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From the Editor—
Why Government?
Why government? This is perhaps the core question of political theory and an
often neglected topic in public affairs programs. So many of us take for granted
the rationale and need for government that we forget that for the last generation,
this question has been a contentious topic of political discourse. In part the recently
concluded American presidential election was an answer to provide reason for
government, and elections across Europe, Asia, and Africa are similar contests
over how to reply to this question.
Public affairs faculty must be able to articulate why we need government and
what it should look like—not just to our students, but to university administrators,
politicians, and the general public. The failure to explain what value government
offers, especially for the 21st century, dooms public administration to the dustbin
of history. The Winter 2013 issue of JPAE begins a dialogue on why government
is necessary and considers how a variety of forces are challenging that institution
as well as what we do in the classroom.
It’s traditional to start a new volume of JPAE by printing the inaugural address
of the incoming NASPAA president. Here President Jack Knott begins the exploration
of Why government? He describes what he sees as the five factors transforming
public service education: challenges to democracy, cross-sector governance, technology,
globalization, and demographics. According to Knott, these five factors challenge
public service delivery across the world, necessitating that our curriculum and
the way we teach also reflect these trends. His address charges the academy to
adapt, learn, and lead, urging the academy to give more than mere lip service to
change. NASPAA must renew its mission in light of these five factors and seek
improved collaboration with other organizations if we are to do a better job in
educating our future leaders.
Although Knott identified five factors driving public affairs education today,
he easily could have listed a sixth—confronting disasters and addressing emergencies.
This is the subject of this issue’s symposium on FEMA. It is almost trite now to
say that the terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001,
changed everything. Yes, those events have made domestic security and fighting
terrorism a concern for governments across the globe. But 9/11 also highlighted
something that many had forgotten, which is that the task of government is to
address emergencies. Beyond the security issue, 9/11 was about emergency
management. Hurricane Katrina in 2005 represented for many a failure of
government in responding to a crisis; Hurricane Sandy, at least from preliminary
reports, demonstrates how a better prepared government can respond.
Events like 9/11, Katrina, and most recently Sandy, point to the important
role of emergency management as a governmental function. A decade ago, probably
no one thought of teaching emergency management in a public affairs curriculum.
Today, this is an emerging if not a central theme of many programs. The FEMA
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Journal of Public Affairs Education