Sep 17
I’ve written a short piece for the blog of the Centre for Public Policy at University of Glasgow, “The temptation and danger of centralisation.” It goes along with my comments in a plenary session at the EGPA conference in Glasgow on August 29, 2025.
My op-ed, “We’re missing a vision for Canada,” ran in the Globe and Mail on September 17. Read it here.
On September 17, I will give a presentation by Zoom to a faculty research colloquium in the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the American University in Cairo. Details about the talk are here. The presentation will be based on my recent article on the crisis of design in American government.
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.”
I participated in two sessions at the annual conference of the IIAS European Group for Public Administration in Glasgow on August 27-29. On August 27, I gave a presentation based on my open-access article, “The Crisis of Design in American Government.” On August 28, I participated in a plenary session on “EU Relations in Turbulent Times.”
On August 21, I will give a presentation to the National Conference on State Capacity, hosted by the Administrative Staff College of India in Hyderabad. Details to follow.
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.
My paper “False globalism: Public administration in the United States in the Twenty-First Century” is now open access in Administrative Theory & Praxis. It was originally published in January 2025. Read the article here | Read the manuscript version here.
I’ve also posted a statement about the investigation into this article completed by the publisher, Taylor & Francis, in response to a complaint that requested retraction of the article.
I contributed a chapter, “Estrategias Para Gobernar: Los Fundamentos De La Administración Pública,” to Debates Emergentes Sobre Administración Y Políticas Públicas, edited by Mauricio I. Dussauge-Laguna and Alberto Casas Benitez. Mexico City: FLACSO Mexico, 2025. 297–320. Details here.
My article “The Crisis of Design in American Government” has just been published in the Asia Pacific Journal of Public Administration. Read it here. This paper is based on my May 2025 Levine Lecture at American University. You can watch a short explainer video about the article here.
Alasdair S. Roberts 
