Featuring Alasdair Roberts, professor of public policy at University of Massachusetts Amherst

In the next thirty years we will conduct a large-scale test in governance. We know that the conditions confronting leaders will be exceptionally challenging, and not just because of the climate emergency. The question is which form of government—the Western liberal democratic model, or the authoritarian alternative—will perform better under these conditions. It is not clear that the Western model has the advantage. Scholars and practitioners in public administration ought to be thinking more deliberately about how to improve the resilience of the Western model. To do this, the public administration community must develop new approaches to research and teaching—talking more plainly about our value commitments, spending more time on macro-level analysis, drawing more on historical experience, and speculating more about the future. 

This event is part of the Discussion Series on the Future of Democratic Governance. To learn more about the series, contact Christopher Koliba, Edwin O. Stene Distinguished Professor of Public Administration, Policy & Governance (ckoliba@ku.edu)

Register to attend in person or online:  https://share.hsforms.com/1FiDdMagxQjmiMGhySy6DUg1ic9g