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Managing the Environmental Crisis Managing the Environmental Crisis: Incorporating Competing Values in Natural Resource Administration by Daniel H. Henning; William R. Mangun Review by: William Bowen Public Administration Review, Vol. 51, No. 6 (Nov. - Dec., 1991), p. 568 Published by: Wiley on behalf of the American Society for Public Administration Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/976608 . Accessed: 15/06/2014 01:32 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . Wiley and American Society for Public Administration are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Public Administration Review. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 194.29.185.251 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 01:32:04 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Managing the Environmental Crisis

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Managing the Environmental CrisisManaging the Environmental Crisis: Incorporating Competing Values in Natural ResourceAdministration by Daniel H. Henning; William R. MangunReview by: William BowenPublic Administration Review, Vol. 51, No. 6 (Nov. - Dec., 1991), p. 568Published by: Wiley on behalf of the American Society for Public AdministrationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/976608 .

Accessed: 15/06/2014 01:32

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Wiley and American Society for Public Administration are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve andextend access to Public Administration Review.

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This content downloaded from 194.29.185.251 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 01:32:04 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

References

Arendt, Hannah, 1970. On Violence. New York: Viking Press.

Austin, John, 1965.. How to Do Things Witb Words. New York: Oxford University Press.

Bernstein, Richard J., 1983. Beyond Objectivism and Relativism: Science, Hermeneutics, and Praxis. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

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Managing the Environmental Crisis by William Bowen, Cleveland State University

Daniel H. Henning and William R. Mangun, Managing the Environmental Crisis: Incorporating Competing Values in Natural ResourceAdministration. (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1989), 377 pp.; $18.95 paper, $48.50 hardcover.

P] rofessors Henning and Mangun present a broad, well-balanced coverage of the forces and factors

shaping environmental and natural resource administration. The topic can- not be meaningfully examined without careful attention to the nuances of poli- tics and administration together with diverse biological and natural science considerations. Because the authors write well and are quite evidently knowledgeable about the substance of current environmental and natural resource policy and administrative issues, they are also able to combine all of the many factors in an organized and well-thought-out way. Their main mes- sage is that a long-range outlook, intelli- gent analysis and research, and institu- tion building based upon environmental values are required to "manage the envi- ronmental crisis."

The authors begin by recognizing and discussing some of the distinguish- ing aspects of environmental administra- tion, the salient characteristics of natural resources, and the important cultural factors helpful in understanding the

issues. The bulk of issues in environ- mental and natural resource administra- tion are variously portrayed to involve complex multiple and conflicting objec- tives relating, for example, to the "envi- ronmental public interest", the realities of scarce natural resources, the limita- tions imposed by culture and conflicting values, among other things. Throughout the book, a strong emphasis is placed upon the role of values and value con- flicts as articulated in both private and institutional interactions. The political and administrative systems are seen to mediate or arbitrate between competing values and interests as they relate to nat- ural resources and the environment. A meritorious feature of the authors' approach is the authenticity they gain by giving direct quotations of leading opin- ion holders to represent statements of the competing interests.

Primarily within the broad context of people in agencies making complex, often highly consequential decisions, the bulk of the book considers the sub- stance of current issues in the following policy areas: energy, renewable resource management, non-renewable resource management, outdoor recreation, wilderness management, pollution con- trol, urban and regional policy, and international environmental administra- tion. It is worth noting that whereas the authors are typically concise, succinct, and level-headed within this broad con- text, the context itself is limited to the primarily political and administrative decision-making framework. A fuller, deeper understanding of many of these issues would require far more hard- headed economic analysis, geography, and environmental science than the

book offers, especially in chapters on energy, pollution and urban and region- al policy. But this limitation is to be expected; to cover so many substantive areas precludes going in to great depth on any of them.

Overall, this is a book for one who is seriously interested in the spectrum of environmental and natural resource administration. Its greatest utility is as a comprehensive overview of the political and administrative aspects of environ- mental issues. As an overview of the field, it is definitely worth reading more than once.

Politics, Science, and the Public Interest dy Robert Goldenkoff, U.S. GeneralAccounting Office

Benjamin Ginsberg, Theodore J. Lowi, et al., Poliscide: Big Government, Big Science, Lilliputian Politics, 2d ed. (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1990), 306 pp.; $14.75 paper.

Gerald Jacob, Site Unseen: The Politics of Siting a Nuclear Waste Repository. (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1990), 234 pp.; $34.95 hardcover.

P resident Kennedy, in celebrating the centennial of the National Academy of Sciences, remarked:

"Whenever you scientists invent a new technology, we politicians have to make a new political invention to deal with it."

56 8 P u b l i c Administtion Review. November/December 1991, Vol 51, No.6

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