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Virginia Tech

Alternative Responses to the Orange County Bankruptcy: An Inquiry into the Images Underlying Theory

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

The bankruptcy of the government of Orange County, California in 1994 is treated as a case study depicting a potentially critical problem emerging for democracies. The analysis links finan-cial and fiduciary perspectives by re-examining the actions of Orange County officials and citi-zens through three separate analytical frames: the dynamics of economic globalization; citizen engagement through the channel of civil society; and the theory of risk--both its nature generally and its financial aspect specifically. The conclusion reached is that globalization has made con-tingency and uncertainty ubiquitous and this indicates that the practice of governance in its pub-lic administration dimension should include a return to pragmatic, process approaches to policy and implementation.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Ph. D.
Level thesis:degree_level
doctoral
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Public Administration and Public Affairs
Department dc:contributor.department
Public Administration and Public Affairs
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2000

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • MacDonald, Susan Hardie
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • White, Orion F. Jr.
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Harmon, Michael M.
  • Rees, Joseph V.
  • Hult, Karen M.
  • Wamsley, Gary L.

Subjects

dc:subject × 4

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
etd-08272000-10310002
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/28808

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

MacDonald, Susan Hardie. Alternative Responses to the Orange County Bankruptcy: An Inquiry into the Images Underlying Theory. doctoral thesis, Virginia Tech, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/28808