Event Title
The Obama Administration's Challenges after the "War on Science": Reforming Staffing and Protecting Scientific Integrity
Location
Mayor Room, Carnegie Institution for Science
Event Website
http://ipsonet.org/web/page/512/sectionid/375/pagelevel/2/interior.asp
Start Date
4-12-2009 1:00 PM
End Date
4-12-2009 2:00 PM
Description
Chair: Guillermo De Los Reyes, University of Houston
Abstract: In this paper, we examine the difficult leadership position President Barack Obama inherited as he took office with respect to science and technology policy making and implementation, particularly following the Bush Administration and years of the so-called “war on science.” We contend that the Obama Administration’s challenge is not only to take substantive policy action, but also to reform certain administrative practices, particularly in light of the previous administration’s practice of the politics of strategic vacancies, a managerial technique that rearranges an agency’s ideological inclinations not through the usual forms of active politicization (i.e., by filling the appointee ranks with like-minded ideologues), but instead by “starving” the agency of staff and co-opting its agenda that way.
The Obama Administration's Challenges after the "War on Science": Reforming Staffing and Protecting Scientific Integrity
Mayor Room, Carnegie Institution for Science
Chair: Guillermo De Los Reyes, University of Houston
Abstract: In this paper, we examine the difficult leadership position President Barack Obama inherited as he took office with respect to science and technology policy making and implementation, particularly following the Bush Administration and years of the so-called “war on science.” We contend that the Obama Administration’s challenge is not only to take substantive policy action, but also to reform certain administrative practices, particularly in light of the previous administration’s practice of the politics of strategic vacancies, a managerial technique that rearranges an agency’s ideological inclinations not through the usual forms of active politicization (i.e., by filling the appointee ranks with like-minded ideologues), but instead by “starving” the agency of staff and co-opting its agenda that way.
http://www.psocommons.org/dupont_summit/2009/schedule/9