Grad student wins prestigious Canadian book award

On May 1, School of Public Administration doctoral candidate Mark Jarvis was awarded the prestigious Donner Prize for his co-authored book Democratizing the Constitution: Reforming Responsible Government. Administered by the Donner Foundation, the Donner Prize is an annual award for the best public policy book by a Canadian.

The book sounds alarm bells around responsible government, accountability and a breakdown in our constitutional conventions. Jarvis and his co-authors deliver a warning that areas within our democratic institutions seem to be failing us.

“This award is a huge honour,” says Jarvis. “It is always nice to have your work recognized, but more importantly it’s a source of optimism―it shows that people do care about these issues.”

The book contends that democratic reform is necessary and lays out ways to address the challenges that the authors feel will ultimately ensure responsible and effective government for all Canadians, as outlined in their recent National Post opinion editorial.

The Donner Prize comes with a $50,000 award. The five-member jury, which selected the winner, called the book “an important and timely book that calls into question the legitimacy of our most fundamental institutions of democracy.”

Co-authors from Dalhousie University are Lori Turnbull, associate professor in the department of political science and Peter Aucoin, who was professor emeritus of political science and public administration before his death last July.

“This award recognizes one of our accomplished PhD students who is undertaking important research on how accountability really takes place inside government bureaucracies,” says Evert Lindquist, director of the school. “It also pays tribute to the remarkable contributions of Peter Aucoin, the respected, intellectual leader of public administration in Canada who always found time to work with younger colleagues to produce highly relevant applied research.”

Aucoin, one of Canada’s leading theorists on the practice and reform of public administration and governance, will be honoured with a new book of essays from prominent Canadian scholars in the field. Edited by Jarvis and Herman Bakvis, professor of public administration at UVic, From New Public Management to New Political Governance builds on Aucoin’s extensive body of work in the areas of public administration and democratic governance.

“Peter always had an abiding interest in what constituted democratic governance,” says Bakvis.

More information about the Donner Prize