Michael Howlett, FRSC

About

Michael Howlett, BSocSci (Hon) (Ottawa), MA (British Columbia), PhD (Queen's), is Burnaby Mountain Professor and former Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in the Department of Political Science at Simon Fraser University, and Visiting Fellow at Lingnan University, Hong Kong. He specializes in public policy analysis, political economy, and resource and environmental policy.

He taught at Queen's University (1986–1988) and the University of Victoria (1988–1989) before joining SFU, and has held visiting appointments at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore (Yong Pung How Chair Professor, 2013–2017); the Università degli Studi di Cagliari (2012); the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (2018); and the Center for Advanced Studies, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (2020).

Selected Books

• Studying Public Policy (1995, 2003, 2009, 2020, 2026)
• Handbook of Policy Advice (co-ed., 2025)
• Dictionary of Policy Design (co-auth., 2025)
• Bad Public Policy (co-auth., 2025)
• Designing Public Policies (2011, 2019, 2024)
• The Routledge Handbook of Policy Tools (ed., 2022)
• Dictionary of Public Policy (co-auth., 2022)
• The Policy Design Primer (2019)
• The Public Policy Primer (2010, 2018)
• Canadian Public Policy (2013)

A complete list of books, articles, and chapters is available on the publications page and in his CV.

Editorial Roles

Professor Howlett is editor of Policy Sciences and the Annual Review of Policy Design, and co-editor of Policy Design and Practice, Policy & Society, and the Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis. He co-edits book series with the University of Toronto Press, Bristol University Press (International Library of Policy Analysis), and Cambridge University Press (Elements in Public Policy), and serves on the editorial boards of numerous journals in public policy and administration.

Professional Activities

He is the founder and past Chair (2010–2018) of Research Committee 30 (Comparative Public Policy) of the International Political Science Association, sits on the Executive Committee of the International Public Policy Association, and organizes the Policy Design Lab. He was a founding member and Secretary-Treasurer (1995–2006) of the British Columbia Political Studies Association and was English-language co-editor of the Canadian Journal of Political Science (2002–2006).

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