Article

The Obama Administration's Challenges after the 'War on Science': Reforming Staffing Practices and Protecting Scientific Integrity in the Executive Branch

Authors

Justin Vaughn, Cleveland State UniversityFollow
José Villalobos, University of Texas at El PasoFollow

Publication Date

November 2009

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Review of Policy Research

Volume

26

Issue

6

Abstract

In this article, we examine the difficult leadership position President Barack Obama inherited as he took office with respect to science and technology policy making and implementation, particularly following the Bush administration and years of the so-called "war on science." We contend that the Obama administration's challenge is not only to take substantive policy action, but also to reform certain administrative practices, particularly in light of the previous administration's practice of the politics of strategic vacancies, a managerial technique that rearranges an agency's ideological inclinations not through the usual forms of active politicization (i.e., by filling the appointee ranks with like-minded ideologues) but instead by "starving" the agency of staff and co-opting its agenda that way.

Publisher Statement

Copyright © 1999-2013 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Link: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1541-1338.2009.00418.x/abstract