, laws, and transnational protocol elaboration. Yet, some authors claim for frameworks that 'help public administrators to make sense of their daily practice' (Elías, 2022(Elías, , p. 1635. They argue that governments and supranational organizations will always face an insufficient response repertoire while dealing with a crisis (Boin & Rhinard, 2008), and that they may find adapted answers in the understanding of crises at a more operational level.…”

Recreating Community Relations Program (Comrel) Towards Resiliency Under “Bayanihan to Heal as One”, and Beyond

“…Cities, 110, 103072. c. As a result of this orientation and sharing, corporate managers should be able to define specific skills that are needed to assist the frontline, the government, the communities, and the local executives. A simple action planning like "what now" will close this phase to "capture the present mindsets" their hopes and aspirations, their fears and anxieties translated into a language that is understood by line supervisors who possess a rich reservoir of management skills in problem-solving, planning, leading organizing and monitoring of any program, (Elías, 2022(Elías, , pp. 1621(Elías, -1645.…”