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Posts from the ‘Adaptable Country’ Category

Jun 25

Working paper on democracy in US & Canada

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.

Feb 5

Lecture for Lifelong Learning Niagara

On February 17, 2026, I’ll give a lecture for Lifelong Learning Niagara as part of their Winter 2026 Lecture Series. Details here.

Jan 15

Discussion of “Adaptable Country” in The Logic

In The Logic, Kevin Carmichael discusses my book The Adaptable Country, and the need to revive royal commissions in Canada. Read here.

Dec 26

Interview: “The year that the shoe dropped”

I spoke with Kelly Geraldine Malone for an end-of-year story by the Canadian Press. Read the article here.

Nov 3

Panel discussion at UC Berkeley

I’ll participate in a panel discussion organized by the Canadian Studies program at UC Berkeley on November 4, 2025. My co-panelist will be Professor Evert Lindquist. Details about the discussion here. I’ve written a Substack column to go along with this discussion: “The US and Canada: Two Crises of Federalism.”

Sep 18

Interview with Shaye Ganam

On September 18, 2025 I spoke with Shaye Ganam of QR770AM Calgary about my Globe and Mail oped on the need for a national conversation about Canada’s future. Listen here.

Sep 17

Op-ed in G&M: A vision for Canada

My op-ed, “We’re missing a vision for Canada,” ran in the Globe and Mail on September 17. Read it here.

Sep 1

Finalist for Shaughnessy Cohen Prize

My book The Adaptable Country has been selected as a finalist for the Writers’ Trust 2025 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing. Details here. The jury citation says: “It is popular to claim Canada is broken. Public frustration builds as governments seem reluctant or unable to effectively address the everyday problems Canadians face. Alasdair Roberts expertly suggests the problem is that our institutions lack a plan to adapt to the changes the future is bringing. His evidence includes the short-term focus of politicians; no regular, constructive federal-provincial engagement on policy issues; and a public service drowning in rules and layers of bureaucracy that stymies action. In a cogently argued, tightly focused, very accessible 141 pages, The Adaptable Country outlines how Canada can fix what is broken. It’s a timely guide for rebuilding trust and efficacy in Canada’s institutions and should be required reading for all Canadians, particularly those presently sitting in parliament and provincial legislatures.”

Watch a video about the book from the Writers’ Trust here.

Jul 22

CBC article on first ministers’ meetings

I spoke with Aaron Wherry of the CBC for his article on the revival of first ministers’ meetings in Canada. The article draws on my book, The Adaptable Country.

Jun 27

“Adaptable Country” recommended by Choice

Choice, which is part of the American Library Association, has included The Adaptable Country in its June 2025 list of Top 75 Community College Titles. The complete list is here.

The Choice review says: “”Governments, like living organisms, must adapt to their environments or they will die. This is the premise of Roberts’s timely book. Roberts argues that Canada needs both regular and monumental Royal Commission–style efforts to discuss, weigh, plan, and execute ideas to help it adapt to rapidly changing conditions at home and abroad. [H]is analyses of the problem should be given very serious attention.”

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