This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Catlaw, T. J. Articles by Jordan, G. M. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Public Administration and "The Lives of Others"

Toward an Ethics of Collaboration

Arizona State University, Thomas.Catlaw{at}asu.edu

Gregory M. Jordan

Arizona State University

Public administration is about how we work and live together; thus, it implies an ethic of collaboration. Despite this imperative, the ethical terrain in public administration appears divided into principle- and market-based ethics of judgment. Drawing from the psychoanalytic theory of Jacques Lacan, this article argues that both of these ethical systems unproductively rely on logically similar efforts to reconcile individual demand with the presumption of a super-ordinate value, or conception of the Good. The thesis advanced here is, by contrast, that a collaborative ethics is directly concerned with the bearing of desire, that which is deeper than simple demand(s) and excessive to the Good as such. The film The Lives of Others provides a compelling example of the nature of this sacrifice as well as the collaboration that flows from it, and may serve as exemplar for those engaged in the practice of public administration.

Key Words: collaboration • ethics • ontology • Lacan • psychoanalysis • politics of the subject • public administration • film

Administration & Society, Vol. 41, No. 3, 290-312 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0095399709332300


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?