Aaron Wildavsky: A Man and Scholar for All Seasons

Abstract

The conventional wisdom in academia is that great scholars, once they have achieved international reputation for work in their fields and success in attracting research sponsorship, feel little motivation to spend time in the classroom explaining the mundane basics of their areas of expertise. After all, academic and professional incentive structures provide rewards for additional research and publication, writing winning proposals for large research grants presenting research findings at institutions all over the world, delivering keynote addresses at professional conferences and special presentations to high-level government officials or business leaders at exclusive, invitation-only meetings held in exotic settings. For academic luminaries of this status in the profession, there may be a career point at which there no longer remains a need to conduct ambitious research; it is sufficient merely to reap the rewards that gravitate to an established reputation. However, despite the temptations presented by academic stardom, some university faculty choose another career path after they have achieved significant professional recognition. Some find the lifestyle of the star long on accolades and travel but short on substance to stimulate intellectual curiosity and creativity. For some stars, the desire remains to conduct research and to write, to work with colleagues and students - propelled by an intellectual drive to express one's views, by no small amount of ego and pride in one's work, and, for some, by a moral obligation to colleagues, students, and the institution. The motive to return to research, writing, and teaching may emanate from the intrinsic reward that academics receive from grappling with and maybe resolving some of the difficult problems of their fields of study. By the mid-1970s Aaron Wildavsky had reached an academic stature that would have permitted him to simply travel and speak, visit at various institutions over the world, and to consult with government without ever returning to teaching and research again. In fact, Aaron stated this quite bluntly and with some amazement to me in the summer of 1978 in New York as he was contemplating leaving his position as president of the Russell Sage Foundation. However despite the opportunity to become an academic ambassador at midpoint in his illustrious career, Wildavsky returned to Berkeley, and resumed his position as professor of political science with all the attendant responsibilities of classroom teaching, undergraduate and graduate student advising, university committee work, and public service. Above all, as his incredible curriculum vita reveals, Wildavsky returned to continue to conduct research and write. What Aaron Wildavsky liked to do most was to think, to talk with colleagues and students, and to write. He loved to write to figure out what he thought, and he wrote well and continuously. This helps to explain his prodigious output ranging from a shelf full of scholarly books and academic articles to government reports, newspaper articles, and even pieces contributed to campus newsletters. Fundamentally, Aaron cared most about teaching and learning, in word and deed, and doing so in an honest and straight-forward attempt to make the world a better, more humane and equitable place for his fellow citizens. It was because he cared so much that he was a great leader in the field of public administration, public policy, and political science. Aaron Wildavsky had an amazingly broad set of interests in the social sciences and public policy. The topics covered in his writings reveal the incredible spectrum of the man's curiosity and knowledge. His work encompasses budgeting and fiscal policy (domestic and international); political culture; community power and leadership; risk analysis and safety; environmental policy; the American presidency; presidential elections; American diplomacy; U.S. off and gas policy; the art and craft of policy analysis; policy implementation; how to conduct research, read, and write; academic collaboration; development and evolution of the social sciences; political and religious philosophy; Moses as a political leader and Joseph as an administrator; the politics of religion; the experience of his father as a youth in Poland; academic leadership and administration; communism and morality, the Declaration of Independence; the Articles of Confederation; and more, much more. …