Dynamics of Government? Temporality, fashions and states of limbo

Understanding who gets to govern and how they go about governing has occupied scholars for millennia, as reflected in the allegorical frescos of good and bad government painted by Lorenzetti in Siena almost eight centuries ago.

In more recent times, the emergence of large and complex bureaucracies to manage the translation of political choices into policy action has been a hallmark of human development. It has also created new questions about the nature of government, democracy, citizen-state relations, and management of the public sector. In response, the study of public administration and policy-making has grown exponentially in the post-war period, informed by new and distinctive theories, methods, evidence and technologies.

In this lecture, I bring together a number of current research projects that collectively seek to understand the dynamics of contemporary government.  The projects focus on the challenge of timely policy-making in multi-organisational contexts, the role of fashions and fads in the selection of reforms by governments, and the challenges posed when citizens find themselves in administrative limbo.

Muiris MacCarthaigh is Professor of Politics and Public Policy, Head of Politics and International Relations, and inaugural Director of the Centre for Public Policy and Administration at Queen’s University Belfast. He was elected to the Academy of Social Sciences in 2023.

Registration required via Eventbrite

Friday 1 March 2024, 6pm, The Canada Room and Council Chamber, Lanyon Building, Queen's University Belfast.

This event is hosted by the School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics, Queen's University Belfast.

Image  

The Allegory of Good and Bad Government (Ambrogio Lorenzetti, 1339) [Source: Wikimedia Commons]