ABSTRACT
Introduction This chapter addresses the question of creating public value from the vantage of “the new civic politics” (also described as “Civic Studies”), an interdisciplinary and action-oriented approach to civic engagement and politics beyond the liberal versus communitarian dispute in political theory. The new civic politics grows, in part, from a long-developing “realist movement” in political theory, which rejects grandiose utopian thinking, accepts political conflict of values as well as interests as fundamental and inescapable, and challenges reigning normative approaches (Galston, 2011). Informed by empirical research and theory-building about governance of
Contents Introduction ........................................................................................................49 The Commonwealth............................................................................................50 Public Values and Polarizing Politics ....................................................................52 New Civic Politics ...............................................................................................55 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 64 References ...........................................................................................................65
common pool resources (“the commons”) and about productive and collaborative efforts by citizens more generally, civic politics adds heft and practical emphases to what is often a highly normative discussion about public values and their creation.
