Editor’s introduction: Our public service manifesto during pandemic

Abstract

We are tired. Tired of the blame, the lies, and the political rhetoric we see each day, so detached from reality related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) spread. We write this in the early weeks of April 2020 when the virus is killing thousands of people a day in the United States and continuing to kill as many more throughout the world.We are tired. We both have compromised immune systems that put as at higher risk. We both have a sick parent, one who is locked down in a nursing facility with no visitors allowed, another who cannot access critical medical care and necessary prescriptions given the strain on our healthcare system.We are tired. We can no longer watch press briefings from national political leaders who see this virus as a partisan hoax. Who will seemingly be happy if 200,000 Americans die, calling it a victory when it could have been millions? Who ships personal protective equipment to other nations when our nurses and doctors go without?Yet we are inspired. We are inspired by the public servants who continually step up to provide facts, comfort, and care during eminently scary times. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, has become a household name. University employees are donating medical supplies to local hospitals to make up for the protective equipment deficit. Local elected officials such as city and county mayors are enacting strict stay-at-home measures in an effort to flatten the curve.We need to stop demeaning public servants, as the crucial role of the administrative state is apparent when people need help-when they need life-saving information. We need to ignore elected leaders who only care about their ratings hit and reputation rather than public service. So, we offer you this admittedly angry manifesto that we write while under stay-at-home orders in our respective states. We call it a manifesto because we believe these narratives and practices are becoming increasingly harmful as we continually denigrate public servants and government.

The role of empathy in organizational communication during times of crisis

“…Empathy is a critical value that enhances communication to support sustained connection in the interactions between citizens and the state. We agree with the Public Service Manifesto During a Pandemic put forth by the editors of Administrative Theory & Praxis (Zavattaro & McCandless, 2020). Among the six major points of the manifesto, the editors ask for public administration to "start with empathy" (p. 235).…”

Researching COVID-19: A research agenda for public policy and administration scholars

“…Although multilevel governance is not usually associated with the somewhat legalistic structure of American federalism (indeed in the US the notion more often used is ‘intergovernmental relations’ (IGR) 3 the notion of governance through ‘formally independent yet functionally interdependent governing entities’ (Piattoni, 2009: 172) remains an accurate description of the relationships between the US federal government, the states and localities. However, these interdependent relationships have been tested by hollowing out (Zavattaro and McCandless, 2020) and politicization of the US system of governance.…”

The public administration imperative of applying an atrocity prevention lens to COVID-19 responses: Leveraging the global pandemic for positive structural change and greater social equity

“…The editorial manifesto that initiated the COVID Dialogue Section of Administrative Theory & Praxis gave voice to what many public administration scholars and practitioners may be feeling. In it, Zavattaro and McCandless (2020) report being "tired of the blame, the lies and the political rhetoric" (p. 233) while simultaneously being "inspired by the public servants who continually step up to provide facts, comfort, and care during eminently scary times" (p. 233). They further call on the profession to commit to six actions in support of those noble public servants, one of which is to start unraveling systemic inequalities that are made more evident by .…”