View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Texas A&M Repository THE PUBLIC INTEREST IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: AN INVESTIGATION OF THE COMMUNICATIVE FOUNDATIONS OF THE PUBLIC INTEREST STANDARD A Dissertation by SARA RENE JORDAN Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY May 2007 Major Subject: Political Science THE PUBLIC INTEREST IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: AN INVESTIGATION OF THE COMMUNICATIVE FOUNDATIONS OF THE PUBLIC INTEREST STANDARD A Dissertation by SARA RENE JORDAN Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved by: Co-Chairs of Committee, Cary J. Nederman Kenneth J. Meier Committee Members, Elisabeth Ellis Kim Q. Hill William F. West Head of Department, Patricia Hurley May 2007 Major Subject: Political Science iii ABSTRACT The Public Interest in Public Administration: An Investigation of the Communicative Foundations of the Public Interest Standard. (May 2007) Sara Rene Jordan, B.A., University of South Florida Co-Chairs of Advisory Committee: Dr. Cary J. Nederman Dr. Kenneth J. Meier The public interest is the highest standard for bureaucratic action in American government. While the importance of this standard ebbs and flows in the literature, the eminence of it remains unquestioned as the North Star for the American ship of state. As the highest standard in American politics and policy, this standard must be formed democratically. In this dissertation, I examine the formation of the public interest standard through the lens of citizen-bureaucratic communication, using the theory of communicative action advanced by the contemporary German social and political philosopher, Jürgen Habermas. I support the use of such a theoretical framework in America by examining the importance of communication for the American pragmatist philosopher, John Dewey. I examine the ramifications of communication in the American democratic state as foundational for the formation and continued expression of the public interest throughout the institution of the American executive branch. iv DEDICATION To my parents, natural, in law, and in loco v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I dedicate this dissertation to my parents, both natural and in loco. I owe a great debt to my parents, Colette Smith and Richard P. Smith, Jr., as well as to Robert F. Jordan. In addition, I will be forever grateful to the tutelage, attention, friendship, and boundless patience of Drs. Ken Meier and Cary Nederman. I am similarly grateful to Drs. Kim Hill, Patricia Hurley, and Lisa Ellis for their friendship, time, and service. I am similarly grateful to Drs. Arnie Vedlitz, Domonic Bearfield, William West, Ed Portis, and Vesna Danilovic for their assistance at various points in this process. For their friendship, intellect, and assistance throughout the process, I also would like to thank Claudia Avellaneda, Hassan Bashir, Roberto Loureiro, Justin Vaughn, and Brandy Durham. I am also grateful for the intellectual support from Sofya Treskova, Yulia Zapariy, and Anna Karpenko, and the many others, too numerous to mention, at the Ural Case/RESET seminars in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Lastly, I am forever indebted and grateful to Phillip W. Gray, without whom I would have neither begun nor finished this project. I credit him as my harshest critic and most demanding intellectual opponent, for which I am eternally and lovingly grateful. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................... iii DEDICATION ....................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................... v TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................... vi CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION: THE PUBLIC INTEREST IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND POLITICAL THEORY..................... 1 II TOWARDS DEMOCRATICALLY ORIENTED INTERESTS... 9 Interest Formation and the Role of Economics.................. 14 Interests in Politics ............................................................. 19 The Public Interest, the Economy, and Representation ..... 25 A Closer Review of Two Concepts of the Public Interest . 27 Interests, Public Interests, and the Public Sphere............... 36 Conclusion.......................................................................... 40 III DEMOCRATIC INTERESTS AND A PRAGMATIC THEORY OF THE PUBLIC INTEREST....................................................... 42 John Dewey on Democratic Communication..................... 47 John Dewey on the Public Interest..................................... 51 John Dewey and Jürgen Habermas .................................... 54 The Public Interest as Administrative Standard................. 67 The Pragmatic Legitimacy of the Public Interest............... 69 The Initial Conditions for Communicative Action ............ 72 Conclusion.......................................................................... 81 vii CHAPTER Page IV COMMUNICATIVE ACTION AND THE RECONCILIATION OF BUREAUCRACY WITH DEMOCRACY.............................. 86 Citizens as Bureaucrats and Democratic Participation ...... 99 The Anti-Bureaucracy Disposition..................................... 101 The Rejection of Hierarchy and Inequality........................ 102 The Rejection of Bureaucratic Interference ....................... 110 Anti-Bureaucracy and Legal Neutrality ............................. 116 Thin Bureaucrats and Thick Citizens................................. 121 The Values of Citizens as Values of Bureaucrats .............. 128 Bureaucrats as Citizen Peers .............................................. 132 Bureaucrats as Public Sphere Participants ......................... 134 V COMMUNICATIVE ACTION AND THE PRODUCTION OF LEGITIMACY ............................................................................... 139 Communicative Action, Procedure, and Consensus .......... 143 Understanding Communicative Action.............................. 145 Regarding Rationality ........................................................ 146 Rationality as Exchange ..................................................... 149 Speech Acts ........................................................................ 156 Expressive Efficiency......................................................... 159 The Orientation towards Understanding ............................ 166 “Between-ness” .................................................................. 167 Given and Provisional Situations ....................................... 169 A Summary of Communicative Action as Procedure ........ 171 Communicative Action in Public Administration.............. 172 Conclusion.......................................................................... 176 VI BUREAUCRACY, CITIZENS, LANGUAGE, AND LAW: THE SHAPING OF THE PUBLIC SPHERE................................ 177 Bureaucracy, State, Economy, and Society........................ 180 Language, Law, and the Expectations of Bureaucracy ...... 188 Expectations of Bureaucracy: Functions and Structure ..... 195 Bureaucracy and the Mediation of the Public Sphere ........ 202 Conclusions ........................................................................ 210 viii CHAPTER Page VII PRODUCING LEGITIMACY THROUGH ADMINISTRATIVE REPRESENTATION ..................................................................... 212 Social Justice and the Process of Representation............... 217 Processes of Representation ............................................... 220 Unity of Representation Processes..................................... 222 Greeting.............................................................................. 223 Interaction........................................................................... 224 Listening............................................................................. 225 Recognition ........................................................................ 226 Recognition and the State................................................... 229 Recognition and the Law.................................................... 232 Acknowledgement.............................................................. 235 Welcoming ......................................................................... 237 Toleration ........................................................................... 238 Toleration and Inclusion..................................................... 244 Interchange ......................................................................... 246 Representation.................................................................... 246 Bureaucratic Stewardship as Representation ..................... 247 Communicative Action and Bureaucratic Stewardship ..... 251 Representation and the Bureaucracy.................................. 253 Conclusion.......................................................................... 259 VIII CONCLUSION: PRAGMATIC THOUGHTS ON IMPLEMENTING COMMUNICATIVE ACTION...................... 261 REFERENCES ............................................................................................ 267 VITA ............................................................................................ 300 1