The Need for Autonomy and Virtues: Civic-Minded Administrators in a Civil Society

AbstractThe public conception of individual autonomy and virtues is essential to administrative theory. This essay explores the possibility of relating private interest and personal autonomy to community through a discussion of the public good and civic virtues. I argue that to be effective public administrators in the community they serve, public administrators need to practice civic-minded virtues without dissipating their own personal autonomy. A sense of autonomy is essential to a public administrator: it allows him or her to reflect critically on institutional obligations as well as on his or her responsibility to citizens.