Wildavsky, Aaron B.

(b. 1930, Brooklyn, New York; d. 1993, Oakland, California). Ph.D. Yale University; B.A. Brooklyn College.

At the time of his death, Wildavsky was the Class of 1940 Professor of Political Science and Public Policy and a member of the staff of the Survey Research Center at the University of California at Berkeley, where he had taught since 1962. He had also been Chair of the Political Science Department and founding Dean of the Graduate School of Public Policy. Previously, he had taught at Oberlin College and was briefly President of the Russell Sage Foundation. He held honorary degrees from Brooklyn College, Yale University, and the University of Bologna. He served as the President of the American Political Science Association and was a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Public Administration, and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences.

Wildavsky was the author or coauthor of more than 39 books and a great many articles and reviews. His works spanned many disciplines, including the budgetary process; policy analysis; political culture; foreign affairs; public administration; comparative government; presidential elections; and the crafts of teaching, research, and administration in political science. Many of his books have greatly influenced the field of political science, especially The Subfield of Implementation (with Jeffrey Pressman) and The Private Government of Public Money (with Hugh Heclo). The American Society of Public Administration named his book Politics of the Budgetary Process the third most influential work in public administration in the last 50 years. He has received many prizes and awards from a variety of organizations, including the 1981 Paul F. Lazarsfeld Award from the American Evaluation Association.