The Frank Stacey Memorial Lecture will be delivered by
Professor Rod Rhodes (University of Southampton) on Friday 12 September at 9:00 in Conor Lecture Theatre, BA Building.
Title of the Frank Stacey Memorial Lecture 2025
THE CURSE OF PRESENTISM: a personal narrative on the future study of public administration
Abstract
In this lecture, I focus on the study, not the practice, of public administration; that is, on British academics and their descriptions and explanations of how British government administration works. I do so as a political scientist who views public administration as part of the political process from which it cannot be extracted
Presentism refers to a bias toward current events and values—interpreting the past through a modern lens—and as an excessive focus on the present, neglecting historical context or future consequences. The lecture seeks to counter this bias by identifying the main intellectual stands of the postwar period, arguing that every narrative persists and continues to influence the evolution of the discipline.
Dominant narratives since 1945
| Period | Narrative | Storylines |
| 1970s | Bureaucratic model | Professionalism, rules, centralization |
| 1980s–1990s | New Public Management | Efficiency, competition, managerialism |
| 1990s–2000s | Governance/Networks | Collaboration, decentralization |
| 2000s–2010s | Neo-Weberian State | Reassertion of state, citizen-focus (NPS) |
| 2010s–Present | Digital | Tech-driven governance, participation |
| 2020s–Present | Positive Public Administration | State capacity, public trust, adaptability |
I illustrate each trend not only with its key texts but also with personal stories from my own career.
Biography
Rod Rhodes is Professor of Government (Research) at the University of Southampton (UK). He is the author or editor of 45 books. He has also published over 200 articles and chapters in books. His most recent publications include: The Prime Ministerial Court: Conservative statecraft in the twenty-first century (Oxford University Press 2024); Comparing Cabinets (with D. Grube and P. Weller, Oxford University Press 2021); The Art and Craft of Comparison (With J. Boswell and J. Corbett, Cambridge University Press 2019); Networks, Governance and the Differentiated Polity (Oxford University Press, 2017); and Interpretive Political Science (Oxford University Press, 2017).