x Preface
is completely reshaping the notion of a cohesive framework of public service
delivery as public and private organizations, domestically and internationally,
are increasingly and necessarily interconnected. As we note in this edition, such
advances raise serious questions about legitimacy and accountability that schol-
ars are only beginning to dissect. Th e contributions of more than a dozen years’
worth of new research is woven into all the chapters, some of which has altered
our conclusions about the health and robustness of some popular conceptual
frameworks (see Chapter 10).
Many deserve thanks for making this third edition possible. We appreciate
Ada Fung, our editor at Westview, for her hard work, faith in the project, and
patience in seeing it through to fruition. We also appreciate the eff orts of Tigstu
Woldeyohanns, who, as Chris Larimer’s research assistant, contributed by orga-
nizing, discussing, and analyzing new research in the fi eld. We also have a long
list of debts to many others whose contributions through three editions should
not go unmentioned. Th ese include Ken Meier, Leisha DeHart-Davis, and Tom
Catlaw. We thank our colleagues at the Department of Public Administration of
the University of Kansas, the Department of Political Science at the University of
Nebraska, and the Department of Political Science at the University of Northern
Iowa for encouraging and supportive environments in which to work. We thank
Dwight Waldo for his inspiration. Above all, we thank our spouses, Mary Freder-
ickson, Kelly Smith, Danielle Larimer, and Kirsten Licari, for their unfl agging and
loving support.