Dark Enlightenment: Being Countercultural and Navigating Transitions

Navigating challenging times for public administration amongst global turmoil.

It’s a tough time to be a public leader.  It’s a tough time to be a public servant. 

Over 150 years of the lessons learnt and gains made in public administration theory and practice are currently being tested, challenged or shredded if you happen to live anywhere near Elon Musk (and more of us than we might realise or be entirely happy with probably do). 

Bedrock stocks of trust and respect have been eroding for some time. Frameworks and models – think “new public management” – are out of date and out of favour but it’s unclear quite what comes next.

Join Martin Stewart-Weeks in conversation with guest UTS Adjunct Professor Christian Bason at the UTS School of Transdisciplinary Design to unpack a few critical questions that may help to guide the way.

• Are we suffering from a bad case of moral panic or are we really sleepwalking through a brutal “self-coup” of unprecedented speed and ferocity that is ripping out most of the foundations and precepts of good public administration? 
• Rather than capitulate to the histrionics of wealthy pyromaniacs, shouldn’t we assume the task of navigating transitions, spiky and hot more often than not, is now at least a large part of the work of effective public leadership?
• Do we need to become countercultural to fashion a vision for good government that can resist and eventually transcend the current set of hostile conditions and deep, unsettling challenges?

We want this to be an inclusive and accessible event, so if cost (or anything else) is a barrier to attend, please let us know so we can find a way for you to join us.