Joseph Drew – författare

Creating Human Value (CHV) is a powerful public management theory that places the person at the centre of all decision-making. It is founded on millennia-old natural law philosophy, updated to cope with contemporary problems. At the heart of CHV is the ideal of human flourishing – this is achieved through pursuing the common good, via public policy, in a way that respects human dignity. To paraphrase Socrates, it is about caring for the city, rather than merely the city’s possessions.

This book is the product of almost a decade of research and teaching of this compelling alternate public management theory to government decision-makers in Australia and abroad. In sum, CHV is a much-needed antidote to currently popular public management approaches that have unduly prioritized the common good over dignity with catastrophic consequences for the lives of many people.

This book will appeal to readers interested in public management, public policy, and government.

Creating Human Value (CHV) is a powerful public management theory that places the person at the centre of all decision-making. It is founded on millennia-old natural law philosophy, updated to cope with contemporary problems. At the heart of CHV is the ideal of human flourishing – this is achieved through pursuing the common good, via public policy, in a way that respects human dignity. To paraphrase Socrates, it is about caring for the city, rather than merely the city’s possessions.

This book is the product of almost a decade of research and teaching of this compelling alternate public management theory to government decision-makers in Australia and abroad. In sum, CHV is a much-needed antidote to currently popular public management approaches that have unduly prioritized the common good over dignity with catastrophic consequences for the lives of many people.

This book will appeal to readers interested in public management, public policy, and government.

This book is a bold prescription for local government reform that moves well beyond the old arguments regarding consolidations (also referred to as amalgamations) and co-operation (sometimes referred to as shared services) to paint a picture of an efficient, effective tier of government that strikes a balance between the right of persons to pursue their existential ends and the need to promote the common good.

The book presents a system of local government that balances human dignity with the common good, restrains Leviathan, provides a voice for the disenfranchised (and even the disinterested), and delivers goods and services efficiently and effectively. Ironically, what is often argued to be the weakness of local government in many jurisdictions – the fact that it is merely a creature of statute – is also the best hope we have of making the oft cited rhetoric about how ‘local government is the closest to the people that serves the people best’ become reality.

This book focuses squarely on the problem of saving local government in the context of extraordinary financial challenges being faced across the globe. Saving Local Government is written principally for practitioners and employs a ‘conversational’ tone which makes complex theory both engaging and accessible. It augments world-best scholarship with Professor Joseph Drew’s extensive practical experience in guiding local governments away from the brink of financial insolvency. It is thus a ‘must read’ for local government executives, Mayors, Councillors and the regulators that oversee the sector.

In Saving Local Government Professor Drew also makes a number of important contributions to address significant gaps in the scholarly literature. In particular, the book includes extensive treatment of de-amalgamation, applied natural law philosophy, Aristotelian epistemology for evaluating public policy success, as well as alternatives to financial administration. The work is therefore also compelling reading for scholars.

Since the dawn of civilisation philosophers and sages alike have been concerned about the potential for government to become a Leviathan-like monster. In this book Professor Drew shows how a careful application of natural law principles can mitigate this threat of Leviathan and also contribute to the flourishing of people.

To do so Natural Law and Government examines the trade-off between human dignity and the common good during the public policy response to COVID-19. Specifically, Professor Drew details his concerns regarding the emergence of concentrations of power and competence in government – changes that have sadly given rise to the repression of the vitality of citizens.

Professor Drew’s latest work makes the case that even great public policy needs to be deliberately and strategically sold in order for it to ultimately be considered a success. However, it seems that most people charged with the task of selling public policy simply do not have the requisite skills to do so.

Selling public policy is an art that draws on disparate strands of scholarship spanning the political sciences, economics, sociology, ethics and the classics. To perform the art of selling public policy one must first master the lessons from the greats in the field. Following this, it is necessary to learn how to apply the knowledge to real-world complex scenarios in such a way that the policy is indeed sold and stays sold over the implied returns period.

This book is unique in the corpus of scholarly literature because it provides both the knowledge and real-world case studies required for students, scholars, and policy practitioners to master the art of selling public policy.