The New Public Service begins, of course, with the concept of public service.
But the idea of public service is intertwined with the responsibilities
of democratic citizenship. In the words of Benjamin Barber, “Service to
the nation is . . . the duty of free men and women whose freedom is wholly
dependent on and can survive only through the assumption of political
responsibilities. In this tradition service is something we owe ourselves or
that part of ourselves that is embedded in the civic community” (Barber
1998, 195). Public service derives, therefore, from the civic virtues of duty
and responsibility.