Strategies for Governing | Alasdair S. Roberts

Jun 25

PSQ review of “Strategies for Governing”

Political Science Quarterly has published a review by Iuliia Shybalkina of Strategies for Governing. Shybalkina writes: “The argument’s timeliness is uncanny . . . Roberts’ book is a real bottomless well of research ideas ready to be pursued by scholars, especially junior ones. The book would also be useful for directors of graduate programs in PA interested in equipping students with the mindset and tools to address the big picture.” Read the full review.

Mar 4

Strategies for Governing receives ASPA SPAR book award

Strategies for Governing: Reinventing Public Administration for a Dangerous Century has received the 2021 book award from the Section on Public Administration Research of the American Society for Public Administration. The Committee’s statement: “This book challenges researchers and practitioners in the field to contemplate how we can ‘recover the fundamentals of government,’ and addresses the urgent and fundamental issues we are facing today. The book takes a thoughtful interdisciplinary approach, drawing on public administration history and theory, administrative process development in political science, fragile states research in international relations, and institutional design, presenting an expansive view of the capacities and new directions for public administration as a field of research, teaching, and practice. The nomination letter by ASPA Past President Chester Newland notes this distinctive quality of the book and emphasizes that in light of the ‘currently urgent realities of the field, the analysis is certain to be a lasting contribution.'” More comments and reviews on the book here.

Feb 2

New commentary: How to bridge east and west

My new commentary, “how to bridge east and west,” is now available (open access) from the Asia Pacific Journal of Public Administration.

Dec 28

Talk at SNU Graduate School of Public Administration

I will give a talk to graduate students in the Graduate School of Public Administration at Seoul National University on January 7, 2021. The topic is: “Strategies for governing: The challenge for democracies.” Powerpoint for the talk here.

Dec 22

Comment in Asia Pacific Journal of Public Administration

I’ve written a short comment for Asia Pacific Journal of Public Administration, “How to bridge East and West.” Manuscript here. Abstract: Today, the field of public administration has two problems that can be fixed with one solution. The first problem is fixation on a limited set of “middle-level” topics in public administration. The second problem is a bias toward scholarship generated within a very small number of Western democracies. We can fix both problems by adopting an approach to scholarship that focuses on the macro-level of public administration — that is, on questions of grand strategy and statebuilding.

Dec 21

Comment on Trump and administrative reform

A short paper that I’ve co-written with Don Moynihan is now forthcoming in Public Administration Review: “Dysfunction by design: Trumpism as administrative doctrine.” Read the MS here. Read on the PAR website.

Nov 18

Presentation at Copenhagen Business School

On October 29, I spoke with Professor Carsten Greve about “pandemic, paradigm change, and the implications for public management,” as part of his course on “Leading reform” for the Master of Public Governance program at Copenhagen Business School.
Watch the presentation here.