Christopher Cropper Hood (1947 – 3 January 2025) was a visiting professor of the

Blavatnik School of Government The Blavatnik School of Government is the school of public policy of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. The School was founded in 2010 following a £75 million donation from business magnate Len Blavatnik, supported by £26 million fro ...

at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, and an Emeritus Fellow of

All Souls College, Oxford All Souls College (official name: The College of All Souls of the Faithful Departed, of Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full me ...

. Hood was Gladstone Professor of Government at

, from 2001 to 2014, and director of the ESRC Research Programme ''Public Services: Quality, Performance and Delivery'' from 2004 to 2010. His books include ''The Limits of Administration'' (1976), ''The Tools of Government'' (1983) (updated as ''The Tools of Government in the Digital Age'' (2007) with

Helen Margetts Helen Zerlina Margetts (born 15 September 1961), is Professor of Internet and Society at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII), University of Oxford and from 2011 to 2018 was Director of the OII. She is currently Director of the Public Policy Prog ...

), '' The Art of the State'' (1998 and 2000) and '' A Government that Worked Better and Cost Less?'' (2015, with Ruth Dixon). He chaired the Nuffield Council on Bioethics' Working Party on ''medical profiling and online medicine'' from 2008 to 2010. He specialised in the study of executive government, regulation and public-sector reform and wrote on New Public Management. Outside his academic work, he was a member of the Gaelic Society of London and of the Gaelic Congregation in London.

Education

Hood obtained a B.A. degree (

first-class honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure used for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied, sometimes with significant var ...

) in Social Sciences from the

University of York The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public Collegiate university, collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thir ...

in 1968, and a B.Litt. degree from the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

in 1971. He was awarded a D.Litt. degree from the University of York in 1987.

Awards

''The Art of the State'' was awarded the 1998 W. J. M. Mackenzie award of the

Political Studies Association The Political Studies Association (PSA) is a learned society in the United Kingdom which exists to develop and promote the study of politics. It is the leading association in its field in the United Kingdom, with an international membership includi ...

. He was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in the 2011 Birthday Honours. ''A Government that Worked Better and Cost Less?'' was awarded the 2015

Louis Brownlow Louis Brownlow (August 29, 1879 – September 27, 1963) was an American author, political scientist, and consultant in the area of public administration. As chairman of the Committee on Administrative Management (better known as the Brownlow Comm ...

Book Award of the National Academy of Public Administration and the 2016 W. J. M. Mackenzie award. In 2017, Hood was awarded an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

(Dr.h.c.) from the

Erasmus University Rotterdam Erasmus University Rotterdam ( ; abbreviated as EUR) is a public research university located in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The university is named after Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a 15th-century Christian humanist and theologian. Erasmus M ...

, "for his contribution to the development of the field of Public Administration in general and in the Netherlands in particular". In 2021 he received the John Gaus award from the Public Administration Section of the

American Political Science Association The American Political Science Association (APSA) is a professional association of political scientists in the United States. Founded in 1903 in the Tilton Memorial Library (now Tilton Hall) of Tulane University in New Orleans, it publishes four ...

. ''The Way the Money Goes'' received the 2025 W. J. M. Mackenzie award.

Death

Hood died in Scotland on 3 January 2025.

Selected bibliography

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References

External links

Home page

Reshaping Executive Government

Explorations in Governance
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hood, Christopher 1947 births 2025 deaths Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford Fellows of the British Academy Gladstone Professors of Government Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Alumni of the University of York Alumni of the University of Glasgow