A new chapter for ATP

Administrative Theory & Praxis (ATP) was first published in 1978, as Dialog. Organized and edited by Dr. Guy Adams, the journal first sought to develop a platform for heterodoxy in theoretical approaches and epistemological commitments (Blanco & Nickels, 2023). Since then, the journal has evolved and developed as a space for authors and practitioners from various disciplinary, professional, and ontological backgrounds to engage with questions related to public administration theory and praxis.

On 2024, January 1, we were honored to take over the leadership of the journal as Coeditors-in-Chief. We approach this role with humility because of the impressive list of scholars who have occupied this position before us including Guy Adams, Gerald Caiden, Barry Hammond, Jong Jon, Richard VrMeer, Richard Box, Thomas Catlaw, Angela Eikenberry, Larry Luton, Charles F. Abel, and Staci Zavattaro. Together with our amazing editorial team, we are excited to work toward realizing a vision for ATP that upholds its legacy while embracing emerging voices and ideas.

With this, our first editorial introduction, we wish to thank Dr. Zavattaro for her leadership of ATP over the last six years. Below we outline our vision for ATP and introduce our editorial team, before giving a brief introduction of the first issue of our term, primarily edited by Dr. Zavattaro with some last minute embellishments from our team.

Our vision for ATP

Our overarching goal is for ATP to remain the premier forum for discussing normative and critical theory in public administration. We aim to honor the journal’s history while fostering theoretical diversity and innovation. As the flagship publication of the Public Administration Theory Network (PATNet), ATP, under the successful leadership of previous editors, has demonstrated a commitment to advancing forward-thinking scholarship. Dr. Zavattaro’s tenure has solidified ATP as a journal that pays homage to its roots while pushing the boundaries of theory and praxis in public service.

ATP and PATNet have been instrumental in challenging conventional notions of theory in public service. From abstract conceptualizations by thinkers like Marcuse, Deleuze, Guattari, and Judith Butler to concrete tools used by public servants from Robert Greenleaf to Osborne and Gaebler, ATP has been the premier outlet. We envision ATP continuing to provide a space for both abstract theoretical research and contextual theories that influence the everyday experiences of public servants.

To bring this vision to fruition, our plan for ATP is to:

1. Promote Epistemological Diversity – Our primary goal is to ensure that diverse perspectives and ways of knowing in public administration are represented in the journal. The Editorial Team, Editorial Board, special issues, sections, reviews, and published manuscripts will intentionally reflect the diversity of public administration students, scholars, and practitioners. This commitment aims to push the boundaries of theory and praxis in the field.

2. Honor Historical Roots – Building on Dr. Zavattaro’s efforts, we will focus the “Dialogues” section on bringing histories into conversation with future trajectories. By exploring the histories and futures of the Network, public administration theory, and praxis, we aim to enrich our understanding of administration, government, and governance while grounded in the past.

3. Balance Praxis and Abstraction – Recognizing the impact of theoretical research on the field, we will strive to balance abstract theoretical research with heuristic theories that practitioners can readily apply in daily public service. This equilibrium is essential for the contributions of theory to positively influence praxis.

4. Engage Public Scholarship – Practical hands-on theoretical research will be actively promoted through engagement on social media. We will utilize platforms like video synopses and collaborate with popular media outlets to broaden the impact of ATP research and encourage new readership.

5. Include Critiques and Reviews – Acknowledging the importance of critique, we will expand the “Book Review” section to include critiques of various media forms, from films to technological tools. Renamed “Critiques and Reviews,” this section will be led by an editor dedicated to cultivating diverse reviews.

6. Increase our International Scope – Recognizing PATNet’s international reach, we will make a concerted effort to increase global participation. This involves actively soliciting manuscripts from faculty at institutions outside of the United States and the “Global North.”

7. Improve Processes – Continuing the momentum from preceding editors, we are committed to refining the review process for potential authors to ensure impartial, constructive, and timely evaluations.

8. Commit to Quality and Growth – The editorial team is committed to safeguarding the quality of ATP and ensuring its continued growth within the field of public administration. Our collective expertise, diverse perspectives, and innovative approaches position us well to advance the journal’s mission.

Meet the editorial team

Co-Editor-in-Chief: Dr. Ashley E. Nickels – An associate professor in the School of Peace and Conflict Studies, Dr. Nickels is an interdisciplinary scholar with specialization in urban governance, local democracy, and community development. She is an award-winning author, publishing numerous books, book chapters, and articles. She previously served as associate editor on Dr. Zavattaro’s editorial team, as well as Chair and Vice-Chair of PATNet.

Co-Editor-in-Chief: Dr. Nuri Heckler – Dr. Heckler is an Assistant Professor at the University of Nebraska Omaha. His research focuses on Whiteness and Masculinity in public organizations, serving as a guest editor for an upcoming special issue of ATP. Dr. Heckler was the Chair (2020) and Secretary (2019) of PATNet, and was on the conference committees for several PA Theory conferences.

Associate Editor: Dr. Patricia M. Shields – Regents’ Professor in the Department of Political Science at Texas State University, Dr. Shields is a distinguished scholar with a focus on public administration theory, civil-military relations, peace studies, and more. Her editorial experience includes serving as Editor-in-Chief of Armed Forces & Society since 2001.

Associate Editor: Dr. Felipe Blanco – Dr. Felipe Blanco is Assistant Professor of Public Administration at the University of Colorado-Denver, specializing in social equity, ethnoracial inequalities, and comparative public policy. Recognized with prestigious awards during his Ph.D. journey, he brings a commitment to equity and social justice to ATP.

Critiques & Reviews Editor: Dr. Seth Wright – Assistant Teaching Professor at Pennsylvania State University – Harrisburg, Dr. Wright’s research interests include municipal transparency mechanisms and ordinary language philosophy. Actively engaged in PATNet, he served on the Board of Directors, contributing to multimedia creation and social media promotion.

Social Justice Editor: Dr. Rashmi Chordiya – An Assistant Professor at Seattle University’s Institute of Public Service, Dr. Chordiya approaches teaching, scholarship, and praxis through an embodied social justice lens. Her work contributes to advancing the theory and praxis of public sector human resource management with a focus on liberatory justice.

Social Media Editor: Monica Lea – A Ph.D. student at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Monica explores public and nonprofit management, administrative ethics, and critical perspectives. Her research delves into the influence of social media culture on contemporary issues in the public and nonprofit sectors.

Editorial Assistant: Stacey Tettah – As a 1st-year PhD student at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Stacey is researching gender in the nonprofit environment. Previously, she was a researcher in Ghana, using qualitative and quantitative data to understand better governance.

With diverse expertise, a commitment to scholarly rigor, and a vision for advancing the field of public administration, we are confident in our ability to uphold the legacy of ATP while steering it toward new horizons. The editorial team is poised to propel ATP into a future marked by excellence, innovation, and inclusivity. We look forward to serving the ATP community and contributing to the vibrant discourse in administrative theory and praxis.

ATP under Dr. Staci Zavattaro

The last six years has been a time of significant change for ATP and for the Public Administration Theory Network (the Network), with both institutions evolving in tandem while keeping rooted in the important work of the last 46 years, and that evolution is owed to Dr. Staci Zavattaro. We, the coeditors have worked with Dr. Zavattaro while serving on the Board of the Network for part of her time and now find it necessary to spend a few sentences attempting to catalog her service to ATP. Her term as Editor saw an increase in many of the metrics that traditional journals use to measure performance, but we are a PA Theory journal and so we will leave the discussion of those metrics for the editorial board and tenure committees. Instead, we want to highlight the theoretical diversity that epitomizes Dr. Zavattaro’s term.

Simply starting with special issues cultivated by Dr. Zavattaro exemplifies a journal embracing theory that can inform public administration no matter whence it came. Her term oversaw special issues on the important interdisciplinary traditions like prefigurative politics (Love & Stout, 2022), Habarmas (Knox, 2020), and phenomenology (Zingale & Piccorelli, 2018). She also developed special issues on crucial public administration-centered topics, like emotional labor (Guy & Mastracci, 2018), nonprofit management (Sandberg et al., 2019), and dismantling white supremacy (McCandless & Blessett, 2022). Two more special issues that she developed will be coming out in this volume in issue two on whiteness in governance, and issue three discussing the need to theorize sports and athletics as relevant to democracy and administration. Her stamp on this journal, what Dr. Seth Wright once called her “scholarship symphonic” will continue beyond those final issues as both of the incoming Coeditors-in-Chief have been influenced by Dr. Zavattaro’s work along with the lives of many others.

In this issue

We are glad to have the opportunity to honor Dr. Zavattaro by sharing two articles that she would not have been able to produce on her own. The first is a treatment of a book written by Dr. Zavattaro, Neighborhood branding, identity, and tourism (2019). The reviewer, Stevens (2024) asks the reader to think beyond Orlando’s branding in collaboration with Disney and the ever-present Mouse, and take a stand on who exactly has the right to brand a city and at what cost do we allow branding to become a tool in the arsenal of the increasingly powerful chief administrative officers of municipalities. Hewing close to another of Zavattaro’s interests (e.g. Disney and death), we also include an article by Patterson and Lofaro (2024), which discusses the subject of death, namely what are the responsibilities of public administration scholars and practitioners when faced with mortality and suffering.

Beyond those two articles, this issue also includes a thorough review by Pratama (2024) of Sullivan’s, Collaboration and public policy: Agency in the pursuit of public purpose. In an empirical examination of protest discourses during COVID, Yordy et al. (2024) contribute to theory building for better understanding how to develop frameworks to understand the roles of emotion in public policy and governance. Eckerd (2024) then presents theoretical research on how simplification of policy decisions can create “foolish” policy, while scientific decomplexification generates the possibility for nonsensical policy through siloing and groupthink. It seems emotions and “objectivity” both may pose challenges to the policy environment. Continuing the conversation on objectivity, Dorren (2024) presents findings indicating that modernism and its concomitant belief in objectivity and rational control are legitimizing myths that do not necessarily reflect the reality of public administration practice. The closing argument in this issue is a dialogue written by Chordiya et al. (2024), who assert that the focus on social justice in public administration risks myopia, and that centering disability justice can be a useful tool for keeping social justice itself as inclusive as possible.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ashley E. Nickels

Ashley E. Nickels An associate professor in the School of Peace and Conflict Studies, Dr. Nickels is an interdisciplinary scholar with specialization in urban governance, local democracy, and community development. She is an award-winning author, publishing numerous books, book chapters, and articles. She previously served as associate editor on Dr. Zavattaro’s editorial team, as well as Chair and Vice-Chair of PATNet.

Nuri Heckler

Dr. Nuri Heckler (Co-Editor-in-Chief) – is an Assistant Professor at the University of Nebraska Omaha. His research focuses on Whiteness and Masculinity in public organizations, serving as a guest editor for an upcoming special issue of ATP. Dr. Heckler was the Chair (2020) and Secretary (2019) of PATNet, and was on the conference committees for several PA Theory conferences.