Theodore J. Lowi
Encyclopedia
Theodore J. Lowi is the John L. Senior
Professor of American Institutions teaching in the Government Department at Cornell University
. His area of research is the American
government and public policy
.
. He and his wife, Angele, raised two children, Anna and Jason. He currently makes his home in Ithaca, NY. Lowi obtained a BA
from Michigan State University
in 1954, and an M.A.
and PhD
from Yale University
in 1955 and 1961, respectively. He is a past President of the American Political Science Association
and the International Political Science Association. He was voted one of the most influential political scholars of the modern era http://www.uakron.edu/bliss/docs/Vol_10_Iss_1.pdf. Lowi has been a frequent guest on NPR
, PBS and cable television news-issues talk shows.
John L. Senior
John Lawson Senior was a sports administrator and the founder of Slope Day at Cornell University.Senior graduated from Cornell University in 1901 and was a member of the Sphinx Head Society. Senior organized the first "Spring Day," the predecessor to the modern Slope Day, in March 1901 to meet an...
Professor of American Institutions teaching in the Government Department at Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
. His area of research is the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
government and public policy
Public policy
Public policy as government action is generally the principled guide to action taken by the administrative or executive branches of the state with regard to a class of issues in a manner consistent with law and institutional customs. In general, the foundation is the pertinent national and...
.
Biography
Theodore J. Lowi was born on July 9, 1931 in Gadsden, AlabamaGadsden, Alabama
The city of Gadsden is the county seat of Etowah County in the U.S. state of Alabama, and it is located about 65 miles northeast of Birmingham, Alabama. It is the primary city of the Gadsden Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a population of 103,459. Gadsden is closely associated with the...
. He and his wife, Angele, raised two children, Anna and Jason. He currently makes his home in Ithaca, NY. Lowi obtained a BA
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
from Michigan State University
Michigan State University
Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...
in 1954, and an M.A.
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
and PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
in 1955 and 1961, respectively. He is a past President of the American Political Science Association
American Political Science Association
The American Political Science Association is a professional association of political science students and scholars in the United States. Founded in 1903, it publishes three academic journals...
and the International Political Science Association. He was voted one of the most influential political scholars of the modern era http://www.uakron.edu/bliss/docs/Vol_10_Iss_1.pdf. Lowi has been a frequent guest on NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
, PBS and cable television news-issues talk shows.
Published work
- At the Pleasure of the Mayor: Patronage and Power in New York City, 1898-1958(New York, 1964);
- Legislative Politics, U.S.A.(ed.)(Boston; 1962, 1965, 1974);
- The Pursuit of Justics (co-authored with Robert F. KennedyRobert F. KennedyRobert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
)(New York, 1964);
- The End of Liberalism: The Second Republic of the United StatesThe End of LiberalismThe End of Liberalism: The Second Republic of the United States is a non-fiction book by Theodore J. Lowi and is considered a modern classic of political science. Originally published in 1969 , the book was revised for a second edition in 1979 with the political developments of the 1970s taken into...
(W.W. Norton 1969,1979) (From dust jacket: "The main argument which Lowi develops through both editions is that the liberal state grew to its immense size and presence without self-examination and without recognizing that its pattern of growth had problematic consequences. Its engine of growth was delegation. The government expanded by responding to the demands of all major organized interests, by assuming responsibility for programs sought by those interests, and by assigning that responsibility to administrative agencies. Through the process of accommodation, the agencies became captives of the interest groups, a tendency Lowi describes as clientelism. This in turn led to the formulation of new policies which tightened the grip of interest groups on the machinery of government.")
- The Politics of Disorder(New York, 1971, 1974);
- Poliscide: Scientists, the Giant Accelerator and the Metropolis (et alia) (New York, 1975, 1990);
- American Government: Incompete Conquest (New York, 1976, 1977, 1981);
- Nationalizing Government: Public Policies in America (et alia)(Beverly Hills, 1978);
- The Personal President: Power Invested, Promise Unfulfilled (Ithaca, 1985);
- American Government: Freedom & Power (with Benjamin Ginsburg)(New York, 1990, 1994);
- Democrats Return to Power: Politics and Policy in the Clinton Era(with Benjamim Ginsburg)(New York, 1994);
- The end of the Republican Era (1995)
- "American Business, Public Policy, Case-Studies, and Political Theory" (1964), World Politics 16(4):677-715. (In this journal article, which reviews a book by Raymond A. Bauer, Ithiel de Sola Pool, and Lewis A. Dexter, Lowi lays out his classic typology of public policy in the U.S.: distribution, regulation, and redistribution. This typology was meant to help political scientists and policy scholars build theories of policy making that could be generalized beyond particular issue areas. Distributive policies, aka "pork barrel" programs, distribute resources from the government to particular recipients; the winners are concentrated but the losers (those who ultimately pay for the distribution) are diffuse. Regulatory policies are aimed at groups or classes of targets, rather than individuals, and they typically raise costs for the targets (in which case the costs are concentrated). Redistributive policies transfer resources from one class or group to another. A fourth category of policy named by Lowi is the constituent.)