Transformation/Innovation or Patchwork? Juxtaposition of Public Policy Process and the Role of Leadership in a Chaotic Environment: Is a New Paradigm in the Make?

Public Policymaking processes are viewed by some as intertwined relationships of offices, public leaders, and issues, all of which constantly change in a kaleidoscope-like fashion as Gerston (2002) puts it nicely. With historically unprecedented economic debacle now facing US and the world the issue of public policymaking and its implementations come to the fore. At the same time the question of how the leadership of the society at the highest level has played such a decisive dysfunctional role in creating such fiasco and what the potentials are for a turn around occupies everybody’s mind. The tenet of this paper is to examine if new efforts and rescue plans, supposedly for bringing some order to the economy, will eventually result in fundamental and long term social and political changes in the very fabric of both public and market systems. A corollary to this is whether such long term changes – if materialized – would eradicate the old systems, and move toward a real transformation. Issues like the nature and processes of public policymaking, leadership in terms of power, transparency and accountability will be addressed with direct reference to the approaches adopted by Congress and President elect. An analysis of the new direction of public policy making and institutionalizing a kind of transformative leadership that permeate the whole public administration system is the crux of this paper’s argument.