Alasdair S. Roberts

Feb 25

Comments on “Strategies for Governing”

Comment from Donald Kettl of the LBJ School of Public Affairs on Strategies for Governing, forthcoming from Cornell University Press in December 2019: “Alasdair Roberts is one of the most thoughtful scholars working in public administration today, and Strategies for Governing is an important and challenging book. It will be an instant classic—a must-read for established researchers and budding scholars.”

And from Mary Guy of the University of Colorado-Denver: “Just in time, Alasdair Roberts makes a provocative argument urging public administration to return to basics! Strategies for Governing rediscovers the field’s roots and describes a conceptual and practical route back to relevance in public life.”

Feb 2

Talk on “Can Government Do Anything Right?”

Screen Shot 2019-02-02 at 11.41.02 AM I’ll talk about my book Can Government Do Anything Right? in Professor Jon Rose’s class on Contemporary Issues in Politics at Queen’s University on March 25.

Feb 1

Talk at Universidad de los Andes

I’ll speak at the School of Government of the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia, February 11-12, 2019. The title of my talk: “Governing well in a turbulent world.” PDF of Powerpoint here.

Jan 18

Comment on “Can Government Do Anything Right?”

Dean Sherry Glied of the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service comments on Can Government Do Anything Right?, published by Polity Books in April 2018: “Alasdair Roberts’ pithy, accessible, and refreshingly non-partisan book offers a pragmatic yet optimistic view of the benefits and future of government. While thoughtfully acknowledging a broad range of complaints about the representativeness and effectiveness of Western democracies, Roberts persuasively counters by pointing out the undeniable progress and accomplishments of these governments. His broad thesis–that democratic institutions work because they adapt to changing circumstances, often in unexpected ways–should provide both hope and inspiration to students and readers who despair about our current situation.” See all comments on this book.

Dec 31

Rethinking American public administration

Links to some of my work focusing on the need to develop a new approach to American public administration:

Strategies for Governing, Forthcoming from Cornell University Press, 2019.

It’s a turbulent world. The Conversation and Salon, March 2, 2018.

Grand strategy isn’t grand enough, ForeignPolicy.com, February 20, 2018.

Strategies for Governing: An Approach to Public Management Research for West and East. Korean Journal of Policy Studies, 33.1 (2018).

The aims of public administration: Reviving the classical view. Perspectives on Public Management and Governance, 1.1 (2018).

Lecture. Statecrafting: A new approach to public administration. Presentation to the BK21 Conference organized by the Graduate School of Public Administration of Seoul National University in New York City on Saturday, January 14, 2017.

Why realism is central to public administration. Medium.com, December 26, 2016.

For public administration, fragility is the new reality. Medium.com, October 7, 2016.

Lecture. One world: Building a single body of knowledge for statecraft. Keynote address to 3rd International Conference on Democratic Governance in the Developing World, Washington DC, July 19, 2016.

Public management: A flawed kind of statecraft, in Milward et al. “Is Public Management Neglecting the State?” Governance 29, no. 3 (2016): 1-26.

Large Forces: What’s Missing in Public Administration. CreateSpace: October 2013.

What’s wrong with the intellectual history of Public Administration, Public Voices, 11.2 (2010), pp. 10-14.

The path not taken: Leonard White and the macrodynamics of administrative development. Public Administration Review, 69.4 (July/August 2009): 764-775.

Dec 30

Presentation at SNU/ASU conference

I’ll present at the ASU-SNU BK21 International Conference in Phoenix on January 15-16, 2019. Details about the conference here. My presentation, tied to my new book project, is titled “Can superstates survive?”. PPT for the presentation here.

Nov 24

CIDE publishes translation of “Logic of Discipline”

Screen Shot 2019-02-05 at 10.15.09 AM The Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE) has just published La lógica de la disciplina: el capitalismo global y la arquitectura del gobierno. Preview the book on Google Books. This is a translation of my 2010 book The Logic of Discipline, with a new introduction by Mauricio Dussauge Laguna. Kindle version now available on Amazon.

Nov 1

“Strategies for Governing” forthcoming from Cornell University Press

Screen Shot 2018-11-01 at 2.34.38 PM My next book, presently titled Strategies for Governing: A New Direction for Public Administration, is now forthcoming from Cornell University Press, aiming for December 2019. A summary of the book is available here.

Oct 19

Published in PAR: “Shaking Hands with Hitler”

My paper “Shaking Hands with Hitler: The Politics-Administration Dichotomy and Engagement with Fascism” is now published in Public Administration Review. A draft is available on SSRN. Image right: Site of the 1936 IULA conference: Kroll Opera House, Berlin.

Oct 13

Lecture at Leuven Public Governance Institute

I’ll give a talk for students in the MEPP program at the Public Governance Institute at KU Leuven on October 25. Powerpoint here.