May 11
My next book, Why Great States Fail, is now forthcoming from McGill-Queen’s University Press. We are aiming for publication in April 2027. The book is based on my March 2026 Corry Lecture for the Department of Political Studies at Queen’s University.
I’m looking forward to visiting UPES in Dehradun as a Distinguished Visiting Professor in January 2027. Details to follow.
I’ve just finished a draft chapter for a forthcoming Edward Elgar volume edited by Maria Aristigueta and Calin Hintea. The volume is titled Democracy and Public Administration: At Risk Around the World, and my contribution is on the interconnected crises of governance in the US and Canada. Title and abstract below. Download here. Comments welcomed!
THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA: TWIN CRISES OF GOVERNANCE | ABSTRACT. The United States is suffering a crisis of governance, and therefore Canada is in crisis as well. The current American “crisis of democracy” is one of several experienced since 1900, all triggered by a collapse in confidence about national strategy in domestic and foreign affairs. The current crisis began before Trump’s election in 2016: since then, Trump’s actions have intensified and mutated the crisis. His policies since 2025 have also up-ended Canadian politics, triggering reconsideration of national strategy in that country too. The United States and Canada are both liberal democratic federations. But there are institutional and cultural differences between the countries that affect the pace and depth of strategic realignment. This chapter reminds us why the field of public administration must pay more attention to macro-level questions about system design, and think more explicitly about the preservation of democratic values, than it has in recent decades.
I spoke with Nicole Brockbank of CBC News about recent changes to Ontario’s freedom of information law. Read the story here.
I’ve revised my working paper on Indian federalism, which uses Kapur & Subramanian’s recent book A Sixth of Humanity as a starting point. You can read it here. Comments welcomed. The paper is forthcoming in Indian Politics & Policy.
I’ll be a keynote speaker at the National Federalism Conference being organized by the Constitutional Federalism Initiative at Utah Valley University on August 11-12, 2026. Program here.
I’m honoured to have received the 2026 Kenneth Kernaghan Award for Excellence in Research from the Canadian Association for Programs in Public Administration. The award is given for career achievement in research by a faculty member who is part of the Canadian public administration community.
On April 8, I’ll participate in a webinar on Canada-US relations organized by the New England-Canada Business Council. Details here.
I’ll present the J.A. Corry Lecture in Political Studies at Queen’s University on March 5, 2026. The title is Why Great States Fail. The lecture will be held from 2:30PM to 4:00PM in Room 202, Robert Sutherland Hall. More details here.
On February 17, 2026, I’ll give a lecture for Lifelong Learning Niagara as part of their Winter 2026 Lecture Series. Details here.
Alasdair S. Roberts 
