The Postcard Project:

Future Directions in International and Comparative Administration

The Original Six Postcards

Introduction
Postcards from
... Paris
... Seoul
... Bamako
... New York City
... Rio de Janeiro
... Washington, DC
References

Further Contributions

... Derick Brinkerhoff
... Marc Lindenberg
... Fred Riggs
... Ted Thomas
... Tjip Walker

Contribute a Postcard
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, or Earth Summit, held in Rio in 1992 was an important milestone in the emergence of civil society as a partner in environmental governance.  This does not include just the international NGO community.  In countries like Brazil indigenous civil society groups are playing an increasing role not simply in environmental management, but in service delivery, and in policy advocacy and lobbying across a range of sectors.  Managing the public sphere of activities, the traditional mandate of government agencies at the national, state, and local levels, no longer belongs solely to the public sector.  The twenty-first century will be decisive for humankind; environmental degradation, the gap between rich and poor, population growth, social and ethnic tensions, and regional political conflicts all pose serious challenges.  Solving these problems demands shared and complementary action by governments and public agencies, private enterprise, civil society groups and NGOs, and individuals. 

Partnerships are an indispensable key to managing the public sphere--i.e., governance, broadly defined--and to devising solutions that can ensure the development, well-being, security, and sustainability of the populations of the world.  Partnerships among governments are necessary, but far from sufficient.  Partnerships are also needed that combine civil society actors--professional, educational, scientific, and business associations; community and grassroots movements; advocacy groups--with each other, with government, and with the private sector at multiple levels.  The seeds planted at the Earth Summit are beginning to bear fruit.  New governance arrangements are emerging that redefine the roles of all the partners and that call for both new and old management skills. 

Public administration needs to move beyond the simplistic nostrums of the New Public Management imposed by the North, which ape the tools of business, pander to the needs of international capital, and reduce citizens to customers.  Solving the governance problems of the future cannot be done with one-size-fits-all approaches.  Civil society and the Southern NGO community represent rich resources to draw upon for a public administration that is efficient, effective, sustainable, and empowering.