Public sector innovation in a context of radical populism

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the effect of radical populism on public sector innovation. It begins by considering the origins and components of radical populism and of public sector innovation. It is shown that the Trump Administration has been undercutting each of the factors research suggests facilitate public sector innovation. While radical populists have gained ground in Europe, they are constrained by being part of governing coalitions, and have a more limited policy agenda, primarily focused on reducing immigration. The paper concludes with suggestions for further research on the effect of populism on public sector innovation, both in the US and Europe.

KEYWORDS:

• Populism
• public sector innovation
• Trump administration
• immigration
• evidence-based

Acknowledgments

The author gratefully acknowledges the comments of Mark Abramson, Richard Callahan, Beth Herst, Brian Marson, and Stephen Osborne and the research assistance of Jayani Patel.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. This is a revised version of the keynote paper given at the PUBSIC Conference in Lillehammer in November 2017.

2. The author spent the 1993–94 academic year as a visiting scholar at the Harvard Kennedy School, beginning a major research project on public sector innovation (Borins 1998) and witnessing the close contact between the Clinton Administration, including Vice President Gore, and the Kennedy School faculty. In November 1993 the author visited a friend who was then serving as the Canadian Ambassador to Israel, and witnessed Israeli anticipation that a just and lasting peace in the Middle East was finally within reach.

3. There is little if any academic literature on the relationship between populism and innovation. One report on the topic (Atkinson, Castro, and McQuinn 2015) argued that what it called ‘tech populism’ is undermining innovation in the technology sector. Tech populists of the left are distrustful of major technology corporations while those of the right are suspicious of government, with the result that it was becoming increasingly difficult to have evidence-based discussions in public of issues like net neutrality, digital copyright, and the use of drones and robots.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada under grant number 435-2016-0146.

Notes on contributors

Sandford Borins

Sandford Borins is a professor of public management at the University of Toronto and an internationally-recognized expert on narrative and innovation. His previous books include The Persistence of Innovation in Government (2014), Governing Fables: Learning from Public Sector Narratives (2011), and Innovating with Integrity (1998).