ABSTRACT
The New Public Service begins, of course, with the concept of public service. But the idea of public service is intertwined with the responsibilities of democratic citizenship. In the words of Benjamin Barber, "Service to the nation is ... the duty of free men and women whose freedom is wholly dependent on and can survive only through the assumption of political responsibilities. In this tradition service is something we owe ourselves or that part of ourselves that is embedded in the civic community" (Barber 1998, 195). Public service derives, therefore, from the civic virtues of duty and responsibility.
