Paul Light (NYU) Speaks at ISPS Seminar

ISPS was happy to welcome a preeminent scholar of U.S. public policy, Paul Light, the Paulette Goddard Professor of Public Service at the Robert Wagner School of Public Service, New York University, on November 20, 2013.

Professor Light was here to tell us about the politics of high-level federal investigations, based on his own analysis of the one hundred most significant investigations since World War II. (Summary: Professor David Mayhew, ISPS Resident Faculty, was right; divided government doesn’t make for more or worse investigations, though there are other factors, such as the scope and focus of the investigation itself, that do matter.)

But he also offered some insights into policy teaching that warmed the hearts of many at ISPS.

Light says, “I am now convinced that there is a very large opportunity to fill the void created by the balkanization of traditional schools of public policy in one silo, public administration in another, and political science in a third.  My work suggests that too much policy is made under political pressure that ignores the eventual delivery of the policy goals.  Complexity, ambiguity, and the so-called delegation dilemma appear to have increased with polarization as policymakers bequeath tough delivery decisions to under-resourced agencies, thereby adding to delays, distortions, and ample opportunities for heavy lobbying activity by opponents of forward action.  We have seen how the lack of integration of political, policy, and administrative insights has affected one program after another, most recently the Obamacare website meltdown.  Thus, I believe there is a significant field-building role for an institution that blends the politics of policy making with the creation of effective policy solutions and integration of delivery questions from the very beginning.  There is only great university left in this country that I believe can pull it off from scratch with the creativity, integration, and boldness needed.  And that university is Yale.”