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Public Policy's Roberts Considers Strategies for Governing in New Book
In his new book, “Strategies for Governing: Reinventing Public Administration for a Dangerous Century,” School of Public Policy director Alasdair Roberts lays out, in stark terms, the global government crisis we face at this moment in history.
“Right now, there are billions of people on this planet who suffer terribly because governments cannot perform basic functions properly,” Roberts writes. “People live in fear because governments cannot protect their homes from war and crime. They live in poverty because governments cannot create the conditions for trade and commerce to thrive. They live in pain because governments cannot stop the spread of disease. And they live in ignorance because governments do not provide opportunities for education.”
A scholar of public administration, Roberts calls on the field to turn its attention to what it can—and should—do to address this this problem. The public administration field was developed in the US in the early twentieth century, he writes, “by people with bold aspirations. They were not interested only in the efficiency of government offices; they wanted a thorough overhaul of the creaking American state so that it could manage of pressures of modern-day life.” But over time, the field’s focus shifted from a macro-level approach to narrower questions of public sector management.
That’s no longer a workable approach, given the urgency of the crises we face today, Roberts argues. “[I]t is impossible,” he writes, “to talk about public administration without also talking about the larger challenge of governing a state.” In his book, he outlines a plan to address the field’s shortcomings through new areas of research, an emphasis on preparing public administration students to think about the big picture of governance strategies and their adaptability, and practitioners’ advising government leaders on designing strategies that are effective and flexible enough to accommodate change.
"I hope this book will foster a conversation among academics in public administration," Roberts said. "I outline a framework for thinking about big questions about the aims of government, and how public institutions should be designed to achieve those aims."
This is a “critical moment,” Roberts notes: “Climatic disruption, shifts in the global power balance, demographic changes, technological revolutions, fiscal pressures, infrastructural shortfalls—all of these trends could jeopardize security, order, and citizens’ well-being if government does not anticipate the dangers and organize itself properly in response.” It’s incumbent on public administration scholars and practitioners to help shape that response and help develop new strategies of governance “that are effective, durable, and true to our ideals.”