Concept of Democratic Public Services

A. Concept of Democratic Public Services

1. Definition

Unt il now , public service has found some com ment s by som e peoples, especially by cust om ers. These cases occurred because bureaucracy as organizat ion of public service delivery has not given full att ent ion t o cit izen int erest s in public service d elivery (Alw i, 2005; Alwi & But arbut ar, 2007). In t his case, public service bureaucracy is leader orient ed in im plem ent ing it s functions. Leaders det erm ine performance of followers. Therefore, followers do their works based on leader inst ructions; how ever, t hey have a job descript ion. Public service as such is legal orient ed, not cit izen orient ed; in public adm inist ration perspect ive is classified classic perspect ive. In democrat ic concept, administ rat ors have t o concern t o citizen int erest s, because t hey are “ king” , they m ust be served.

Dem ocrat ic public service, essent ially, is implement ed by bureaucracy necessary focuses on cit izen int erest s (Gaw t hrop, 2002; Lyn, 1996). Public servant s have m uch to “ list en” what the public say is, rat her t han “ t ell” w hat the public do is. As w ell as public servant s have t o “ serve” t hem , rat her t han “ st eers” t hem . Cit izens and public officials are w orking t oget her t o define and to address comm on problem s in a cooperat ive and m ut ually beneficial w ay (Denhardt and Denhardt , 2003).

According t o the case above, democrat ic public service is not focuses on how t he run public service efficient ly, but focuses on how t he implem ent public services t hat w ill cont ribut e to all cit izens’ life (Denhardt and Denhardt, 2003). Public service delivery efficient ly is required the best comparing input and output . In this case, t he ef ficient require t he best result and minimum cost . Dem ocrat ic public service can not be required, because it m ore t han process ori ent at ion, such as cit izen engagem ent process in problems identification to problem solving. Cit izen engagem ent in governance process w ill be bet t er change in citizen life.

2. New Public Service: Foundation of Democratic Public Service

In study of public administ rat ion, there are some perspect ives or paradigms t hat explain public administ rat ion phenom ena. By t he end 1980s and begin 1990s point ed out “ big effort s” of scholars t o overcome com plex problems in public m anagem ent or adm inist rat ion. These effort s have been risen t hree general perspect ive, i.e. old public adm inist rat ions, new public m anagement , and new public service. Epist emologically, as paradigm have different point of view .

New public service is a perspect ive t hat focuses on democrat ic public service delivery. Public servant s have t o recognize public int erest s in public service delivery, because t hey w ill becom e base on designing of some public service programs.

This is perspect ive dissimilar of t wo above perspect ives. New public m anagement focuses on public service delivery such as a syst em in business organizat ion. Nevert heless, new public service is not focus on uses business m anagement t echniques, because business organizat ion is different w ith public such as stat e of Denhardt & Denhardt (2003), ” governm ent shouldn’t run like a business; it should be run like a democracy. ....bot h elect ed and appoint ed public servant s are act ing on t his principle and expressing renew ed com mit ment t o such ideals as t he public int erest , t he governance process, and expanding dem ocrat ic cit izenchip.”

There are 7 essent ial principles of dem ocrat ic public servicebased on new public service perspect ive Denhardt & Denhardt (2003): Serve cit izens, not cust omers, Seek t he public int erest , Value cit izenchip over ent repreneurship, Think st rat egically, Recognize t hat account abilit y is not sim ple, Serve rat her t han st eer, Value people, not just product ivit y.