Bringing the 21st-Century Governance Paradigm to Public Affairs Education: Reimagining How We Teach What We Teach

Abstract

Effective governance in the 21st-century demands a different set of competencies than prior generations, with greater emphasis on collaborative leadership, global intercultural competence, and the ability to respond nimbly to rapidly changing circumstances. Many public affairs programs have changed curriculum content to place greater emphasis on these topics. Given the extent to which such changes are altering how public issues are defined, how policies are adopted, and how programs and services are delivered as much as what those problems, policies, and programs are, then how we teach is arguably as important as what we teach. This article argues that current and future public administrators will be better prepared to work effectively across international and intercultural differences, respond to uncertainties and change, and transform traditional hierarchical silos of government bureaucracies into collaborative shared-power networks if faculty and programs model those forms of decision making and inclusion.