Alasdair S. Roberts

Aug 8

NASPAA panel: Preparing leaders for a turbulent world

I’ll chair a panel discussion at NASPAA on October 11 on “preparing leaders for a turbulent world.” Panelists are Lan Xue (Tsinghua University); Jennifer Brinkerhoff (George Washington University); Tina Nabatchi (Syracuse University, Maxwell School); and Jennifer Murtazashvili (University of Pittsburgh GSPIA).

The preliminary conference program can be downloaded here. This session will be held from 10:45AM to 11:45AM on Thursday, October 11.

Full panel description: “We live in a turbulent world. This is not news. In 1971, Professor Donald Schön observed that the age of the ‘stable state’ was past, and that public servants should learn how to ‘understand, guide, influence and manage . . . continuing processes of transformation.’ But have we met that challenge? Do professional programs in public service provide the theory and skills needed to anticipate and respond properly to large-scale societal changes? This panel will offer perspectives from different parts of the domain of public service education. Each panelist will consider whether the curriculum in their part of the domain is adequate in preparing students for service in turbulent world, and how it could be improved.”

Participants have also prepared brief notes to accompany their presentations:

Jennifer Brinkerhoff: Why we should teach grey.
Jennifer Murtazashvili: Preparing for leadership in fragile states.
Tina Nabatchi: Leading in turbulence requires soft skills.
Lan Xue: We need a new kind of public administration.
Alasdair Roberts: Teaching for turbulence.

Or download all the background notes in one PDF.

Aug 6

Baden-Württemberg Seminar

I’m looking forward to giving a public lecture as part of the Baden-Württemberg Seminar at the Heidelberg Center for American Studies on October 23, 2018. The title: “America’s decade of confusion: The political consequences of financial crisis.” PPT slides here.

Jul 16

Keynote address at Public Administration Theory Network

I’m looking forward to giving the keynote address at the annual conference of the Public Administration Theory Network in Denver on May 31, 2019. The paper that goes along with the address, “Trapped in a silicon cage,” has been published by Administrative Theory & Praxis. There is also a short video in which I discuss the article. More details about the conference here.

Jul 16

Keynote talk at Northeast Conference of Public Administration

I’m looking forward to giving a keynote talk at the 2018 Northeast Conference on Public Administration in Baltimore on November 3. More info here. The theme for the conference is “Blind spots in public administration.”

The title for my talk: The Biggest Blind Spot of All. Abstract: “In the United States, the field of public administration began with a bold vision. The aim was not just to make programs and bureaus work more efficiently. Rather, the goals were to overhaul the creaking American state and demonstrate to the world that liberal democracy was a viable system of government. This bold vision has been lost over the last four decades and should be recovered. Once again, the American state needs renovation – and the world needs proof that democracy works. We must develop the conceptual tools and confidence to address these ‘macro-level’ questions of public administration.” Powerpoint here.

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Jul 11