Call for papers for a special issue of Public Management Review: Insights for Public Management from Policing

Professor Jean Hartley and Professor Edoardo Ongaro from the Open University Business School are collaborating with colleagues in Germany and the USA (Professor Eckhart Schröeter and Dr Kathy Quick) to edit a special issue of the high ranked journal specifically on the topic of what public management as an academic field can learn from studies of policing.

In the past, policing studies have created and developed some important concepts used widely in public management/public administration, such as co-production, public value, and representative bureaucracy. However, the links are sporadic rather than sustained. This special issue is an opportunity to strengthen these links and put policing more squarely on the map in terms of public management theory and research. Policing can reveal the relationships between citizens and the state in a variety of ways, and raises questions about legitimacy, authority, purpose, value, diversity and inclusion, how services are organised, led and managed, and much more.

Papers are sought on a wide range of topics. The focus of a paper will be on policing but it will draw out implications for wider understanding of the institutions, organizations and governance of public management. The first step is to submit a 500 word abstract rather than a full paper. The editors are accepting submissions in two tranches, with deadlines of 15 November 2021 and 7 January 2022 (this enables early birds to get started on writing their full paper but otherwise the tranches are equal). There will be an online workshop for those invited to submit full papers in May 2022, which will be a chance to share and explore ideas.

Edoardo and Jean (or the other editors) are happy to informally explore ideas for submissions. The full call for papers shall shortly be on the Public Management Review website or can also be found here.