Aaron Wildavsky (1930-1993) was an American political scientist known for his work on budgeting processes and policy analysis. He received his PhD from Yale University and taught at UC Berkeley for over 30 years. Wildavsky published over 200 articles and 40 books on topics including federalism, foreign policy, risk analysis, and cultural theory. Some of his most influential works examined incremental decision-making in government budgets and how cultural values shape preferences and policy choices. Wildavsky's "radical incrementalism" approach embraced adaptive, learning-based reforms over comprehensive plans. He argued policy analysis should value responsiveness, civic participation, and emergent problem-solving over rigid control and predetermined outcomes.

1. Aaron
Wildavsky
Presented by:
Julie Rada
PUB623PR
June 10, 2010
http://www.theatlasphere.com/columns/uploads/1/aaron-wildavsky.jpg

2. Biography - Personal
 Born May 31, 1930 – Brooklyn, NY
 Parents – Sender Wildavsky and Eva Brudnow, Ukrainian immigrants
 Married Carol Shirk (1955 - 1970)
 Adam
 Ben
 Dan
 Sara Wild
 Married Mary Cadman (1973)
 Died September 4, 1993

3. Biography - Education
 Brooklyn College
 Service in U.S. Army (1950 – 1952)
 Graduated Phi Beta Kappa
 Fulbright scholar – University of Sydney, Australia (1954 –
1955)
 Yale
 M.A. (1957)
 PhD (1959)

4. Biography - Professional
 Oberlin College (1959 – 1962)
 University of California, Berkeley (1962 – 1993)
 Chairman, Department of Political Science (1966 - 1969)
 Dean, Graduate School of Public Policy (1969 – 1977)
 President, Russell Sage Foundation (1977 – 1978)
 Class of 1940 Professor of Political Science and Public Policy

5. Biography – Professional
 Guggenheim Fellow (1971)
 National Academy of Public Administration Fellow (1971)
 American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellow (1973)
 President, American Political Science Association (1985 – 1986)
 Served on editorial and governing boards of several institutions
 Multiple prizes and awards within the fields of political science
and public administration

6. Biography – Professional
 Wrote or co-authored more than forty books
 Published more than 200 journal articles
 Federalism
 Foreign policy
 Community power
 Policy analysis and implementation
 Cultural theory
 The collapse of communism
 Leadership roles of biblical figures
 Academic administration
 Risk analysis
 Natural resource policy
 The craft of scholarship

7. Biography - Focus
 1964 – Presidential Elections: Strategies of American Electoral Politics
(Nelson W. Polsby)
 Fresh and influential perspective on election processes
 1964 – The Politics of the Budgetary Process
 Included the human factor in national government’s budgeting process
 Incremental process
 1974 – The Private Government of Public Money (Hugh Heclo)
 Anthropological perspective on Great Britain’s Treasury Department
 1966 – “The Two Presidencies”
 Presidential-congressional behavior
 Congress more willing to support President’s efforts in foreign affairs than in
domestic issues

8. “Choosing Preferences by Constructing Institutions:
A Cultural Theory of Preference Formation”
The American Political Science Review, Mar., 1987
Number and Variety Strength of Group Boundaries
of Prescriptions
Numerous and varied Weak Strong
Apathy Hierarchy
(Fatalism) (Collectivism)
Few and similar Competition Equality
(Individualism) (Egalitarianism)
Note: Adapted from Douglas 1970; 11962.
“The strength or weakness of group boundaries and
the numerous or few, varied or similar, prescriptions
binding or freeing individuals are the components of
their culture.” (Wildavsky, 1987)

9. “Choosing Preferences by Constructing Institutions:
A Cultural Theory of Preference Formation”
The American Political Science Review, Mar., 1987
 Hierarchical
 Strong groups; numerous prescriptions that vary with social roles
 Institutionalized authority
 Inequality justified by sacrifice for the greater good
 Manipulation: Orders come down; obedience flows up
 Egalitarian
 Strong groups; few prescriptions
 Voluntary consent
 No coercion or inequality
 Reject authority
 Reduction of differences
 Manipulation: criticism and coercion by attributing inequalities to corruption
and duplicity

10. “Choosing Preferences by Constructing Institutions:
A Cultural Theory of Preference Formation”
The American Political Science Review, Mar., 1987
 Individualistic
 Weak group boundaries; few prescriptions
 Encourages new combinations
 Manipulation: Testing constraints; reinforcing, modifying or rejecting, as
needed
 Fatalistic
 Weak groups; strong prescriptions
 Preference for self-regulation; reduce the need for authority
 Live by rules imposed by others
 Feeling of lack of control leads to apathy
“Necessity theorem: conflict among cultures is a precondition of cultural identity.”
(Wildavsky, 1987)

11. “A Theory of the Budgetary Process”
The American Political Science Review, Sep., 1966
 Complexity of calculations is a major clue toward understanding
budgeting
 Little or no theory to predict consequences of alternative moves, or
probability of occurrence.
 Inter-personal comparison of utilities is difficult to assess –
fragmented process
 No agreed upon method for comparing and evaluating merits of
different programs for different people whose preferences vary in
kind and intensity
 Incremental method is the most important aid to budget
calculation
 Proceeding from existing base provides stability

12. “A Theory of the Budgetary Process”
The American Political Science Review, Sep., 1966
 American national government:
 Administrative agencies act as advocates of increased expenditure
 Request should neither be too high or too low
 Bureau of the Budget acts as Presidential servant (The Office of
Management and Budget)
 Cutting bias
 House Appropriations Committee functions as a guardian of the
Treasury
 Percentage cuts
 Senate Appropriations Committee as an appeals court to which
agencies carry their disagreements with house action
 Whether or not percentage cuts should be restored

13. “A Theory of the Budgetary Process”
The American Political Science Review, Sep., 1966
 Random events can upset stability of budget process
 Unexpected turn in world events
 New President takes office
 Major shift of power in Congress
 Loss of confidence in, or exceptional zeal for agencies

14. “Oil and the Decline of Western Power”
Political Science Quarterly, Autumn, 1975
 The global implications of OPEC’s 1100 percent increase in
the price of oil
 Mass starvation in poor countries
 Inflation in rich countries
 Huge debt for importers
 Large balance of payment deficits for governments
 Unstable power balance

15. “TVA and Power Politics”
The American Political Science Review, Sep., 1961
 Treatise on the transition of Tennessee Valley Authority
(TVA) from appropriation dependent to revenue bond
funding
 History tracking TVA support and decline in favor
 Atomic Energy Commission
 Defense spending
 Discussion of public versus private control of electrical
utilities

16. “A Theory of the Budgetary Process”
The American Political Science Review, Sep., 1966
 Developed simple equations (models) to define the
budgetary process
 Linear
 Stable over periods of time
 Stochastic (random variables)
 Strategic
 Not valid for predicting outcomes
 Useful in evaluating what has occurred

17. “Radical Incrementalism: a Proposal to Aid Congress
in Reforming the Budgetary Process” circa 1971
 Embraces the fundamental incremental tendencies in the
fragmented comprehensive budgetary process toward a
more fluid approach
 Facilitates speedy adaptation to emergent problems

18. “Radical Incrementalism: a Proposal to Aid Congress
in Reforming the Budgetary Process” circa 1971
 Expedience – awareness of problem / action
 Facilitates smaller, quicker, alterable changes
 Enables decision-makers – current reality vs. desired goals
 Evaluation of changes – weighed separately against most
relevant programs in operation vs. vying for consideration
against a multitude of simultaneously suggested changes
 Recognized importance – a major participant in the system
wants the change / every change is important

19. Risk Management
 Trial and error vs. planning for every eventuality

20. “The Budget Process as Complex Civic Space:
Wildavsky and Radical Incrementalism”
Administration & Society, Jul. 24, 2008
 Discussion of Complexity Theory – Dennard
 Summary of Wildavsky’s precomplexity theories
 “Certainty cannot be the primary goal of policy analysis
concerned with informing effective policy that both stabilizes a
democratic culture and creates the conditions by which it
matures. Both tasks require the capacity for addressing the
emergent nature of both problems and solutions.
 Administrative efficiency is an oxymoron if it only means the
efficient replication of process that seeks to control conflict
rather than responsiveness to the emerging realities of society.

21. “The Budget Process as Complex Civic Space:
Wildavsky and Radical Incrementalism”
Administration & Society, Jul. 24, 2008
 Public administrators, policy analysts, and budgeters must also
be learners along with citizens and politicians.… the problem of
citizenship is not that citizens do not participate more in the
habits of politics but rather that public
administrators, politicians, and analysts do not participate
more in the broader system of social relationships.
 Funded programs are probably addressing more than one social
phenomenon at once. At a minimum, programs should
consciously be designed and funded not only for tangible
objectives but also for the possibility of facilitating the
maturation of society through the interactions of participants.

22. “The Budget Process as Complex Civic Space:
Wildavsky and Radical Incrementalism”
Administration & Society, Jul. 24, 2008
 The past must be respected as current social conditions, both
good and bad, emerge from it. However, the responsibility for
initiating the conditions for the organization of the future lies in
addressing emerging issues and resources rather and correcting
past mistakes alone.
 Knowledge cannot be treated as finite without denying the
dynamic nature of democracy in which individuals contribute
what they know to the evolving common good.
Accommodating this knowledge will make it part of the
evolving structure of the society, thus stabilizing the
democratic enterprise.

23. “The Budget Process as Complex Civic Space:
Wildavsky and Radical Incrementalism”
Administration & Society, Jul. 24, 2008
 Policy analysis conducted for certainty rather than for
excellence also destroys the potential for learning and
innovation in other aspects of the policy system. Yet, excellence
needs a broader definition than simply matching outcomes to
program goals; it also must value and make space and funds for
experimentation and the capacity to learn from changing
circumstances.” (Dennard, 2008, pp 656-657)

24. Works Cited
Davis, O. D. (1966). A theory of the budgetary process. The American Political Science Review, 60 (3), 529-547.
Dennard, L. (2008). The budget process as complex civic space: Wildavsky and radial incrementalism. Administration & Society, 40, 645-656.
Friedland, E. S. (1976). Oil and the decline of western power. Political Science Quarterly, 90 (3), 437-450.
Pace, E. (1993, Sep 6). Aaron Wildavsky, a budgeting expert and researcher, 63. The New York Times .
(http://www.lexisnexis.com.ezproxy.barry.edu/us/lnacdemic/deliver...e&docRange=Current+Document+%281%29&estPage=2&delFmt=QD
S_EF_HTML, Ed.) LexisNexis Academic Delivery Status.
Wildavsky, A. (1987). Choosing preferences by constructing institutions: a cultural theory of preference formation. The American Political Science
Review, 81 (1), 3-22.
Wildavsky, A. (2003). Toward a Radical Incrementalism: A proposal to aid congress in reform of the budgetary process. In A. Wildavsky, The Revolt
Against the Masses & Other Essays on Politics & Public Policy (pp. 420-459). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
Wildavsky, A. (1961). TVA and power politics. The American Political Science Review, 55 (3), 576-590.
Wolf, T. (2000, Feb.). Wildavsky, Aaron Bernard. Retrieved from American National Biography Online:
http://222.anb.org.ezproxy.barry.edu/articles/14/14/-01076.html