Roy L Heidelberg
Biographic Data
| ID | 4398403 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Roy L Heidelberg |
| GIVEN NAMES | Roy L |
| FAMILY NAME | Heidelberg |
| SIGNATURE | HEIDELBERG R L |
| AFFILIATIONS | Louisiana State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9893-3420 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 53 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 17 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2014 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Obeying Nobody
This essay explores administrative evil by reconsidering it through Weber’s ideal-type of bureaucracy and Arendt’s concerns over the bureaucratization of social life. It considers how modern bureaucracy is the structural condition Arendt identified as the banality of evil : systematic displacement of judgment by procedural rationality. Through Weber’s account of bureaucracy’s “special virtue” of impersonality, the paper traces how dehumanization …
The Incompatibility of the Commons and the Public
In this essay I consider the conceptual conflict between the public as a modern political category and the idea of the commons. By linking the idea of the public to an early exposition that explicitly sought a distinction between the commons and the public, I show how the generalization inherent in the public contravenes the particularity of the commons. This poses important political problems for how a modern commons or a modern notion of the co…
Artificial Intelligence and the Modern Condition of Expertise
The following essay offers a political theory of the expert. I draw connections between the authority derived from expertise to the emerging role of artificial intelligence in a political condition marked by an impersonal sovereign. I begin with a detailed description of the role of the expert and expertise with specific attention to the function of knowledge as a source of authority. Through the work of Max Weber and Carl Schmitt, I connect the …
The Impersonal Sovereign
Dwight Waldo’s work on the Administrative State largely neglects sovereignty. In this essay, I address this neglect by connecting Schmitt’s ideas of “the decision” and “the exception” to the work of Herbert Simon on the sciences of the artificial. I introduce a political understanding of the Administrative State that I call the impersonal sovereign. Through the Administrative State, Schmitt’s apparent aporia of the modern state is reconciled by t…
The administrative making of the recycler
The New York Department of Sanitation's recycling program is under threat by an “an organized, sophisticated mob of scavenger collectives.” How is this “mob” threatening the NYC Department of Sanitation? They are removing scrap metals before the city can collect it. We use this event as an entry into exploring the practice of recycling in relation to administrative constructs through the lens of deliberative policy analysis (DPA). We discuss how …
The Becoming of the Policy Maker
This essay explores the development of the term “policymaker” by reviewing major periodicals from 1870 until 1940, with particular focus upon the period of 1920 to 1940. Events of this period provide insight into the conditions under which “the policymaker” emerges as a concept. Although “policymaker” is today a commonplace, this was not always so, as a simple overview of the term’s usage indicates. In fact, the term itself was virtually unused u…
Administering Public Participation
Participation and administration have long had an uneasy coexistence. On one hand, public participation in decisions that affect citizens is consistent with citizenship and democracy; on the other hand, much of what government does is complex and requires some level of technical understanding to make decisions. In this article, we report on public administrators’ perceptions of public participation and the ways that they understand the participat…
The Democracy Problem
Through a critical reading of Wilson’s 1887 essay, I present an argument that public administration is best understood as a political project to resolve the problem of popular sovereignty. The implication of this argument is that public administration is not simply an endeavor to discover better principles of governing but also a project to create conditions for public administration by addressing perceived problems of democracy. I introduce the …
Ten Theses on Accountability
The following is an essay, that is to say an attempt, to rethink the debate around accountability. Accountability has been frequently lauded as an essential value of democracy and an idea that is unopposable. Through the following ten theses, I build an argument that accountability is conceptually and practically opposed to the very thing that it is held to guarantee, namely, self-government. I do so by rethinking the contours of the debate betwe…
Getting it Right
Through a reading of Charles Taylor’s “Overcoming Epistemology,” I explore the epistemological enterprise as it relates to the field of public administration. I first consider what “undergoing” epistemology means by categorizing the activities of undergoing into three classes of increasing generality: doing/studying, defining/delineating, and grounding of public administration. I conclude this section by alluding to the dissolution of dualisms in…
Political Accountability and Spaces of Contestation
The concept of accountability is defined based on a technical apparatus of rules. The prevailing conception, as described by Dubnick and Frederickson, focuses on control and consequence. They divide the concept into pre factum and post factum arenas, the former encompassing rules of control and the latter, consequences for the violation of rules. This two-dimensional view of accountability neglects the moment of decision and action, which might b…
Public administration and the logic of resolution
Through a critical reading of Wilson’s 1887 article, I propose a political logic of public administration, what I call the logic of resolution. A central but neglected aspect of Wilson’s article is the focus and importance of closure and creation, both of which underscore how public administration emerged not only as an area of study, but also as a political project. I discuss three central considerations of the logic of resolution: problem frami…
Simulation Rules
This article is about the branch of policy inquiry known as social simulation. As an established technique for inquiring into deterministic systems, simulation allows for important opportunities of discovery. In this article, we discuss the limited opportunities for using simulation to understand and discover in social contexts bound by constitutive rules. In policy inquiry we attempt to understand phenomena that are developed through interlaced …
The Power of Knowing the Rules
This article presents a case study of the Louisiana Broadband Technology Opportunity Program (BTOP). An initial consideration would portray the events described herein as a policy implementation failure, but the investigation revealed something more profound. Extensive interviews and investigation of official documents, including transcripts of meetings, revealed the ambiguity of failure and the invisibility of power in administrative contexts. H…
Public Administration, Popular Sovereignty, and la Police
This article moves the discussion of neutrality away from the ambiguities of the politics-administration dichotomy. It presents a reading of Woodrow Wilson's famous essay, commonly seen as a seminal statement on the identity of public administration, that engages Wilson's explicit concern with popular sovereignty as the problem of his age, a problem that administration must resolve. This reading opens an opportunity to introduce to the discussion…
Strings Attached
Public Incentives, Market Motivations, and Contaminated Properties
Brownfields pose challenges to both communities and policy makers. Public funds are insufficient to remediate these contaminated sites, but, given the uncertainty of contamination and the complexity of liability, private interests are reluctant to become involved for fear of future litigation. From a New Public Management perspective, market incentives can be used to encourage private sector remediation of sites. However, this change implies a sh…
Administering Public Participation
Participation and administration have long had an uneasy coexistence. On one hand, public participation in decisions that affect citizens is consistent with citizenship and democracy; on the other hand, much of what government does is complex and requires some level of technical understanding to make decisions. In this article, we report on public administrators’ perceptions of public participation and the ways that they understand the participat…
Political Accountability and Spaces of Contestation
The concept of accountability is defined based on a technical apparatus of rules. The prevailing conception, as described by Dubnick and Frederickson, focuses on control and consequence. They divide the concept into pre factum and post factum arenas, the former encompassing rules of control and the latter, consequences for the violation of rules. This two-dimensional view of accountability neglects the moment of decision and action, which might b…
Public Administration, Popular Sovereignty, and la Police
This article moves the discussion of neutrality away from the ambiguities of the politics-administration dichotomy. It presents a reading of Woodrow Wilson's famous essay, commonly seen as a seminal statement on the identity of public administration, that engages Wilson's explicit concern with popular sovereignty as the problem of his age, a problem that administration must resolve. This reading opens an opportunity to introduce to the discussion…
The Democracy Problem
Through a critical reading of Wilson’s 1887 essay, I present an argument that public administration is best understood as a political project to resolve the problem of popular sovereignty. The implication of this argument is that public administration is not simply an endeavor to discover better principles of governing but also a project to create conditions for public administration by addressing perceived problems of democracy. I introduce the …
The Power of Knowing the Rules
This article presents a case study of the Louisiana Broadband Technology Opportunity Program (BTOP). An initial consideration would portray the events described herein as a policy implementation failure, but the investigation revealed something more profound. Extensive interviews and investigation of official documents, including transcripts of meetings, revealed the ambiguity of failure and the invisibility of power in administrative contexts. H…
Public administration and the logic of resolution
Through a critical reading of Wilson’s 1887 article, I propose a political logic of public administration, what I call the logic of resolution. A central but neglected aspect of Wilson’s article is the focus and importance of closure and creation, both of which underscore how public administration emerged not only as an area of study, but also as a political project. I discuss three central considerations of the logic of resolution: problem frami…
Getting it Right
Through a reading of Charles Taylor’s “Overcoming Epistemology,” I explore the epistemological enterprise as it relates to the field of public administration. I first consider what “undergoing” epistemology means by categorizing the activities of undergoing into three classes of increasing generality: doing/studying, defining/delineating, and grounding of public administration. I conclude this section by alluding to the dissolution of dualisms in…
Simulation Rules
This article is about the branch of policy inquiry known as social simulation. As an established technique for inquiring into deterministic systems, simulation allows for important opportunities of discovery. In this article, we discuss the limited opportunities for using simulation to understand and discover in social contexts bound by constitutive rules. In policy inquiry we attempt to understand phenomena that are developed through interlaced …
The Incompatibility of the Commons and the Public
In this essay I consider the conceptual conflict between the public as a modern political category and the idea of the commons. By linking the idea of the public to an early exposition that explicitly sought a distinction between the commons and the public, I show how the generalization inherent in the public contravenes the particularity of the commons. This poses important political problems for how a modern commons or a modern notion of the co…
The administrative making of the recycler
The New York Department of Sanitation's recycling program is under threat by an “an organized, sophisticated mob of scavenger collectives.” How is this “mob” threatening the NYC Department of Sanitation? They are removing scrap metals before the city can collect it. We use this event as an entry into exploring the practice of recycling in relation to administrative constructs through the lens of deliberative policy analysis (DPA). We discuss how …
Strings Attached
Public Incentives, Market Motivations, and Contaminated Properties
Brownfields pose challenges to both communities and policy makers. Public funds are insufficient to remediate these contaminated sites, but, given the uncertainty of contamination and the complexity of liability, private interests are reluctant to become involved for fear of future litigation. From a New Public Management perspective, market incentives can be used to encourage private sector remediation of sites. However, this change implies a sh…
Simulation Rules
This article is about the branch of policy inquiry known as social simulation. As an established technique for inquiring into deterministic systems, simulation allows for important opportunities of discovery. In this article, we discuss the limited opportunities for using simulation to understand and discover in social contexts bound by constitutive rules. In policy inquiry we attempt to understand phenomena that are developed through interlaced …
The Power of Knowing the Rules
This article presents a case study of the Louisiana Broadband Technology Opportunity Program (BTOP). An initial consideration would portray the events described herein as a policy implementation failure, but the investigation revealed something more profound. Extensive interviews and investigation of official documents, including transcripts of meetings, revealed the ambiguity of failure and the invisibility of power in administrative contexts. H…
Public Administration, Popular Sovereignty, and la Police
This article moves the discussion of neutrality away from the ambiguities of the politics-administration dichotomy. It presents a reading of Woodrow Wilson's famous essay, commonly seen as a seminal statement on the identity of public administration, that engages Wilson's explicit concern with popular sovereignty as the problem of his age, a problem that administration must resolve. This reading opens an opportunity to introduce to the discussion…
Public administration and the logic of resolution
Through a critical reading of Wilson’s 1887 article, I propose a political logic of public administration, what I call the logic of resolution. A central but neglected aspect of Wilson’s article is the focus and importance of closure and creation, both of which underscore how public administration emerged not only as an area of study, but also as a political project. I discuss three central considerations of the logic of resolution: problem frami…
Political Accountability and Spaces of Contestation
The concept of accountability is defined based on a technical apparatus of rules. The prevailing conception, as described by Dubnick and Frederickson, focuses on control and consequence. They divide the concept into pre factum and post factum arenas, the former encompassing rules of control and the latter, consequences for the violation of rules. This two-dimensional view of accountability neglects the moment of decision and action, which might b…
Ten Theses on Accountability
The following is an essay, that is to say an attempt, to rethink the debate around accountability. Accountability has been frequently lauded as an essential value of democracy and an idea that is unopposable. Through the following ten theses, I build an argument that accountability is conceptually and practically opposed to the very thing that it is held to guarantee, namely, self-government. I do so by rethinking the contours of the debate betwe…
Getting it Right
Through a reading of Charles Taylor’s “Overcoming Epistemology,” I explore the epistemological enterprise as it relates to the field of public administration. I first consider what “undergoing” epistemology means by categorizing the activities of undergoing into three classes of increasing generality: doing/studying, defining/delineating, and grounding of public administration. I conclude this section by alluding to the dissolution of dualisms in…
Administering Public Participation
Participation and administration have long had an uneasy coexistence. On one hand, public participation in decisions that affect citizens is consistent with citizenship and democracy; on the other hand, much of what government does is complex and requires some level of technical understanding to make decisions. In this article, we report on public administrators’ perceptions of public participation and the ways that they understand the participat…
The Democracy Problem
Through a critical reading of Wilson’s 1887 essay, I present an argument that public administration is best understood as a political project to resolve the problem of popular sovereignty. The implication of this argument is that public administration is not simply an endeavor to discover better principles of governing but also a project to create conditions for public administration by addressing perceived problems of democracy. I introduce the …
The administrative making of the recycler
The New York Department of Sanitation's recycling program is under threat by an “an organized, sophisticated mob of scavenger collectives.” How is this “mob” threatening the NYC Department of Sanitation? They are removing scrap metals before the city can collect it. We use this event as an entry into exploring the practice of recycling in relation to administrative constructs through the lens of deliberative policy analysis (DPA). We discuss how …
The Becoming of the Policy Maker
This essay explores the development of the term “policymaker” by reviewing major periodicals from 1870 until 1940, with particular focus upon the period of 1920 to 1940. Events of this period provide insight into the conditions under which “the policymaker” emerges as a concept. Although “policymaker” is today a commonplace, this was not always so, as a simple overview of the term’s usage indicates. In fact, the term itself was virtually unused u…
The Impersonal Sovereign
Dwight Waldo’s work on the Administrative State largely neglects sovereignty. In this essay, I address this neglect by connecting Schmitt’s ideas of “the decision” and “the exception” to the work of Herbert Simon on the sciences of the artificial. I introduce a political understanding of the Administrative State that I call the impersonal sovereign. Through the Administrative State, Schmitt’s apparent aporia of the modern state is reconciled by t…
The Incompatibility of the Commons and the Public
In this essay I consider the conceptual conflict between the public as a modern political category and the idea of the commons. By linking the idea of the public to an early exposition that explicitly sought a distinction between the commons and the public, I show how the generalization inherent in the public contravenes the particularity of the commons. This poses important political problems for how a modern commons or a modern notion of the co…
Artificial Intelligence and the Modern Condition of Expertise
The following essay offers a political theory of the expert. I draw connections between the authority derived from expertise to the emerging role of artificial intelligence in a political condition marked by an impersonal sovereign. I begin with a detailed description of the role of the expert and expertise with specific attention to the function of knowledge as a source of authority. Through the work of Max Weber and Carl Schmitt, I connect the …
Obeying Nobody
This essay explores administrative evil by reconsidering it through Weber’s ideal-type of bureaucracy and Arendt’s concerns over the bureaucratization of social life. It considers how modern bureaucracy is the structural condition Arendt identified as the banality of evil : systematic displacement of judgment by procedural rationality. Through Weber’s account of bureaucracy’s “special virtue” of impersonality, the paper traces how dehumanization …
Political science (14 works) · Law (13 works) · Law (13 works) · Sociology (11 works) · Politics (10 works) · Computer Science (8 works) · Law and economics (8 works) · Public Administration (8 works) · Public Administration (8 works) · Epistemology (7 works)