When major problems surface in public policy development and implementation, it is very tempting to look for individuals to blame. In some circumstances, there may indeed be individuals to blame, but there are good reasons to believe that problems often run deeper than individual culpability. The design of institutions, in particular, can significantly influence the incentives which different actors face. Some institutional structures can foster cooperation, some can foster healthy competition, and some can trigger or fuel conflict. This presentation identifies some specific examples in constitutional, political and administrative realms, within the wider context of the divergence in political theory between philosophies that seek to empower people to do good, and those that seek to limit people’s capacity to do bad.

Speaker
Emeritus Professor William Maley, Australian National University

This seminar is free and open to the public. Registration is required to attend the seminar. You can attend at the Brindabella Theatre (Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU), at the MBA Suite (SBPP building, UPNG), or online via Zoom.

The ANU-UPNG seminar series is part of the partnership between the ANU Crawford School of Public Policy and the UPNG School of Business and Public Policy, supported by the PNG-Aus Partnership.