BIO-DATA

Fred W. Riggs is professor emeritus at the University of Hawaii, Political Science Department. He is co-chair, with Abdo Baaklini, of COVICO (the Committee on Viable Constitutionalism) and has for several years, focussed his research on problems of constitutional design as they affect the viability of democratic governance. This led him to investigate the reasons why, exceptionally, the U.S. presidentialist regime had not collapsed, as had all other presidential systems at the time of his survey (1994a).

On the basis of a long-standing interest in comparative public administation, he focussed on bureaucracy as a political force and the dynamics of coups d'etat as a mechanism whereby bureaucratic polities have emerged as a widespread symptom of modernization gone wrong (1993), and on the theoretical aspects of bureaucratic power as they relate to viable constitutionalism (1996). His early research on Thailand (1966) and his theoretical work on "prismatic society" (1964) and the ecology of public administration (1961) provided the foundation for his current interest in this subject.

He is currently writing "Presidentialism and Parliamentarism in the Context of Modernity" and recently completed "Para-modernism and Bureau Power" link He has also focussed attention on the rising importance of ethnic nationalism as a major problem for contemporary post-imperial societies (1994c, 1995) and in "Turmoil among Nations" link Concept records based on this paper illustrate the possibility of using the World Wide Web as a forum to introduce, link, and promote new concepts and terms in an interrelated fashion. link

More information about his personal background can be found in his festschrift, edited by Ramesh Arora (1992), and in Who's Who in the West. Up-dated versions will appear in 1997 in Who's Who in the World and Who's Who in America. Riggs was born in China in 1917, received his Ph.D. at Columbia University in 1948, worked at the Public Administration Clearing House in New York (1951-55), and subsequently joined the faculty of Indiana University as Arthur Bentley Professor of Government (1956-67), moving to the University of Hawaii (1967) where he remains following his retirement in 1987.

He has done field work in Thailand and taught in Korea and the Philippines. He received the Dwight Waldo award from the American Society for Public Administration for "life time achievements" (1991), the Order of the White Elephant from the King of Thailand (1986), and was honored by the Eastern Regional Organization for Public Administration in 1983. He chaired the Comparative Administration Group of ASPA during the 1960s, and was a fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (1966-67). He helped organize and co-chaired the section on "Ethnicity, Nationalism and Migration" of the International Studies Association (1994) and directed the "INTERCOCTA" project (on conceptual and terminological analysis) of the International Social Science Council, at UNESCO (1979-93). He has established and manges an e-mail list, ETHNIC-L link for representatives of the world's leading organizations that promote research on ethnic problems.

A select list of his most relevant publications follows -- a more complete list can be found at link

1996: a. "Turmoil among Nations, A Conceptual Essay: Ethnonationalism, Authoritarianism, Anarchy and Democracy."

b. "Migration and Ethnonationalism." A paper presented at a panel of the section for "Ethnicity, Nationalism and Migration" during the ISA conference in San Diego, April 1996.

c. "Para-Modernism and Bureau Power." Presented at a symposium honoring Dwight Waldo, at the Maxwell School, Syracuse University, July 1996.

d. "Viable Constitutionalism and Bureaucracy: Theoretical Premises." Journal of Behavioral and Social Sciences. Tokyo: Tokai University, Research Institute of Social Sciences, Vol 1995:2, pp.1-35.

1995: a. "Presidentialism: A Problematic Constitutional System." Conquering Politico-Administrative Frontiers. A festschrift honoring Raul de Guzman, Ledivina V. Carino, ed. Guezon City, Phil: University of the Philippines Press. pp. 541-562.

b. ."Ethnonational Rebellions and Viable Constitutionalism." International  Political Science Review. 16:4, pp. 375-404.

c. "Bureaucrats as a Ruling Group." Administrative Change. 22:1, Jy-Dec. 1994 [released Dec. 1995], pp. 1-22.

1994: a. ."Bureaucracy and the Constitution." Public Administration Review. vol. 54:1, pp.65-72.

b. "Conceptual Homogenization of a Heterogeneous Field: Presidentialism in Comparative Perspective." Comparing Nations: Concepts, Strategies, Substance. Mattei Dogan and Ali Kazancigil, eds. Oxford, UK: Blackwell. pp.72-152.

c. "Bureaucracy and Constitutional Reform." The Korean Public Administration Journal. Vol.2:4, pp.187-222.

d. "Why has Bureaucracy not Smothered Democracy in America?" Comparataive Public Management. Randall Baker, ed. Westport, Conn.: Praeger. pp.37-52.

e. "Bureaucracy: A Profound Perplexity for Presidentialism." Ali Farazmand, ed. Handbook on Bureaucracy. New York: Marcel Dekker. pp.97-148.

f. "Ethnonationalism, Industrialism, and the Modern State." Third World Quarterly. Vol. 15:4, pp.583-611.

1993: a. "Fragility of the Third World's Regimes." International Social Science Journal. No. 136 (May 1993) pp. 199-243.

b. "Presidentialism: A Problematic Regime Type." Parliamentary vs. Presidential Government. Arend Lijphart, ed. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press. Chapter 32, pp.217-222. (Excerpted from "The Survival of Presidentialism in America," 1988.)

c. "Bureau Power: Some Paradoxes for Northeast Asia." . The Korean Public Administration Journal.. vol.1:4, pp.50-68. Seoul, Korea: Korean Institute for Public Administration.

d. "Bureau Power in Southeast Asia." Asian Journal of Political Science. Singapore: National University of Singapore. Vol.1:1, pp.3-28.

1992: a. Ramesh K. Arora, ed. Politics and Administration in Changing Societies: Essays in Honour of Professor Fred W. Riggs. New Delhi: Associated Publishing House. Contains "Fred W. Riggs: An Introduction." pp. 1-34.

1991: a. "Bureaucratic Links between Administration and Politics." Handbook of Comparative and Development Public Administration. Ali Farazmand, ed. New York, Basel, Hong Kong: Marcel Dekker. pp.587-509.

b. "Ethnicity, Nationalism, Race, Minority: A Semantic/Onomantic Exercise." International Sociology (Part One). 6:3, 281-305. (Part Two) 6:4, 443-463.

1989: a. "The Political Ecology of American Public Administration: A Neo- Hamiltonian Approach." International Journal of Public Administration. 12:3. pp. 355-384.

b. Sangeeta Sharma, Administrative Thought of Fred W. Riggs Ph.D. dissertation at University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, India. Supervised by Ramesh K. Arora.

1988: a. "Bureaucratic Politics in the U.S.," Governance. 1. pp. 343-379.

b. "The Survival of Presidentialism in America: Para-Constitutional Practices." International Political Science Review. 9:4. pp. 247-278.

1981: a. "Cabinet Ministers and Coup Groups: The Case of Thailand. International Political Science Review. 2:2. pp. 159-188.

b. "The Rise and Fall of 'Political Development'," in Samuel Long, ed. The Handbook of Political Behavior. New York: Plenum Press. Vol.4. pp. 289-348.

1979: a. "Shifting Meanings of the Term 'Bureaucracy'." International  Social Science Journal. 31:4. pp. 563-584.

1975: a. Legislative Origins: A Comparative and Contextual Approach. Pittsburgh, PA: International Studies Association, Occasional Paper no.7. 79 pages.

1974: a. "Legislative Structures: Some Thoughts on Elected National Assemblies." in Allan Kornberg, ed. Legislatures in Comparative Perspective. New York: McKay.

b. Prismatic Society Revisited. Morristown, NJ: General Learning Press. 42 pages.

1971: a. Administrative Reform and Political Responsiveness: A Theory of Dynamic Balancing. Beverly Hills, CA: SAGE. Professional Paper in Comparative Politics. 39 pages.

1970: a. "The Comparison of Whole Political Systems." Robert Holt and John Turner, eds. The Methodology of Comparative Research. New York: Free Press, 1970.

1969: a. "The Structures of Government and Administrative Reform," Ralph Braibanti and Associates, eds. Political and Administrative Development. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. pp. 220-324.

1967: a. "Comparative Politics and the Study of Political Parties: A Structural Approach." William J. Crotty, ed. Approaches to the Study of Party Organization. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. pp. 45-104.

b. "The Theory of Political Development," James C. Charlesworth, ed. Contemporary Political Analysis. New York: Free Press, 1967. pp. 317-349.

1966: a. Thailand: The Modernization of a Bureaucratic Polity. Honolulu: East-West Center Press. 470 pages.

1964: a. Administration in Developing Countries: The Theory of Prismatic Society. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

1963: a. "Bureaucrats and Political Development." Joseph LaPalombara, ed. Bureaucracy and Political Development. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. pp. 120-167.

1961: a. The Ecology of Public Administration. Published under the auspices of the Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi. Bombay: Asia Publishing House. 152 pages.

1957: a. "Agraria and Industria: Toward a Typology of Comparative Administration." William J. Siffin, ed. Toward the Comparative Study of Public Administration. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press. pp. 23- ll6.

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Updated: 14 August 1996

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