Paul Hart

Paul 't Hart is a Professor of Public Administration at Utrecht University and Associate Dean of the Netherlands School of Public Administration in The Hague. He resumed both positions in mid-2011, after spending five years as Professor of Political Science at the Australian National University. Paul’s research, teaching and consulting covers political and public sector leadership, policy evaluation, public accountability and crisis management. His books include Framing the Global Meltdown: Crisis Rhetoric and the Politics of Recession (ANU Press 2009), The Real World of EU Accountability: Which Deficit? (Oxford University Press 2010), How Power Changes Hands: Transition and Succession in Government (Palgrave 2011), Understanding Prime-Ministerial Performance (Oxford University Press 2013), The Oxford Handbook of Political Leadership (Oxford University Press 2014), and Understanding Public Leadership (Palgrave 2014).

Prof 't Hart has extensive training and consulting experience within government, primarily in Holland, Sweden and Australia, including secondments at the Dutch Intelligence Service and Public Prosecutors Office. He recently completed two consultancy reports on the institutional reputation and the corporate governance of the Dutch judiciary, advised the Swedish cabinet on crisis management, and is currently a member of a government-appointed committee evaluating the Dutch police law of 2012, which in the largest reorganisation in the history of Dutch government saw the creation of a single, national police force out of 25 regional forces.

Prof 't Hart was elected a member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2014. His book Settling the Office: The Australian Prime Ministership From Federation to Reconstruction (co-authored with James Walter and Paul Strangio) came out in February 2016 at The Miegunyah Press. He is currently setting up a major comparative study of successful public agencies, policies and networks.

ANZSOG programs Prof 't Hart teaches in the following ANZSOG courses:

Executive Master of Public Administration (EMPA) - Leading Public Sector Change (subject leader) - Work-Based Project Leadership in Times of Crisis Coping with a Changing Authorising Environment

Selected publications (in English)

• Bovens, M. & 't Hart, P. (2016) Revisiting the study of policy failures. Journal of European Public Policy, early online.
• Strangio, P., 't Hart, P. & Walter, J. (2016) Settling The Office: The Australian Prime Ministership from Federation to Reconstruction. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.
• Meijer, A.J., 't Hart, P. & Worthy, B. (2015) Assessing Government Transparency: An Interpretive Framework. Administration and Society, early online.
• Bennister, M., 't Hart, P. & Worthy, B. (2015) Assessing the authority of political office-holders: The leadership capital index. West European Politics, 38(3): 417-440.
• Strangio, P., 't Hart, P. & Walter, J. (2015) Leadership of reforming governments: The role of political tandems. In D. Alexander & J. Lewis (eds), Making Public Policy Decisions: Expertise, skills and experience, London: Routledge, p. 166-184.
• 't Hart, P (2014) Understanding Public Leadership. London: Palgrave.
• Kuipers, S. & 't Hart, P. (2014) Accounting for crises. In Oxford Handbook of Public Accountability, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 589-602.
• ‘t Hart, P. & Rhodes, R. (eds) (2014) Oxford Handbook of Political Leadership. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Princen, S. & 't Hart, P. (2014) Putting policy paradigms in their place. Journal of European Public Policy, 21(3): 470-474.
• 't Hart, P. & Sundelius, B. (2013) Crisis management revisited: A new agenda for research, training and capacity building within Europe. Cooperation and Conflict, 48(3): 444-461.
• 't Hart, P. (2013). After Fukushima: reflections on risks and institutional learning in an era mega-crises. Public Administration, 9(1): 101-113.
• Strangio, P., 't Hart, P. & Walter, J. (eds) (2013) Understanding Prime-Ministerial Performance: Comparative Perspectives. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• ‘t Hart, P. & Uhr, J. (eds) (2011) How power changes hands: transition and succession in government. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Areas of expertise

• Crisis management
• Evaluation
• Public leadership
• Reform/change management