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Donald F. Kettl

Columnist

Donald F. Kettl, a columnist for Governing, is a professor emeritus and the former dean of the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, College Park. Until his recent retirement, he was the Sid Richardson Professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Austin. He is a senior adviser at the Volcker Alliance and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Kettl, who holds a Ph.D. and master's degrees in political science from Yale University, is the author of several books, most recently The Divided States of America: Why Federalism Doesn't Work (2020) and Can Governments Earn Our Trust? (2017), and the co-author of Bridgebuilders: How Government Can Transcend Boundaries to Solve Big Problems (2023).

He can be reached at Dfkettl52@gmail.com or on Twitter at @DonKettl.

Traditional approaches to the kinds of complex issues governments face stymie creative work. Houston has been making significant progress on reducing homelessness with a process of bridge building among stakeholders.
A half-century ago, a Republican president moved to devolve power from Washington to states and local governments. Today it’s the right that’s trying to turn that around.
Some conservatives want to rein in journalists’ protections established long ago by the Supreme Court. That would be a blow to the news coverage that aims to keep state and local governments accountable.
A tale of two trains: When something bad happens, local and state officials increasingly are shouldered aside. The people and the pundits now expect all solutions to come from Washington.
For hard-liners in both parties, aggressive action from Washington at the expense of state and local autonomy is more popular than ever. With both parties’ centrists also in the mix, the presidential election looks to be a four-way battle.
It’s hailed as the next wave of transformative technology, but artificial intelligence’s market growth and rapid deployment raise a host of issues, from safety to privacy to equity.
From public health to climate change to immigration, there will be plenty of challenges for our federal system to contend with. But the tensions will be more about social policies and regulation than about money.
Lots of governors have their eyes on the Oval Office. Most of the action will be among Republicans who will be zeroing in on Democratically controlled cities to score points on issues ranging from immigration to crime to spending.
They increasingly bear most of the burdens of the disasters that climate change brings. Those that combine strong building codes and zoning that keeps people out of dangerous areas will fare the best and better protect their most vulnerable residents.
Wastewater surveillance is a valuable tool in the fight against infectious disease, but it has the potential to be used for other purposes that could further erode Americans’ trust in government. It even worries Vladimir Putin.