TY - JOUR
T1 - Governing Small-Town America Today
T2 - The Promise and Dilemma of Dense Networks
AU - Catlaw, Thomas J.
AU - Stout, Margaret
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 by The American Society for Public Administration.
PY - 2016/3/1
Y1 - 2016/3/1
N2 - This essay examines the governance of small towns in the United States. Small towns have received little attention in the public administration literature to date, yet 1 in 10 Americans still lives in one, representing roughly 75 percent of all municipalities in the United States and some 33 million people. Small towns are characterized as dense, multiplex networks that lend unique dynamics to local politics. However, they face significant social, economic, technological, and demographic trends that compromise towns' prevailing frame of reference, fracture their networks, and alter the traditional setting of small-town governance. In the face of these issues, "thicker," more active ways of engaging the public are needed to reknit community bonds and build civic capacity. Service learning for master of public administration students is proposed as a way to develop the emotional intelligence necessary to make sense of the complex social dynamics of small towns and to facilitate the hard work of building enabling relationships.
AB - This essay examines the governance of small towns in the United States. Small towns have received little attention in the public administration literature to date, yet 1 in 10 Americans still lives in one, representing roughly 75 percent of all municipalities in the United States and some 33 million people. Small towns are characterized as dense, multiplex networks that lend unique dynamics to local politics. However, they face significant social, economic, technological, and demographic trends that compromise towns' prevailing frame of reference, fracture their networks, and alter the traditional setting of small-town governance. In the face of these issues, "thicker," more active ways of engaging the public are needed to reknit community bonds and build civic capacity. Service learning for master of public administration students is proposed as a way to develop the emotional intelligence necessary to make sense of the complex social dynamics of small towns and to facilitate the hard work of building enabling relationships.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84959130691&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84959130691&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/puar.12520
DO - 10.1111/puar.12520
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84959130691
SN - 0033-3352
VL - 76
SP - 225
EP - 229
JO - Public administration review
JF - Public administration review
IS - 2
ER -