Donald J. Savoie


Donald J. Savoie, is a Canadian university professor and expert in public administration and regional economic development. In 2015 he was awarded the Killam Prize for his contribution to the field of Social Sciences.

Biography

Donald J. Savoie was born in 1947 in Saint-Maurice, near Bouctouche, New Brunswick. The family moved to Moncton when he was young.
Savoie founded the Canadian Institute for Research on Regional Development at l'Université de Moncton in 1983 where he also teaches public administration. The institute was renamed the Donald J. Savoie Institute in 2015. He has advised governments in Canada and abroad, including governments in Russia, China, Brazil, Hungary and Bosnia Herzegovina. He currently holds the Canada Research Chair in Public Administration and Governance at the University of Moncton.
Savoie has published forty-seven books and over 200 articles in journals and edited collections during his career. Among the most important are Federal-Provincial Collaboration, Breaking the Bargain: Public Servants, Ministers, and Parliament, Governing from the Centre: The Concentration of Power in Canadian Politics and Thatcher, Reagan, Mulroney: In Search of a New Bureaucracy, What Is Government Good At? A Canadian Answer, the 2015 Donner Prize winner and Visiting Grandchildren: Economic Development in the Maritimes. His 2013 book, Whatever Happened to the Music Teacher? How Government Decides and Why was shortlisted for the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing and Democracy in Canada: The Desintegration of Our Institutions. His biography Harrison McCain: Single-Minded Purpose and Looking for Bootstraps: Economic Development in the Maritimes were both shortlisted for the National Business Book Award. His Politics of Public Spending in Canada was the inaugural recipient of the Smiley prize. He has also been awarded several other prizes and awards for his work in Canada, Europe and the United States. His work has been translated in several languages including Mandarin, Russian and Bosnian.
His articles have been published in leading national and international journals of political science, public administration and public policy including the British Journal of Politics and International Relations, Canadian Journal of Political Science, Canadian Public Policy, Canadian Public Administration, Journal of Canadian Studies, Canadian Journal of Development Studies, Canadian Journal of Regional Science, Public Budgeting and Finance, Politiques et Management Public, Journal of Rural Studies, Government and Policy, International Journal of Public Sector Management, Revue française d’administration publique and Public Administration Review. His work has been reviewed in leading peer reviewed journals of political science, public policy and public administration and some of the world's leading newspapers including The Sunday Times, Financial Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Times of India, the Globe and Mail and several leading American newspapers. He has published op.eds in the Globe and Mail, National Post, Le Devoir, La Presse, The Guardian and Time Magazine.
He was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1993, a member of the Order of New Brunswick in 2011 and elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1992. He obtained a D.Phil. from Oxford University in 1979. In 2000, he became one of only a few individuals from North America to receive a D.Litt. from Oxford University. He has also been awarded eight honorary doctorates by Canadian universities. He was awarded the Vanier Gold Medal, the Trudeau Fellowships Prize and the Sun Life Public Service Citation Award. He is the inaugural winner of the Yvan Allaire Medal. He was appointed one of Canada's 150 Ambassadors to celebrate Canada's 150th anniversary. He was also awarded the Canada 150 Medal in 2017, the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal, the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal and the Canada 125 Medal. He was elected a Visiting Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford in 2006 and named Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics in 2007. He was also a Senior Fulbright Scholar at Harvard University in 2001-02. He was elected President of the Canadian Political Science Association in 1998. He has served as a member of boards of directors for both private and public sector organizations.
Donald Savoie was awarded the 2015 Killam Prize in Social Sciences. He was the first scholar at an Atlantic Canadian university to receive this award.

Publications