Governing Fables

A volume in Research in Public ManagementSeries Editor: Lawrence R. Jones, Naval Postgraduate SchoolGoverning Fables: Learning from Public Sector Narratives advocates theimportance of narrative for public servants, exemplifies it with a rigorously selectedand analyzed set of narratives, and imparts narrative skills politicians and publicservants need in their careers. Governing Fables turns to narratology, the interdisciplinarystudy of narrative, for a conceptual framework that is applied to a set ofnarratives engaging life within public organizations, focusing on works producedduring the last twenty-five years in the US and UK. The genres discussed include British government narrativesinspired by and reacting to Yes Minister, British appeasement narratives, American political narratives, theCuban Missile Crisis narrative, jury decision-making narratives, and heroic teacher narratives. In each genrelessons are presented regarding both effective management and essential narrative skills.Governing Fables is intended for public management and political science scholars and practitioners interestedin leadership and management, as well as readers drawn to the political subject matter and to the genre ofpolitical films, novels, and television series.