

Washington, D.C. — The Brookings Institution announced today the establishment of the Center for Effective Public Management, a research organization that will focus on identifying and solving political and governance challenges in 21st century America. Housed within the Governance Studies program, this center will strive to reinvigorate the U.S. government – along with public and private sector leadership – to be more effective and capable.
“Working with a wide array of domestic policy experts and actors, the Center for Effective Public Management will explore current problems in the American political system and ways to improve the democratic process,” said Strobe Talbott, president of the Brookings Institution. “The center’s work will address the challenges the public sector faces as it tries to ensure sound performance, good governance, and strong leadership in the U.S. government. The creation of the Center for Effective Public Management is the capstone of Brookings’ long-standing domestic policymaking efforts and research work.”
The Center for Effective Public Management will be led by Senior Fellow and Founding Director Elaine Kamarck, a key figure in reinventing government research and action. As a senior staffer in the Clinton administration, she created the National Performance Review, the largest government reform effort in the last half of the twentieth century. Kamarck will be joined in these efforts by a number of Governance Studies scholars, as well as a team of non-Brookings experts with proven track records in government reinvention and innovation.
“Elaine is a leading expert in reimagining government and fostering actionable, smart policy ideas and reforms at the federal level,” said Darrell West, vice president and director of Governance Studies. “Under her leadership, this new center will routinely deliver fresh thinking and policy prescriptions for what currently ails our governmental and political institutions.”
The center’s primary research areas and activities will include:
“With this aggressive set of activities and goals, we intend to be a vital force in transforming the United States’ most important institutions, said Kamarck. “The Center for Effective Public Management aims to provide cutting-edge, useful research and programming to help shape domestic policy and inform U.S. policymakers in their efforts to improve our national government.”
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