An article in the Australian Journal of Public Administration argues that the major theories in the field of policy design and implementation have focused on the failures of government and promoted a negative bias against the public sector. The paper counters this by refocusing on positivity and curiosity, identifying what works in government and developing ideas to diffuse those successes. The paper does this by arguing for a combination of two theoretical frameworks – positive public administration and the curious public administrator.
Problems facing policy design, practice and public administration
Government is currently facing multiple challenges, including:
a global decline in democracy
record-low public trust in government and institutions
a highly problem-centric policy environment.
Public distrust is especially directed at bureaucracies. Trust at both the street level and among organisations is crucial for effective public administration. Democratic backsliding and the rise of strongman leadership have politicised public bureaucracies and undermined professionalism—a foundation of democratic governance. The erosion of professionalism fosters negative outcomes like corruption. Public scepticism toward expertise further weakens bureaucratic effectiveness, as seen in attacks on public health and other expert-driven functions.
Current policy design and public administration theory often focuses on failure rather than practical solutions. The paper argues for shifting toward positive, actionable theory that helps administrators make better decisions and build public trust.
Positive public administration
Positive public administration (PPA) is concerned with moving the field away from its negative biases in how scholars, practitioners, politicians, and the public view the public sector. It is a reframing of public administration with positive questions such as:
How can we improve government and public administration to achieve better societal outcomes?
How can we utilise examples of effective public administration to develop theories and enhance practice?
Interviews with current and former public servants have identified five characteristics of PPA: challenge, efficacy, camaraderie, empowerment, and service.
PPA offers a paradigm for emphasising effective governmental practices rather than failures. This includes:
Emphasising successful governmental practices in research and sharing findings that can be broadly applied.
Rejecting binary assessments of efficacy. Government operations cannot be categorised simply as effective or ineffective.
Adopting a constructive approach and reframing discourse around government as a vocation and an opportunity to serve communities.
The curious public administrator
Curious public administrators look to gather evidence about how the world works and use the information to make effective decisions to improve their organisations. Being genuinely curious about how public administration works and the people being served leads public administrators toward practicing greater empathy in their work.
By practicing curiosity, public administrators are more likely to make evidence-based decisions. Research has found the following five dimensions of curiosity in the workplace:
1. Realising a gap in knowledge.
2. Joyous exploration or enjoying learning how the world works.
3. Seeking to learn from others through interactions.
4. Being open to dealing with the frustration that may come from new things.
5. Seeking to take risks.
The practising of being curious can be encouraged in public organisations through hiring and training. In turn, this would make it a routine part of policy development and implementation. Such an approach would encourage innovation in the public sector.
Connecting positive public administration and the curious public administrator
Combining the merits of positivity and curiosity provides the following benefits for policy development and practice:
1. There is a focus on what the government is doing right in the hopes of using that information to promote overall improvements.
2. This redirects discussions toward consistent improvements and overall effectiveness in organisations.
3. Focusing on positive government action as a guide and curiosity as a decision-making framework provides guidance for scholars and practitioners seeking to design or redesign processes in public organisations.
4. The frameworks offer straightforward explanations of how government and policy making can be improved. The frameworks may be simple, but they provide elegant models to help practitioners address public problems.
The bottom line
Being positive about the role of government and focusing on explaining its effectiveness is fundamental to public administration. To rebuild trust and protect democracy, we need to show empirically and normatively how government works. At the individual level, the curious public administrator approach provides the framework for this. Combining both positivity and curiosity in public administration provides help policy design and public administration theory develop.
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The curious public administrator and positive public administration: two frameworks to guide policy design and practice – William Hatcher, December 2025