August 2017
WILLIAM LOUIS ASCHER
Donald C. McKenna Professor of Government and Economics
Claremont McKenna College
850 Columbia Avenue
Claremont, CA 91711-6400
909-607-3071 (tel.)
909-621-8419 (fax )
Education:
B.A., University of Michigan (Political Science) M. Phil., Yale University (Political Science) Ph.D., Yale University (Political Science)
Current Primary Academic Position:
Donald C. McKenna Professor of Government and Economics, Claremont McKenna
College 2000-
Other Current Academic or Administrative Positions:
· Director, Pacific Basin Research Center, Soka University of America, 2007-
· Book series co-editor, Politics, Economics, and Inclusive Development, Palgrave Macmillan Publishers, 2011-
· Chair, International Relations Program, Claremont McKenna College, 2012-
· Director, Roberts Environmental Center, Claremont McKenna College, 2013-
· President, Society of Policy Scientists, 2017
Former Academic and Research Positions:
• Principal Research Fellow, Centre for Energy, Petroleum, Mineral Law & Policy, University of Dundee, Scotland, 2005-08
• Duke University, Professor of Public Policy Studies and Political Science, Duke University, 1984-2000
• Johns Hopkins University Department of Political Science, Assistant Professor, 1973-
79; Associate Professor, 1979-84
• University of Pennsylvania, Department of Political Science, Lecturer, 1972-73
• Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, Santiago de Chile, Visiting Researcher,
1972
Selected Prior Administrative Positions:
• Vice President and Dean of the Faculty, Claremont McKenna College, 2000-05
• Director, Center for International Development Research, Sanford Institute of Public
Policy, Duke University, 1985-2000
• Director, Program in International Development Policy, Center for International
Development Research, Sanford Institute of Public Policy, Duke University, 1986-2000
• Director and Chair, Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy, Duke University, 1994-97
• Team Leader, Planning Team for the Asian International University, 1995-97
• Co-Principal Investigator, “Policy Assistance on Promoting Sustainable Development and the Environment,” USAID cooperative agreement, and Chair, Executive Committee, Duke University Center for Tropical Conservation, 1991-96
• Editor-in-Chief, Policy Sciences, 1986-90
• Project Director, Study Task Force and International Commission for Central American
Recovery and Development, 1987-89
• Director, 1992-94 (previously Associate Director 1990-92), Duke-UNC Program in
Latin American Studies
Honors:
• Yale University Fellowship, 1968-69
• Falk Fellowship, 1969-70
• National Science Foundation Fellowship, 1970-71
• Foreign Area Fellowship, Social Science Research Council, 1971-72
• International Affairs Fellowship, Council on Foreign Relations, 1979-80
• Howard D. Johnson Distinguished Teaching Award, Duke University, 1988
• Harold D. Lasswell Prize [best article in Policy Sciences, Vol. 25, 1993]
• “Landmarks in the Policy Sciences” Recognition, Policy Sciences [for contributions to the appraisal of forecasting], 2000
• Harold D. Lasswell Prize [best article in Policy Sciences, Vol. 37, 2004]
• Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellow, 2006
• Fulbright Senior Specialist, 2006-
• G. David Huntoon Senior Teaching Award, Claremont McKenna College, 2009
• Charles H. Levine Book Prize of the International Political Science Association [for
Bringing in the Future, 2009]
• G. David Huntoon Senior Teaching Award, Claremont McKenna College, 2016
Consultancies:
• Hudson Institute, 1973-80
• State Department Foreign Service Institute, 1980-85
• Stone & Webster 1980
• World Bank, 1980-81; 1988; 1990; 1991; 1996-99; 2004-05; 2009; 2013-
• Woodrow Wilson Center, Smithsonian Institution, 2000-01
• Ford Foundation, 2002-03
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2003-09
Service to the Profession and Public Service:
• Editorial Boards: Policy Sciences, 1980-; Technological Forecasting and Social
Change, 1984-; International Journal of Forecasting, 1985-2002; Sustainability Science, 2006-
• Counselor, Policy Sciences Center, New York, 1974-
• Board of Directors, Policy Sciences Center, New York, 1984-
• Board of Overseers, International Center for Self Governance, Institute for
Contemporary Studies, 1991-93
• Member, Board of Directors, Global Fund for Children, Washington, D.C., 1995-2005
• Member, Advisory Group on the Future of Science, U.S. House of Representatives
Subcommittee on Science, Committee on Science, Space and Technology, 1992-4
• Executive Committee, Society of Policy Scientists, 1996-; Vice President, 2008-09; Treasurer, 2010-2011; President 2013
• Member, International Advisory Board, Shehu Shagari World Institute, Abuja, Nigeria, 1998-2000
• Member, World Bank Archives Advisory Group, 1998-2001
• Vice President, Policy Sciences Center, 2000-
• Member, Academic Advisory Board, School of Management, Tel Aviv, 2000-2002
• Member, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Scientific Advisory Board Committee on Valuing the Protection of Ecological Systems and Services, 2003
• Member, Pacific Basin Research Center Advisory Committee, 2004-
• Member, Advisory Board, Armenian International Policy Research Group, 2004-2005
• Member, Advisory Group, World Bank Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, 2009
• President, Society of Policy Scientists, 2017.
Teaching
Former:
General Undergraduate and Graduate Courses: University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins University, Duke University: Latin American Politics, Comparative Politics, Political Science Methods, Politics of the Policy Process, Political Psychology, Science Policy
Duke University Program in International Development Policy: Development Policy, Energy Policy, Role of Women in Development, International Organizations
Dundee University Centre for Energy, Mineral and Petroleum Law and Policy: Strategies for Promoting Farsighted Thinking and Action
Current:
Claremont McKenna College: Introduction to Comparative Government, Environmental Policy Process, Policymaking in International Organizations, Politics and Economics of Natural Resources in Developing Countries
Publications
Books and Monographs - Authored
Forecasting: An Appraisal for Policy-Makers and Planners (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins
University Press, 1978)
Strategic Planning and Forecasting: Political Risk and Economic Opportunity (with
William H. Overholt) (N.Y.: Wiley, 1983).
Scheming for the Poor: The Politics of Redistribution in Latin America (Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press, 1984).
Natural Resource Policymaking in Developing Countries (with Robert Healy) (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1990).
Communities and Sustainable Forestry in Developing Countries (San Francisco: ICS Press, 1994).
Why Governments Waste Natural Resources: Policy Failures in Developing Countries (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999). [Translated into Japanese by University of Tokyo Press].
Revitalizing Political Psychology: The Legacy of Harold D. Lasswell (with Barbara
Hirschfelder-Ascher) (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2005).
Bringing in the Future: Strategies for Farsightedness and Sustainability in Developing
Countries (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009)
Knowledge in the Environmental Policy Process (with Robert Healy and Toddi
Steelman) (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2010).
Development Strategies and Inter-Group Violence (with Natalia Mirovitskaya) (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015).
The Evolution of Development Thinking: Governance, Economics, Assistance, and Security (with Garry D. Brewer, G. Shabbir Cheema, and John M. Heffron) (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016).
Understanding the Policymaking Process in Developing Countries (New York: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming).
Edited Books
Central American Recovery and Development: The Study Task Force Papers (coeditor with Ann Hubbard) (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1989).
Report of the International Commission for Central American Recovery and Development: Poverty, Conflict and Hope (project director) (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1989)
The Caspian Sea: A Quest for Environmental Security (co-editor with Natalia
Mirovitskaya) (Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Scientific Publishers, 2000).
Guide to Sustainable Development and Environmental Policy (co-editor with
Natalia Mirovitskaya) (Duke University Press, 2001).
Infrastructure Development: Balancing the Growth, Equity, and Environmental
Challenges (co-editor with Corinne Krupp) (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010).
Cultural Change and Persistence: New Perspectives on Development (co-editor with
John M. Heffron) (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010).
Economic Development Strategies and the Evolution of Violence in Latin America (co-editor with Natalia Mirovitskaya) (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012).
Development Strategies, Identities, and Conflict in Asia (co-editor with Natalia Mirovitskaya) (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013).
The Economic Roots of Conflict and Cooperation in Africa (co-editor with Natalia Mirovitskaya) (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013).
Journal Articles
“The Stability of Communist Electorates: Evidence from a Longitudinal Analysis of French and Italian Aggregate Data” (with Sidney Tarrow), American Journal of Political Science 29 (3), 1975.
“Problems of Forecasting and Technology Assessment”, Technological Forecasting and
Social Change 12, 1979.
“The Forecasting Potential of Complex Models,” Policy Sciences 13, 1981.
“Political Forecasting: The Missing Link,” Journal of Forecasting 1, 1982.
“Political Forecasting and Development Policy,” Vierteljahresberichte-Probleme der
Entwicklungslander 90, 1982.
“New Development Approaches and the Adaptability of International Agencies: The
Case of the World Bank,” International Organization 37, 1983 [reprinted in Paul F. Diehl, The Politics of International Organizations: Patterns and Insights, (Chicago: Dorsey Press, 1989)].
“Comments on Simon's Methodology of Natural Resource Forecasting,” International
Journal of Forecasting 1, 1985.
“The Evolution of the Policy Sciences,” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management
5 (2), 1986 [Reprinted in Evaluation Studies Review Annual 1987, ed. by William R. Shadish and Charles S. Reichardt (Beverley Hills, California: Sage Publications, 1987; also reprinted as “La evolución de las ciencias de políticas: comprender el surgimiento y evitar la caída”, in El estudio de las políticas públicas, Miguel Angel Porrúa, México, 1992.]
“Comments on 'A Cross-Cultural Theory of Political Violence'”, Political Psychology
7(3), 1986.
“The Moralism of Attitudes Supporting Intergroup Violence,” Political Psychology
7(4), 1986 [Reprinted in Alan O’Day, ed., Dimensions of Irish Terrorism, G.K. Hall, New York, 1993].
“Policy Sciences and the Economic Approach in a 'Post-Positivist' Era,” Policy Sciences
20(1), 1987.
“Subjectivity and the Policy Sciences,” Operant Subjectivity 10(2), 1987.
“On the Convergence of Efficiency and Equity through Neo-Classical Prescriptions,”
Journal of Inter-American Studies and World Affairs 31, 1989.
“Beyond Accuracy: Progress and Appraisal in Long-Range Political-Economic
Forecasting,” International Journal of Forecasting 5(4), 1989.
“Limits of 'Expert Systems' for Political-Economic Forecasting,” Technological
Forecasting and Social Change 36, 1989.
“Science and Social Responsibility” (with Ronald D. Brunner) Policy Sciences 25(4), 1992 [Received the Harold D. Lasswell Prize for best article in the journal Policy Sciences of Volume 25.]
“The Ambiguous Nature of Forecasts in Project Evaluation,” International Journal of
Forecasting, 9(1), 1993.
“Survey of Issues in Government Policy and Public Management of State Oil and Mining Companies in Developing Countries,” Natural Resources Forum 18(1), February 1994.
“Knowledge in the Policy Process: Incorporating New Environmental Information in
Natural Resources Policymaking” (with Robert Healy), Policy Sciences 28, 1995.
“Public Involvement in Natural Resource Policymaking” (with Toddi Steelman), Policy
Sciences 30, 1997.
“From Oil to Timber: The Political Economy of Off-Budget Development Financing in
Indonesia,” Indonesia Journal (Cornell University) 65, 1998. http://cip.cornell.edu/seap.indo/1106953919
“Restructuring the Arrangements between Governments and State Enterprises in the Oil and Mining Sectors,” (with Yair Aharoni), Natural Resources Forum 22(3), 1998.
“Strategic Planning of Institutional Reform: Changing Policy Outcomes through Organizational Change,” Iberoamericana: The Nordic Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies 28, 1998.
“Assumption Drag in Economic Development,” Technological Forecasting and Social
Change 62, 1999.
“Resolving the Hidden Conflicts among Disciplinary Perspectives on Sustainable
Development, Policy Sciences 32(4), 1999.
“Why Some Countries Waste Natural Resources,” Environment 42(2), 2000.
“Coping with Complexity and Organizational Interests in Natural-Resource
Management,” Ecosystems 5, 2001.
“The Brewer-Kakalik Research on Services for Handicapped Children: A Paradigm of
Applied Policy Sciences,” Policy Sciences 35(3), 2002.
“Linking Lasswell’s Political Psychology and the Policy Sciences” (with Barbara Hirschfelder-Ascher), Policy Sciences 37, 2004. [Received the Harold D. Lasswell Prize for best article in the journal Policy Sciences of Volume 37.]
“Scientific Information and Uncertainty: Challenges for the Use of Science in
Policymaking,” Science and Engineering Ethics 10(3), 2004.
“An Ecological Approach to Creating Active Living Communities” (with James Sallis, Robert Cervero, Karla Henderson, M. Katherine Kraft, and Jacqueline Kerr), Annual Review of Public Health 27, 2006.
“Valuation in the Environmental Policy Process” (with Toddi Steelman), Policy Sciences,
39(1), 2006.
“Long-Term Strategy for Sustainable Development: Strategies to Promote Far-Sighted
Action,” Sustainability Science 1(1), 2006.
“Policy Sciences Contributions to Analysis to Promote Sustainability,” Sustainability
Science 2(1), 2007.
“A Policy Sciences Approach to Expanding the ‘Geography’ of Policy Options to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions,” New York Law School Law Journal 58 (4), 2014.
“Development Strategies, Identities and Conflict in Asia” (with Natalia Mirovitskaya), World Financial Review, May 28, 2014.
“Keeping the Faith: Policy Sciences as the Gatekeeper,” Policy Sciences 50: 157-162, 2017.
“Gold and Green Together: Solving the Challenges of Corporate-Ngo Partnerships” (with Garry D. Brewer and George Wyeth), Climate Change, Sustainable Development, and Ecosystems Committee Newsletter 20(1): 8-13, American Bar Association Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, April 2017.
Chapter Contributions
“Latin America and the Politics of Investment,” in Hudson Institute, Corporate
Environment Study: The World in 1975-85 (Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., Hudson Institute, January 1974)
“Techniques and Accuracy of Demographic Forecasting: Predicting United States' Population Growth,” in Garry Brewer and Ronald Brunner, eds., Political Development: A Policy Approach (New York: Free Press, 1975).
“Brazil's Future Foreign Relations,” in William H. Overholt, ed., The Future of Brazil
(Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1978).
“Harold Lasswell's Contributions to the Study of the Future,” in Commemoration and Continuing Commitment: Essays in Honor of Harold Dwight Lasswell (New Haven and New York: Yale School of Law and The Policy Sciences Center, 1980).
“The World Bank and Problems of the Poor,” in United Nations Association, World
Progress through International Banking (New York: 1980).
“Technologies of Mediation: An Assessment of Methods for the Mediation of International Conflicts,” (with Steven R. Brown) Proceedings, Second IFAC Conference on Supplemental Ways for Improving International Stability, (New York: Pergamon,
1987).
“Sustainable Development and Natural Resource Forecasting,” (with Garry D. Brewer), in Clark Binkley et. al., eds., Redirecting the RPA (New Haven: Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, 1988).
“Risk, Politics, and Tax Reform: Lessons from some Latin American Experiences,” in Malcolm Gillis, ed., Tax Reform in Developing Countries (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1988).
“The Policy Sciences Framework and Policymaking Strategies in Developing Countries,” Proceedings of the First National Colloquium on Public Policy (Mexico City: Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana and Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo Mexicano,
1989).
“Introduction,” in William Ascher and Ann Hubbard, eds., Central American Recovery and Development: The Study Task Force Papers (with Ann Hubbard) (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1989).
“The World Bank and U.S. Control,” in Margaret Karns and Karen Mingst, eds., The
United States and Multilateral Institutions (Boston: Unwin Hyman, 1990).
“Democracy, Equity and the Myth of the Welfare State in Developing Countries: The Case of Central America,” in Kenneth Bauzon, ed., Development and Democratization in the Third World (Washington: Crane Russack, 1992).
“Forestry Institutions” (with Marie Lynn Miranda, Olga Corrales and Michael Regan), in Narendra Sharma, ed., Managing the World's Forests (Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company for the World Bank, 1992).
“The Changing World and What It Means,” in National Academy of Sciences, Beginning a Dialogue on the Changing Environment for the Physical and Mathematical Sciences (Washington, DC, 1994).
“Community Natural Resource Management Policies in Colombia and Mexico,” in John Montgomery and Dennis Rondinelli, eds., Great Policies: Strategic Innovations in Asia and the Pacific Basin (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1995).
“The Political and Fiscal Logic of Service Privatization in Developing Countries,” in
Yair Aharoni, ed., Changing Role of State Intervention in Services in an Era of Open
International Markets (State University of New York Press, 1997).
“The Politics of Rent Distribution and Latin American Resource Policy,” in Gordon MacDonald, Daniel Nelson and Marc Stern, eds., Latin American Environmental Policy in International Perspective (Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1997).
“The Evolution of Postwar Doctrines in Development Economics,” in A.W. Coates, ed., The Post-1945 Internationalization of Economics (Duke University Press, 1997).
“Strategies of Influence for the Conservation of the Sangha River Basin: Insights from the Policy Sciences,” in Heather Eves, Rebecca Hardin and Stephanie Rupp, eds., Resource Use in the Trinational Sangha River Region of Equatorial Africa: Histories, Knowledge Forms, and Institutions (Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies Bulletin Series No. 102, 1998).
“The Logic of Community Resource Management in Latin America,” in U. Hatch and M.E. Swisher, eds., Tropical Managed Ecosystems: New Perspectives on Sustainability (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999).
“Administrative Restructuring of Service Delivery in Viet Nam: Decentralization and Institutional Development” (with Dennis Rondinelli), in Jennie Litvack and Dennis Rondinelli, eds., Market Reform in Viet Nam: Building Institutions for Development (Westport, CT: Quorum Books, 1999).