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Two more Great Policy Successes books are on their way.

Following the good experience and warm reception of the two books of case studies of policy successes last year, we are happy to announce that two more such projects are now in preparation and will be published - again also in open access format - in 2021 and 2022: 

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• Great Policy Successes in Canada (edited by Mike Howlett, Evert Lindquist, Grace Skogstad, Genevieve Tellier and Paul 't Hart.

• Great Policy Successes in Scandinavia (edited by Jaakko Kaukko, Daniel Nohrstedt, Paul 't Hart, Bent Sofus Tranøy and Carina de la Porte. 

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Visit the Publications Section of this website to read about the previous issues of the Great Policy Successes books

Paul 't Hart will be speaking at the WORK congress. ​[Postponed due to COVID-19]

Prof. Paul 't Hart gives an introduction on Iconic Organisations at the WORK conference organised by the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations. Click Here to visit the conference site and read Paul's contribution to the congress bundle via the button on the right (in Dutch).

Paul 't Hart presented at Kristiania University College in Oslo

Prof. Paul 't Hart gave three presentations at Kristiana University College in Oslo. He talked about the Successful Public Governance program, the Great Policy Successes book and positive public administration.

22-24th of September SPG organized a workshop for the authors of the book Guardians of Value: How Public Organizations Institutionalize, Adapt and Thrive

SPG members Paul 't Hart and Lauren Fahy, together with Arjen boin organized a workshop for the book: Guardians of Value: How Public Organizations Institutionalize, Adapt and Thrive. The workshop was held at the academiegebouw of University of Utrecht and lasted from the 22nd to the 24th of September.

Official Launch of the Book Great Policy successes

Prof. Paul 't Hart and Mallory Compton edited a volume on Great policy Successes, and was launched on the 5th of September. This book contains 15 case studies on succesful policies. 

Scott Douglas chaired the Performance & Accountability Special Interest Group at the EGPA conference

dr. Scott Douglas chaired the Performance & Accountability Special Interest Group at the EGPA conference in Belfast.

Dr Jon Johansson, chief of staff of the deputy prime minister of New Zealand, held during the launch of the Successful Public Policy volume in Auckland

A speech by dr. Jon Johansson, chief of staff of the deputy prime minister of New Zealand, held during the launch of the Successful Public Policy volume in Auckland in August 2019.

Read more about the book Succesful Public Policy here.

​​Official launch event of Successful Public Policy: Lessons from Australia and New Zealand

​Official launch event of Successful Public Policy: Lessons from Australia and New Zealand. Melbourne, Australia.

​Lauren Fahy will attend the LSA conference in Washington, DC where she will be presenting her latest research

​Lauren Fahy will attend the LSA conference in Washington, DC. She will be presenting her latest research on agency reputation and compliance motivation of emerging fin-tech companies in the United Kingdom. Read more: https://www.lawandsociety.org/docs/2019ProgramMay10toLSAComplete002.pdf

Judith van Erp will attend the Law and Society Association Meeting

Judith van Erp will attend the Law and Society Association Meeting, organized by the Law and Society Association will take place from 30th May to 2nd June 2019 at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill in Washington DC, United States Of America. 

Paul 't Hart gave several lectures on succesful strategic crisismanagement to the government of Sweden

​Paul 't Hart gave several lectures and briefings on 'Successful strategic crisis management', for the Crisis Management Directorate, Government of Sweden; state secretaries; and the minister of the Interior. The took place in Stockholm, Sweden.

Dutch - Paul 't Hart participated in a debate about the relationship between public cervants and society

Er wordt regelmatig gesproken over de kloof tussen overheid en samenleving. De overheid probeert, met als doel deze kloof te verkleinen, meer met burgers in dialoog te gaan. Paul 't Hart heeft geparticipeerd in  een debat draaiend om de vraag of de overheid dit gesprek met burgers wel echt kan en durft aan te gaan. Hierbij wordt gefocust op de dynamiek tussen samenleving en ambtenarij. Dit debat is hier te beluisteren.

Dutch - Paul 't Hart gave a lecture on a conference for local coalitions

​Paul 't hart heeft een lezing gegeven genaamd: Sturen op Samenwerking op een voor conferentie van lokale coalities tegen gezondheidsverschillen. Deze is gegeven in de Rijksmunt, Utrecht, 3 april.

Paul 't Hart published an article on Inside Story called: 'The return of the -isms'

​​​​This article, published in the Australian magazine Inside Story, is a book review of two books: 'How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them' by Jason Stanley, and 'How Democracy Ends' by David Runciman.

SPG Writing Retreat

​From the 24th to the 26th the SPG team will go on a writing retreat to discuss the project and work on upcoming articles. 

VNG Atriumlezing over waardevol lokaal bestuur (Dutch)

In de bijeenkomst van 14 februari wordt het rapport Werken aan publieke waarde-Leren van en voor gemeenten gepresenteerd. Het is het resultaat van de onderzoekslijn Publieke waarde en Lokaal Bestuur, een samenwerking tussen de VNG en het onderzoeksteam Successful Public Governance van de Universiteit Utrecht.

Paul 't Hart delivers a keynote speech on collaborating succesfully (Dutch)

​Paul 't Hart delivers a keynote speech on Collaborating Successfully at the State of the Region of the Gooi en Vechtstreek Region (Thr Netherlands), at the Singer Museum, Laren.

Paul 't Hart facilitates a discussion on Learning From Crises

​Paul 't Hart facilitates a discussion on Learning From Crises: Inquiries, Blame Games and Good Governance to the management team of the Haaglanden unit of the Dutch National Police, at The Hague.

Paul 't Hart presents on the state of research on resilience in the field of governance and public administration (Dutch)

​Paul 't Hart presents on the state of research on resilience in the field of governance and public administration, at a conference on Resilience organised by the Social-Economic Council of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, at Amersfoort.

​Paul 't Hart presents on the craft of public service leadership

Paul 't Hart presents on the craft of public service leadership at a meeting of the networks of city managers of the 100.000-plus municipalities of the Netherlands, at Den Bosch.

Paul 't Hart convenes two workshops on collaborating in networks

Paul 't Hart convenes two workshops on collaborating in networks, strategic conference of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sciences of the Netherlands, Amersfoort. 

Two Mile stones

We have just completed two two-year projects on describing and understanding public policy successes around the world. Two volumes have been sent to their respective publishers this month:

- A set of 15 cases from around the world edited by SPG team members Mallory Compton and Paul 't Hart will be published (paper format as well as online open access) by Oxford University Press in mid-2019 under the 'epic' title (that nods to two classic texts about policy failure in the 1970s) Great Policy Successes: How Governments Get It Right in a Big Way at Least Some of the Time. Or, A Tale About Why It’s Amazing That Governments Get So Little Credit for Their Many Everyday and Extraordinary Achievements as Told by Sympathetic Observers Who Seek to Create Space for a Less Relentlessly Negative View of Our Pivotal Public Institutions. Typoscript versions of all the chapters in the book can be found Here.

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A set of 20 cases of public policy successes in Australia and New Zealand edited by SPG team members Jo Luetjens and Paul 't Hart along with professor Michael Mintrom (Australia New Zealand School of Government) will be published (again in paper format as well as online open access) by ANU Press in Canberra in mid-2019. It less than epic title is simply: Public Policy Successes in Australia and New Zealand. Typoscript versions of all chapters can be found Here.

Good Governance in the Cure and Care Sector. Rijtuigenloods, Amersfoort, the Netherlands.

On June 15, Paul 't Hart facilitated the national conference on Good Governance in the Cure and Care Sector, held at the Rijtuigenloods, Amersfoort, the Netherlands. Four hundred senior executives and board members attended the event, which was organized by the Ministry of Health, well Being and Sports of the Netherlands. 

Dienen en Beinvloeden: Verhalen Over Ambtelijk Vakmanschap

Paul 't Hart's new book was launched at the Spui Theatre in The Hague. The book, written in Dutch and titled Dienen en Beinvloeden: Verhalen Over Ambtelijk Vakmanschap, examines the craft of top civil servants through an up close examination of the 40-year career of the former secretary of the Dutch Prime minister's department, Wim Kuijken. Centrepiece of the book are 7 case narratives about complex and high profile cases, each examining a different set of professional and leadership challenges to top civil servants. Each case narrative is followed by a reflective essay, placing the events of the case in a broader context.

Resilient Reputations: Dynamics and Ambiguities of Naming and Shaming Corporations

Judith van Erp presented on Resilient Reputations: Dynamics and Ambiguities of Naming and Shaming Corporations in UCL, London on 31st of May 2018.

Successful Public Policy in Australia and New Zealand: A Research Seminar.

SPG'ers Paul ‘t Hart and Jo Luetjens, together with Michael Mintrom from the Australia and New Zealand School of Government, convened a two day authors’ workshop in Melbourne in preparation for the development of their edited volume Successful Public Policy: Lessons from Australia and New Zealand. On the 24-25 May, 2018, close to 25 policy scholars and policy domain experts from across Australia and New Zealand came together to present and discuss 18 case studies, with a view towards an early 2019 publication.

Judith van Erp was appointed as member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences

SPG member, Judith van Erp, was appointed as member of the KNAW (Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences). 

​‘De KNAW is ‘het forum, de stem en het geweten’ van de wetenschap in Nederland. Het is bijzonder en belangrijk om van dat forum deel uit te mogen maken,‘ zegt zij in reactie op deze eervolle benoeming. ‘Ik zal zelf vooral het belang van interdisciplinair onderzoek bepleiten. Er kan nog veel gebeuren om dat te stimuleren en organiseren. Daarnaast wil ik ook bijdragen aan meer diversiteit binnen de academie, in brede zin.’ ( 'The KNAW is' the forum, voice and conscience' of science in the Netherlands. It is special and important to be part of that forum, "Judith says in response to this honorable appointment. 'I will especially advocate the importance of interdisciplinary research. Much can still be done to encourage and organize this. In addition, I also want to contribute to more diversity within the academy, in a broad sense.')

Congratulations to Judith!

Best paper presentation award at ECPR Joint Sessions in Nicosia

SPG member,a Lauren Fahy, received the best paper presentation award at ECPR Joint Sessions in Nicosia for the paper: Managing reputation in the face of radical innovation: Strategic account-giving by cryptocurrency regulators.

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Congratulations to Lauren!

'Great Policy Successes': A Research Seminar

The SPG Team hosted a research seminar on 16-17 April 2018. Authors who contribute to the Great Policy Successes volume and public policy scholars met in Utrecht to present and discuss 18 case studies, with a view towards early 2019 publication. 

The Great Policy Successes volume aims to reset the agenda for teaching, research and dialogue on public policy performance which is currently dominated by the language related to shortcomings and failures. This is done through a series of in-depth case study on stand-out public policy accomplishments. The Great Policy Successes Seminar provided a platform for volume authors and public policy scholars to discuss conceptual, methodological, and theoretical related issues regarding to those cases. 

The 22nd Annual IRSPM Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland

SPG leader Paul ‘t Hart attended the IRSPM annual conference on 11-13th April. They presented on the topic of Connecting the study of collaborations together with Chris Ansell (UC Berkeley), Eva Sorensen (Roskilde), Jacob Torfing (Roskilde), and Charles Parker (Uppsala).

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For conference link please see here.

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​For panel proposal please see here. 

Understanding Success in Government Workshop, ECPR Joint Session 2018

Stefanie Beyens (Director, University of Utrecht) and Allen McConnell (Co-director, University of Sydney) chaired the Understanding Success in Government Workshop of ECPR Joint Session at the University of Nicosia, 10 -14 April 2018.

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Lunch lecture for 200 staff of the Dutch National Police's Leadership Team and of the Directorate-General of Police in the Ministry of Justice and Security

The SPG leader, Professor Paul 't Hart from Utrecht University School of Governance, held a lunch lecture for 200 staff of the Dutch National Police's Leadership Team and of the Directorate-General of Police in the Ministry of Justice and Security on 23 January 2018. The lecture topic was about the evaluation report of the 2012 Police Law, which Professor Paul 't Hart co-authored.  

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​For relative event please see "Presentation on the findings of the Evaluatiecommissie Politiewet 2012" on 14 December 2017 on this page. 

Presentation on the findings of the Evaluatiecommissie Politiewet 2012

On 14th of December 2017 , Paul 't Hart presented the findings of the Evaluatiecommissie Politiewet 2012, a government appointed independent committee evaluating the 2012 Police Law (which set in motion the amalgamation of 25 regional police forces into one national police organization, the largest reorganization in Dutch government history) to the senior leadership group of the Dutch police, on December 14 at Huis 't Velde, Warnsveld.

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​For keynote please see here. 

GDN III – Round II Conference: Policy Design and Mechanisms: Why a better understanding of causal mechanisms can improve policy design

Mallory presented a paper titled Dynamic Transformational Mechanisms in Policy Success and Failure to the GDN III – Round II Conference: Policy Design and Mechanisms: Why a better understanding of causal mechanisms can improve policy design, December 1-2, in Florence, Italy at the Scuola Normale Superiore, Palazzo Strozzi.

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For conference paper please see here.

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For keynote please see here.

European Public Sector Awards 2017 Conference

On 21 November 2017, SPG leader Paul 't Hart offered 'Reflections from a Juror' at the European Public Sector Awards 2017 Conference, at the European Institute of Public Administration, Maastricht. 

Zoektocht Naar het Handwerk van de Overheidsmanager, at Sociëteit De Witte, The Hague

The SPG leader, Paul 't Hart, presented at the Concluding Event of the 'Zoektocht Naar het Handwerk van de Overheidsmanager' (Quest for the Craft of the Public Manager), at Sociëteit De Witte, The Hague on 20 November 2017. His presentation is about  'Vijf Jaar Zoeken naar 'Ambtelijk Vakmanschap': En Nu? [Five Years of Searching for the Public Servant's Craft: And Now?]

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For keynote see here.