David Good's The Politics of Public Management is a 'textbook case' in public administration; it deals with the events and circumstances surrounding the scandal of the grants and contributions audit at Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC). More specifically, Good argues that the HRDC scandal or crisis was the result of a complex series of factors, which transformed a fixable administrative matter into media headlines alleging that the government had lost one billion dollars. The author further contextualizes this scandal by analyzing the dichotomies and contradictions inherent in public administration and supporting the larger premise that certain trade-offs must be made in the administration of any public organization.
Good skillfully weaves together into a coherent and comprehensible whole both theoretical (or conceptual) and practical considerations. He draws on current scholarship throughout his analysis and captures for the reader the nuances and complexities of public administration. The first and only extensive critical examination to date of the events surrounding the scandal at HRDC, this text offers an original and groundbreaking contribution to current scholarship on public administration and management in Canada.