May 7
The following comment was published in the print edition of ASPA’s PA Times in May 2015. Download the PDF.
It is a sad truth that the field of American public administration does not enjoy the respect among the public that it did two generations ago. This is partly a self-inflicted wound. Scholars in public administration have made choices that have undercut the public’s interest in the work they do. Read more
The following comment was published in the May 2-8 2014 issue of The New Statesman, as part of a supplement produced by the Webb Memorial Trust. Download as PDF.
It’s been three years since the magazine Adbusters sent out the tweet that triggered the Occupy movement: “On Sept. 17, flood into lower Manhattan, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street.” By late 2011, many Occupiers were convinced that the new movement would change the world. Some called it “one of the most significant and hopeful events of our lifetimes.” Today, however, optimism about the Occupy movement has faded away. Why did it lose steam so quickly? Read more
WikiLeaks: The Illusion of Transparency, originally published in March 2012, has now completed two years on the “most-read articles” list for International Review of Administrative Sciences. Read the article.
Bloomberg’s Echoes blog has just published a piece on protest and unrest on the Fourth of July.
Prospect Magazine has just posted my commentary Triumph of the Technocrats on its website. I published a related piece, The rise and fall of the guardians, on ForeignAffairs’ website in 2011.
Bloomberg’s Echoes blog has published my column on Margaret Thatcher’s legacy. Also translated into Vietnamese.
New Zealand’s Dominion Post has just published my oped, “Transparency is vital in these times.” The oped is based on my address to the Tenth World Conference of the International Ombudsman Institute in Wellington NZ last week. Read the article.
I’ve just published an article on Bloomberg’s Echoes blog about Warren Harding’s search for ‘normalcy’ after the election of 1920. Read the article.
The Los Angeles Times has published my oped on the troubles of the US Postal Service in the 1840s. Read the oped. This piece is drawn from America’s First Great Depression. Also on History News Network.
Public Administration Review has just published my article on the Occupy movement online. It will appear in the September/October print issue of the journal. This is a review of several books about the movement published earlier in 2012. The article is open access until December.
Alasdair S. Roberts 
