Alasdair Roberts

Alasdair S. Roberts (born 1961) is a Canadian professor at the School of Public Policy, University of Massachusetts Amherst, and author of articles and books on public policy issues, especially relating to government secrecy and the exercise of government authority.

Alasdair Roberts was born in New Liskeard, Ontario, Canada and grew up in Pembroke, Ontario, Canada, where he graduated from Fellowes High School.

He began his BA in politics at Queen's University in 1979.

He was a member of the executive for the youth wing of the party from 1980 to 1982.

Roberts was a Red Tory who supported policies such as universal public health insurance and strong human rights legislation.

Roberts was a vice-president of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario from 1982 to 1984, during the Big Blue Machine era.

He was an ex officio delegate to the federal Progressive Conservative leadership election of 1983 where he supported David Crombie.

He received a JD from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law in 1984, a master's degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University in 1986, and a Ph.D. in public policy from Harvard University in 1994.

Until 2001, he was an associate professor in the School of Policy Studies at Queen's University, and also served as associate director of the School from 1993 to 1995.

He is also a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.

Previously he was a public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States, an Honorary Senior Research Fellow of the Constitution Unit, School of Public Policy, University College London, and co-editor of the journal Governance.

From 2008 to 2014, Roberts was the Jerome L. Rappaport Professor of Law and Public Policy at Suffolk University Law School.

He was also Faculty Director of the Rappaport Center for Law and Public Service.

Before that, he was a professor of public administration in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, and also Director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute at the Maxwell School.

He received the Grace-Pépin Access to Information Award in 2014 for his research on open government.

In 2022 he received the Riggs Award for Lifetime Achievement in International and Comparative Public Administration from the American Society of Public Administration.

He has been cited in publications including The Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor, The San Diego Union-Tribune, The Times (London), Prospect, and the National Journal.

His essays have appeared in numerous periodicals in the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, and elsewhere, including The Guardian, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Government Executive, Prospect, The Globe and Mail (Toronto), Dnevnik, Saturday Night, and The Washington Post.

From 2015 to 2017, Roberts was a professor of public affairs in the Truman School of Public Affairs at the University of Missouri.

In 2017, Roberts was appointed as a professor of political science and director of the School of Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

He completed his term as director of the School of Public Policy in 2022.