IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/revpol/v26y2009i6p803-819.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Obama Administration's Challenges after the “War on Science”: Reforming Staffing Practices and Protecting Scientific Integrity in the Executive Branch

Author

Listed:
  • Justin S. Vaughn
  • José D. Villalobos

Abstract

In this article, 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.

Suggested Citation

  • Justin S. Vaughn & José D. Villalobos, 2009. "The Obama Administration's Challenges after the “War on Science”: Reforming Staffing Practices and Protecting Scientific Integrity in the Executive Branch," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 26(6), pages 803-819, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:revpol:v:26:y:2009:i:6:p:803-819
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1541-1338.2009.00418.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1541-1338.2009.00418.x
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1541-1338.2009.00418.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ronald N. Johnson & Gary D. Libecap, 1994. "The "Problem of Bureaucracy"," NBER Chapters, in: The Federal Civil Service System and the Problem of Bureaucracy, pages 1-11, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Long, Norton E., 1952. "Bureaucracy and Constitutionalism," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 46(3), pages 808-818, September.
    3. Ronald N. Johnson & Gary D. Libecap, 1994. "The Federal Civil Service System and the Problem of Bureaucracy," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number john94-1.
    4. Johnson, Ronald N. & Libecap, Gary D., 1994. "The Federal Civil Service System and the Problem of Bureaucracy," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226401713, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Terry M. Moe, 2009. "Collective Bargaining and The Performance of the Public Schools," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 53(1), pages 156-174, January.
    2. Forand, Jean Guillaume, 2019. "Civil service and the growth of government," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 1-1.
    3. Christian Schuster, 2020. "Patrons against clients: Electoral uncertainty and bureaucratic tenure in politicized states," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(1), pages 26-43, January.
    4. Robert L. Clark & Lee A. Craig & Jack W. Wilson, "undated". "The Life and Times of a Public-Sector Pension Plan Before Social Security: The US Navy Pension Plan in the Nineteenth Century," Pension Research Council Working Papers 99-10, Wharton School Pension Research Council, University of Pennsylvania.
    5. Gergely Ujhelyi, 2014. "Civil Service Rules and Policy Choices: Evidence from US State Governments," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 6(2), pages 338-380, May.
    6. Ujhelyi, Gergely, 2014. "Civil service reform," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 15-25.
    7. Stergios Skaperdas, 2003. "Restraining the Genuine Homo Economicus: Why the Economy Cannot Be Divorced from Its Governance," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(2), pages 135-162, July.
    8. Cruz, Cesi & Keefer, Philip, 2013. "The organization of political parties and the politics of bureaucratic reform," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6686, The World Bank.
    9. Kaufman, Allen & Tucci, Christopher L. & Brumer, Mark, 2003. "Can creative destruction be destroyed? Military IR&D and destruction along the value-added chain," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(9), pages 1537-1554, October.
    10. J. Mark Ramseyer & Eric B. Rasmusen, 2001. "When are Judges and Bureaucrats Left Independent? Theory and History from Imperial Japan, Postwar Japan, and the United States," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-126, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    11. Charles M. Cameron & John M. de Figueiredo & David E. Lewis, 2016. "Public Sector Personnel Economics: Wages, Promotions, and the Competence-Control Trade-off," NBER Working Papers 22966, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Edward L. Glaeser & Claudia Goldin, 2006. "Corruption and Reform: Introduction," NBER Chapters, in: Corruption and Reform: Lessons from America's Economic History, pages 3-22, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Cuèllar, Mariano-Florentino & Stephenson, Matthew C., 2022. "Taming systemic corruption: The American experience and its implications for contemporary debates," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    14. Brian Meehan & Bruce Benson, 2015. "The occupations of regulators influence occupational regulation: evidence from the US private security industry," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 162(1), pages 97-117, January.
    15. Brezis, Elise S., 2017. "Legal conflicts of interest of the revolving door," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 175-188.
    16. Daniel Gibbs, 2020. "Civil service reform, self‐selection, and bureaucratic performance," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 279-304, July.
    17. Alston, Lee J. & Jenkins, Jeffery A. & Nonnenmacher, Tomas, 2006. "Who Should Govern Congress? Access to Power and the Salary Grab of 1873," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 66(3), pages 674-706, September.
    18. Timothy P. Nokken & Brian R. Sala, 2000. "Confirmation Dynamics: A Model of Presidential Appointments to Independent Agencies," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 12(1), pages 91-112, January.
    19. Cesi Cruz & Philip Keefer, 2015. "Political Parties, Clientelism, and Bureaucratic Reform," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 89657, Inter-American Development Bank.
    20. Michael M Ting & James M Snyder Jr & Shigeo Hirano & Olle Folke, 2013. "Elections and reform: The adoption of civil service systems in the U.S. states," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 25(3), pages 363-387, July.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:revpol:v:26:y:2009:i:6:p:803-819. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ipsonea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.