The Section on Intergovernmental Administration and Management (SIAM) invites scholars and practitioners to submit proposals for papers to be presented at the 4^th annual Deil S. Wright Symposium. The symposium honors the career and contributions of Professor Deil S. Wright, who was a charter member of the Section and remained active until his passing in 2009. The Wright Symposium will be a preconference event held on Friday, March 17, 2017 at the national conference of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) in Atlanta, Georgia.

The theme of the all-day symposium is “Evidence-Based Intergovernmental Management: Knowledge at Work.” It will focus on U.S. federalism and comparative federalism. Through decades of research on federalism and intergovernmental relations, public administration scholars have generated knowledge about effective governance and management in federal systems. While the cumulative lessons of this research may be familiar to some, they have not been discussed widely by scholars or used by professional public managers. Today, public officials are expected to take evidence-based approaches to policy design and implementation, and the record of research evidence about what has worked and what has failed to produce desired results would be an invaluable resource. Scholars of federalism, intergovernmental relations, intergovernmental management, and collaborative management can help improve federal systems by providing meta-analyses and synthesizing evidence in the field to inform practice. The 2017 Wright Symposium provides an excellent forum for doing so.

Proposed paper topics are invited that would help scholars and government professionals better understand what we have learned from the cumulative research on intergovernmental relations and management.  Papers are welcome to advance new research propositions, identify research gaps, or provide empirical evidence. The goal is to emphasize for public managers how evidence can be used to shape intergovernmental management practice.  Topics might include, but are not limited to the:

• Design, accountability, and evaluation of intergovernmental grants and programs, including revenue sharing and fiscal equalization;
• Development of collaborative intergovernmental competencies or skills by federal, regional, state, and local public managers;
• Effectiveness of elected executives in managing intergovernmental relations in presidential and parliamentary federal systems;
• Effectiveness of intergovernmental, interjurisdictional, and intersectoral management networks;
• Value of intergovernmental institutions, such as the U.S. Advisory Commission on

Intergovernmental Relations, Council of Australian Governments, or the White House Office on Intergovernmental Affairs;

• Impact of federalism executive orders or presidential decrees on intergovernmental relations;
• Impacts of federal mandates and conditions attached to federal grants-in-aid;
• Effectiveness of regulatory waivers;
• Diffusion of evidence-based practices horizontally across constituent units such as states, provinces, and cantons;
• Performance of regional governments and organizations, such as consolidated or amalgamated local governments, metropolitan governments, councils of governments, and city-states;
• Advantages and disadvantages of optional forms of local government;
• Consequences of litigation for the authority of public managers in intergovernmental programs;
• Impacts of court orders, consent decrees, and other judicial interventions into intergovernmental relations.

Proposals for the symposium should be submitted by email to Carl Stenberg (stenberg@sog.unc.edu) before October 1. Proposals should be well developed and clearly demonstrate the ability to deliver a finished paper. The Wright Symposium planning committee – Ann Bowman, John Kincaid, Michael McGuire, Eric Zeemering, and Carl Stenberg — will review proposals and make decisions by October 22.  Questions can be directed to committee members.  Please circulate this call for papers among interested colleagues.

Presenters at the Deil Wright Symposium (L-R): Chang-Gyu Kwak (Florida State University), Meghan Rubado (Temple University), Yu Shi (University of Illinois at Chicago), Hyungjun Ji (Arizona State University), KyungWoo (John) Kim (University of North Texas), Dr. Richard Feiock (Florida State University).

We invite all members of SIAM to join us in the ongoing and important discussion about our section’s mission and future work.  The Wright Symposium has become a hallmark event for the presentation of research on federalism and intergovernmental relations.  This year, we invite members to join us for a panel discussion regarding the recent membership survey and work of the mission implementation committee, which will be held during the Wright Sympoisum, March 18 at 11:00 AM.  This panel will provide members an opportunity to hear about the deliberative work of the Mission Implementation Committee, and hear an early preview of their recommendations before the business meeting.  Then, please be sure to attend the section business meeting, scheduled for Saturday afternoon at 2:00 PM.  The SIAM events in Seattle provide us with an opportunity to unite behind our shared interests in federalism, intergovernmental relations, and collaborative management.