Apr 25
On April 25, I participated in the conference on self-governance and pluralism organized by the Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason University. Details about the conference here. I spoke about my work on centralization and decentralization in government.
A short note, based on recent experience with ChatGPT and other AI applications.
In the future, academics will write articles that are designed to be read by AI applications, not by other humans. Our understanding of good writing style will adjust to fit the needs of those applications.
Just as we design web pages so that they fit the requirements of search engines (search engine optimization, SEO), we will write articles with AI optimization (AIO) in mind.
We will do this for two reasons:
Read more
I’ll be a keynote speaker at the annual conference of the Association for Middle Eastern Public Policy and Administration (AMEPPA) in Cairo on December 9. More about the conference here.
Read the background paper for my talk here: A modest case for scholarly nationalism. And Powerpoint for the presentation.
There is also a brief interchange with Dean Noha El-Mikawy of the AUC School of Global Affairs, on the subject of scholarly decolonization, here.
I look forward to serving as the second Jocelyne Bourgon Visiting Scholar at the Canada School of Public Service in 2022-2023. Story here.
Richard Huff reviews Strategies for Governing in the Journal of Political and Military Sociology: “Roberts succeeds in setting forth his charge for public administration to deemphasize the technical, efficiency-driven, myopic view of theory and practice and to urgently take on a new, bold view to meet the dangers facing us in this new century. . . . This brief, clearly written book is a must read for academics and an essential addition to the required reading for public administration graduate students. Overall, it makes an important contribution to understanding the significance of a much-needed shift toward a macro-level analysis and the renewal of the state as we hurtle into the face of powerful change.”
Thirteen sections of the American Society for Public Administration, as well as the Public Administration Theory Network (PAT-Net), have endorsed a statement for Human Rights Day, which is December 10, 2021. It says in part: “As scholars and practitioners working in the field of public administration, we mark this day by reaffirming our commitment to human rights and fundamental democratic freedoms.” Read the full statement here.
I will serve as a member of the accreditation board of the Canadian Association of Programs in Public Administration starting in January 2022.
I’ll give a special address to the Tillotoma Foundation Conference on International Politics and Asian Studies on July 28, 2021. More details about the Foundation here. Powerpoint here.
On May 12, I will be the discussant in an ASPA book talk about Democracy and Public Policy in the Post-COVID-19 World: Choices and Outcomes, edited by Rumki Basu (Jamia Millia University, India). Details about the book talk here.
I will participate in the closing plenary panel at the annual conference of the Canadian Association of Programs in Public Administration (CAPPA) in Montreal on May 24. The topic: “Public Administration Scholarship in Canada: From an uncomfortable conversation to a productive strategic dialogue.” The conference program is here. My own contribution will be based on this comment written for Canadian Public Administration last year.
Alasdair S. Roberts 
