I teach in both The School of Public Policy and Administration's Bachelor of Public Administration and Master of Public Policy, Administration and Law programs. I am also a faculty member of the Graduate Program in the Department of Political Science. Occasionally, I have also taught and supervised graduate students in other faculties and programs. Topics covered in my recent publications and ongoing research include: media coverage of local politics; the role of academic actors and advice in the public policy process; the impact of the new public management (NPM) and networked governance on the role of ministers; alternative service delivery and bureaucratic organizations. Public Policy areas I have expertise in include health and social policy and public-private partnerships. Geographic areas covered in my past research include Canada, the United States and Western Europe.

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6001-0743

Degrees

Ph.D., Carleton University
M.S.Sc., Stockholm University
B.A. (Hons.), Carleton University

Professional Leadership

• Chair -- 2018 Mildred Schwartz Lifetime Achievement Award Selection Committee -- Canadian Politics Section, American Political Science Association.
  
• Program Committee Member -- Section Chair (Canadian Politics) -- 2017 American Political Science Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco.
  
• Program Committee Member -- Section Co-Chair (Public Administration) -- 2016 Canadian Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Calgary.
  
• Board of Directors Member -- Canadian Association of Programs in Public Administration, 2014 - 2016.
  
• Council Member -- Health Politics and Policy Section, American Political Science Association, 2011-2013.
  

  Community Contributions

  • Member, Board of Directors, Vaughan Social Action Council Jan 2010 to May 2011
    
  • Volunteer, Out of the Cold Emergency Shelters (Yorkminster Park Baptist Church, Toronto) 2006 to 2008
    
  • Volunteer, Stoney Creek Environmental Committee (Burnaby, BC) 2004 to 2006

Research Interests

Current Research Projects

Approach to Teaching

At the undergraduate level I use a mix of methods depending on the level of the course and topic. I place a strong emphasis on assignments that help students to develop their analytical and critical thinking, as well the development of their communications skills and capacity to work in teams. Where possible, I try to include experiential learning exercises, such as policy developmemt simulations, in my undergraduate courses.

Current Graduate Supervisions

• Political Science Graduate Program: 2 Ph.D. Supervisions
• Social and Political Thought: 1 Ph.D. Committee Membership

Current Courses

I teach in both The School of Public Policy and Administration's Bachelor of Public Administration and Master of Public Policy, Administration and Law programs. I am also a faculty member of the Graduate Program in the Department of Political Science. Occasionally, I have also taught and supervised graduate students in other faculties and programs. Topics covered in my recent publications and ongoing research include: media coverage of local politics; the role of academic actors and advice in the public policy process; the impact of the new public management (NPM) and networked governance on the role of ministers; alternative service delivery and bureaucratic organizations. Public Policy areas I have expertise in include health and social policy and public-private partnerships. Geographic areas covered in my past research include Canada, the United States and Western Europe.

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6001-0743

Degrees

Professional Leadership

• Chair -- 2018 Mildred Schwartz Lifetime Achievement Award Selection Committee -- Canadian Politics Section, American Political Science Association.
  
• Program Committee Member -- Section Chair (Canadian Politics) -- 2017 American Political Science Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco.
  
• Program Committee Member -- Section Co-Chair (Public Administration) -- 2016 Canadian Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Calgary.
  
• Board of Directors Member -- Canadian Association of Programs in Public Administration, 2014 - 2016.
  
• Council Member -- Health Politics and Policy Section, American Political Science Association, 2011-2013.
  

  Community Contributions

  • Member, Board of Directors, Vaughan Social Action Council Jan 2010 to May 2011
    
  • Volunteer, Out of the Cold Emergency Shelters (Yorkminster Park Baptist Church, Toronto) 2006 to 2008
    
  • Volunteer, Stoney Creek Environmental Committee (Burnaby, BC) 2004 to 2006

  Research Interests

  Public Administration , Policy, Politics and Government, Health, Civic Literacy, Area Specializations: North America and Western Europe

  Current Research Projects

  dcohn

  Local Black Out in Effect? Media Coverage of Local Suburban Politics

  
  

  Summary:
  

  There has long been concern regarding declining levels of civic literacy, which can be described as the ability to understand political processes such as elections, community consultations, and associational meetings, as well as awareness of these processes. This is said to be a key factor in explaining declining levels of civic participation, such as voting. Research has linked levels of civic literacy to media consumption. Communities with higher levels of newspaper readership tend to have higher levels of civic literacy (see for example Henry Milner, Civic Literacy: How Informed Citizens Make Democracy Work, University Press of New England, 2002). Therefore media consumption and the content of media available to citizens is a key concern for political scientists interested in understanding declining voter turnout rates and especially the consistently low turnout rates for local elections. This research project is concerned with the supply-side of the media-audience relationship. In the Greater Toronto Area and many other large urban areas more people live in suburban municipalities than the core city. Cohn in his 2013 presentation to the Canadian Political Science Association AGM (Local Black Out in Effect?) showed that Canadian newspaper coverage of local elections is weak and worse still does not reflect this population distribution, paying very little attention to local politics outside of core municipalities. This deficiency is seen as a serious challenge for the promotion of civic literacy. The present phase of the project is adding data from a second election for each of the three urban areas studied for Cohn's 2013 paper and also adding data from non-major papers (weekly community papers).

  Project Type: Funded
  Role: P.I.
  
  Funders:
  LAPS [York University] Minor Research Grant
  York University / YUFA Sabbatical Fellowship
  

  Finally a National Childcare Program for Canada: Part I The Creation of a Public Policy Entrepreneurship Eco-System, The GBA+ Bedrock?

  
  

  Summary:
  

  One of the most common approaches to the study of public policy is the multi-stream framework. Actors known as "policy entrepreneurs" play an important role in this approach. The idea of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship is borrowed from the world of business. In the public policy literature, policy entrepreneurship is primarily seen as actions by actors to bring about change in policy by navigating policy proposals through institutions, not as involving efforts to change institutions. This is despite the well-developed position in the business and economic development literature that sees entrepreneurship as being the result of actions by business people and institutions that support those efforts. As a result, governments, including those in Canada, have devoted significant resources to building “eco-systems” of institutions that support innovation and entrepreneurship by businesses. In other areas of the public policy literature, there has long been recognition that public policy requires support in terms of intellectual resources and institutions. Much of this policy capacity literature seeks to evaluate whether or not states have the institutional capacity to generate the evidence that they need to engage in policy-making, evaluate that evidence, and then apply it to the task of policy-making. This project brings the literature on policy entrepreneurship together with the literature on policy capacity, arguing that when policy actors work to create an institutional eco-system capable of generating the evidence necessary to further policy-making on a given issue, to evaluate the evidence and then to put it to work in policy-making, it is policy-entrepreneurship on a meta scale. The present HPRC ethics application deals with the first part of a larger project that will put this theoretical structure to work, by studying the creation of The Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Program (introduced in the 2021 Federal budget). The hypothesis of the entire project is that the successful creation of this program can be explained by the meta policy entrepreneurship undertaken by the Trudeau government in its first six years in power to build a gender-conscious policy entrepreneurship eco-system within the federal government. The first part of the project looks at the creation of the above noted gender-conscious policy entrepreneurship eco-system. The Second part of the project will look at how bureaucrats and politicians used the gender-conscious policy entrepreneurship eco-system, to advance the proposal for the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Program.

  Project Type: Funded
  Role: PI
  
  Funders:
  York University/YUFA Sabbatical Fellowship
  

  All Publications

  
  

  Book Chapters

  
  

  Publication

  Year

  Cohn, D. “Academics and Public Policy.” In Laurent Dobizinskis and Michael Howlett (eds.) Policy Analysis in Canada. Bristol, UK: Policy Press.

  2018

  Heard, A [lead author] and Cohn, D. "The Federal Government Should Stay Involved: The Case for a Strong Federal Role in Health Care," in Mark Charlton and Paul Barker (eds.) Crosscurrents: Contemporary Political Issues, Sixth Canadian Edition, Toronto: Thomson Nelson.

  2009

  Cohn, D. "Academics and Public Policy: Informing Policy-Analysis and Policy-Making," in Laurent Dobuzinskis, Michael Howlett and David Laycock (eds.) Policy Analysis in Canada: The State of the Art, Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

  2007

  Heard, A. [lead author] and D. Cohn. "The Federal Government Should Stay Involved: The Case for a Strong Federal Role in Health Care," in Mark Charlton and Paul Barker (eds.) Crosscurrents: Contemporary Political Issues, Fifth Canadian Edition, Toronto: Thomson Nelson.

  2006

  Cohn, D. "Economic Theory and Changing Conceptions of the Public Interest," in Janine Brodie and Linda Trimble (eds.) Reinventing Canada: Politics of the 21st Century, Scarborough, ON: Prentice Hall/Pearson Educational.

  2003

  Cohn, D. "Organizing Political Influence," in Janine Brodie (ed.) Critical Concepts, An Introduction to Politics, Second Edition, Scarborough, ON: Prentice Hall/Pearson Educational.

  2002

  Cohn, D. "The Canada Health and Social Transfer: Transferring Resources or Moral Authority Between Levels of Government?" in Patrick Fafard and Douglas Brown (eds.), Canada the State of the Federation: 1996, Kingston, Canada: Queen's University Institute of Intergovernmental Relations.

  1996

  S. Hort [lead author] and D. Cohn. Sweden: [A Small but Growing Slice of the Pie for Private Providers]. In N.Johnson (ed.) Private Markets in Health and Welfare: An International Perspective.

  1995

  
  

  Book Reviews

  
  

  Publication

  Year

  Cohn, D. Book Review: Regressive Taxation and the Welfare State: Path Dependence and Policy Diffusion, by Junko Kato. Canadian Journal of Political Science, 38(4).

  2005

  Cohn, D. Book Review: Federalism, Democracy and Health Policy in Canada, by Duane Adams (ed.). Canadian Journal of Political Science, 36(2).

  2003

  Cohn, D. Book Review: Markets and Medicine: the Politics of Health Care Reform in Britain, Germany and the United States, by Susan Giaimo. Perspectives on Politics, 1(4).

  2003

  Cohn, D. Book Review: False Hopes: Overcoming the Obstacles to a Sustainable, Affordable Medicine by Daniel Callahan. Canadian Public Administration, 42(4).

  1999

  Cohn, D. Book Review: Structuring Politics: Historical Institutionalism in Comparative Analysis by Sven Steinmo, Kathleen Thelen and Frank Longstreth (Eds.). Acta Sociologica, 37(4).

  1994

  Cohn, D. Book Review: Planned Markets and Public Competition: Strategic Reform in Northern European Health Systems by Richard B. Saltman and Casten von Otter. Acta Sociologica, 36(2).

  1993

  
  

  Books

  
  

  Publication

  Year

  Cohn, D. Reforming Health Care in Canada and Sweden 1975-1990. Stockholm, Sweden: Stockholm University International Graduate School

  1992

  
  

  Monographs

  
  

  Publication

  Year

  Cohn, D. Jumping into the Political Fray: Academics and Policy-Making, Montreal: Institute for Research on Public Policy. Available online at: https://irpp.org/research-studies/policy-matters-vol7-no3/

  2006

  
  

  Journal Articles

  
  

  Publication

  Year

  Cohn, D. "Under What Conditions are Ministers Able to 'Let Go' in Westminster-style Political Systems? Evidence from Ontario." Zeitschrift fur Offentliche und Gemeinwirtschaftaftliche Unternehmen (Journal of Public and Nonprofit Services), 39(1-2), pp. 65-76.

  2016

  Cohn, D. [Lead Author] , L. Foster and I. Green. "Learning from History: Program Reviews and Public Safety." Policy Options (February), pp.64-68.

  2011

  Cohn, D. "British Columbia's Capital Assets Framework: Moving from Transactional to Transformative Leadership on Public-Private Partnerships, or a 'Railroad Job?'" Canadian Public Administration, 51(1), pp.71-96.

  2008

  Cohn, D. "The New Public Autonomy? Public-Private Partnerships in a Multi-Level, Multi-Accountable, Political Environment: The Case of British Columbia, Canada." Policy & Society, 27(1), pp. 29-42.

  2008

  Cohn, D. "Transformative Change and Measuring Success: Public-Private Partnerships in British Columbia, 2001-2005." Revue Gouvernance, 3(2), pp. 1-20.

  2006

  Cohn, D. "Canadian Medicare, is there a Potential for Loyalty? Evidence from Alberta." Canadian Journal of Political Science, 38(2), pp.415-433.

  2005

  Cohn, D. "The Best of Intentions, Potentially Harmful Policies: A Comparative Study of Scholarly Complexity and Failure." Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis, 6(1), pp.39-56.

  2004

  Cohn, D. "The Public-Private-Partnership `Fetish': Moving beyond the Rhetoric." Revue Gouvernance 1(2), pp.2-24.

  2004

  Scott-Findlay, S. [lead author] , C. A. Estabrooks, D. Cohn, and C. Pollock. "Nursing Human Resource Policy in Alberta, What Went Wrong." Policy, Politics and Nursing Practice, 3(4), pp.348-357.

  2002

  Cohn, D. "No Place to Hide: The Unfeasibility of Using an Independent Expert Commission as a Blame Avoidance Mechanism in Westminster Polities, The Case of the Ontario Health Services Restructuring Commission." Canadian Public Administration, 44(1), pp.26-46.

  2001

  Cohn, D. "Creating Crises and Avoiding Blame: The Politics of Public Service Reform and the New Public Management in Great Britain and the United States." Administration and Society, 29(5), pp. 584-616.

  1997

  
  

  Professional Journal Articles

  
  

  Publication

  Year

  Cohn, D. (2007) Academics and Public Policy: Keep it Simple and Keep it Coming. Academic Matters: The Journal of Higher Education, October, pp.18-19.

  2007

  
  

  Conference Papers

  
  

  Publication

  Year

  Cohn, D. (2023) Bureaucratic Autonomy in Decision-Making for Adding New Oncology Medications to Public Drug Benefit Plans in Canada. International Conference on Public Policy 6 (International Public Policy Association).

  2023

  Cohn, D. (2023) Legislating Bureaucratic Autonomy as a Potential Blame Avoidance Strategy in Westminster Polities: A Comparative Study of the Adoption of Oncology Drugs into the Provincial Formularies of Alberta and Ontario. Canadian Political Science Association Annual Meeting.

  2023

  Cohn, D. (2016) Canadian Public Administration after the Era of Anti-Interventionism. Canadian Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Calgary, AB.

  2016

  Cohn, D. (2016) Reconciliation between Aboriginal People and Police Services in the Greater Toronto Area. Canadian Association of Programs in Public Administration Annual Meeting, Quebec City, QC.

  2016

  Cohn, D. (2015) Chaoulli Ten Years On: Still About Nothing? The Canadian political Science Association Annual Meeting, Ottawa, ON.

  2015

  Cohn, D. (2015) Managing Organizations vs. Managing by Contract. Canadian Association of Programs in Public Administration Annual Meeting, Toronto, ON.

  2015

  Cohn, D. (2014) Under what Conditions are Ministers Able to "Let Go" in a Westminster Political System: Evidence from Ontario. International Public Management Symposium, Dresden, Germany.

  2014

  Cohn, D. (2014) Walkerton and "Best Practices". Canadian Association of Programs in Public Administration Annual Meeting, Kingston, ON.

  2014

  Cohn, D. (2013) Local Blackout in Effect? Newspaper Coverage of Municipal Elections in Three Major Canadian Urban Areas and the Impact on Civic Literacy. The Canadian Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Victoria, BC.

  2013

  Cohn, D. (2012) lead author, with Peter P. Constantinou, Wanted Effective Representation and why Elected Officials do not Answer the Job Ad. The American Political Science Association Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (Paper Available via SSRN: Conference Cancelled due to Hurricane Issac).

  2012

  Cohn, D. (2012) States, the Sharing Community and the Negotiations Culture in the making of the Present Financial Crisis in Europe. Workshop 23: "Economic Ideas and the Political Construction of Financial Crisis and Reform." European Consortium for Political Research Joint Workshops Sessions, Antwerp, Belgium.

  2012

  Cohn, D. (2010) Chaoulli Five Years On: All Bark and No Bite? The Canadian Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Montreal, QC.

  2010

  Cohn, D. (2010) Here we grow again! The limits of state financial crises as drivers for policy change, the case of Canadian publicly funded health care, evidence from Ontario. The Midwest Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL.

  2010

  Cohn, D. (2010) Population Health at the Climate Change Crossroads. The American Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Washington, DC.

  2010

  Cohn, D. (2009) Public-Private Partnerships: Is There Anything Left to Learn? School of Public Policy & Administration Lunch Talk Series, York University: Toronto, ON.

  2009

  Cohn, D. (2008) Public-Private Partnership: Steering Not Rowing: The Merits and Demerits of Public-Private Partnerships. McLaughlin College Lunch Talks, York University: Toronto, ON.

  2008

  Cohn, D. (2007) The New Public Autonomy? Public-Private Partnerships in a Multi-Level, Multi-Accountable, Political Environment: The Case of British Columbia, Canada. The European Group for Public Administration Annual Meeting (Working Group on Intergovernmental Affairs): Madrid, Spain.

  2007

  Cohn, D. (2006) British Columbia's Capital Assets Framework: Guidelines or a Public-Private Partnerships Railroad Job? The Canadian Political Science Association Annual Meeting: Toronto, ON.

  2006

  Cohn, D. (2006) Show Me the Money! Design Build Finance Operate Public-Private Partnerships in British Columbia Canada. The New York State Political Science Association Annual Meeting: New York, NY.

  2006

  Cohn, D. (2005) Academic Scholars and Public Policy: Confronting the Problems Created by Differing Understandings of the Importance of “Context.” Responsibilities of Citizenship and Public Service: Crisis or Challenge. A Conference organized by the Trudeau Foundation and the Institute for Research on Public Policy (Nov 10-12): Glendon College, Toronto ON.

  2005

  Cohn, D. (2005) . "Methodologies of Difference: Knowing When and Where it is Worth Paying the Price to Maintain Distinctiveness in a North America Experiencing Neoliberal Regionalization." Burnaby: Simon Fraser University Centre for Global Political Economy.

  2005

  Cohn, D. (2005) . "Out-of-Pocket Health Expenditures in Alberta and British Columbia: The Role of Sub-National Politics," a paper presented to The Canadian Political Science Association Annual Meeting: London, ON.

  2005

  Cohn, D. (2003) . "Party Discipline in Canadian Federal Politics," a paper presented to The Biennial Meeting of the Association for Canadian Studies in the United States: Portland, Or.

  2003

  Cohn, D. (2002) . "A Rational Basis for Unsustainable Fiscal Policy in "Have" Provinces with Neoliberal Governments: Evidence from Ontario," a paper presented to The Canadian Political Science Association Annual Meeting: Toronto, ON.

  2002

  Cohn, D. (2002) . "The Best of Intentions, the Worst of Policies: A Comparative Study of Scholarly Complexity and Failure," a paper presented to The American Political Science Association Annual Meeting: Boston, MA.

  2002

  Cohn, D. (2000) . "Blame Canada! U.S. Acceptance of Neoliberal Hemispheric Integration, The Role of Policy Communities," a paper presented to The International Political Science Association Meetings: Quebec City, PQ.

  2000

  Cohn, D. (2000) . "The Role of Politics in Shaping Popular Preferences for Different Levels of Taxation and Public Services: Results from a Survey of Alberta Professionals," a paper presented to The Canadian Political Science Association and Quebec Political Science Association Joint Annual Meeting: Quebec City, PQ.

  2000

  Cohn, D. (1999) . "Efficient and more Equitable? The Delegation of Authority to Determine Facility Closings in a Public Medical Health Care System: A Case Study of Ontario, Canada," a paper presented to The Mid-West Political Science Association Annual Meeting: Chicago, IL.

  1999

  Cohn, D. (1998) . "The Political Legacy of Neoconservative Rhetoric and Governance: Preliminary Results from Canada and the United States," a paper presented to The Annual Meeting of the Canadian Political Science Association: Ottawa, ON.

  1998

  Cohn, D. (1997) . "The Applicability of Three Theories of State Elites in Recent Canadian Politics: Or Does the Socio-Economic Background of Decision Makers Have an Impact?" a paper presented to The Annual Meeting of the Canadian Political Science Association: St. John's, NFLD.

  1997

  Cohn, D. (1996) . "Creating Crises and Avoiding Blame: The Politics of Public Service Reform and the New Public Management," a paper presented to The 50th New York State Political Science Association Conference: Ithaca, NY.

  1996

  Cohn, D. (1995) . "Differentiating Public and Private Administration," a paper presented to The 49th New York State Political Science Association Conference: New York, NY.

  1995

  
  

  Conference Proceedings

  
  

  Publication

  Year

  Cohn, D. jointly with M. Howlett (lead editor), P.J. Smith and Anil (Andy) Hira (Eds.). (2003) . Diversity 21st Century Challenges : Proceedings of the British Columbia Political Studies Association Annual Conference, vol.9.

  2003

  
  

  Policy Papers

  
  

  Publication

  Year

  Cohn, D. (2002) . Regionalization in a Neoliberal Era: Risks and Opportunities for Canada. a brief for The House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Public Hearings on North American Integration, Vancouver, British Columbia, May 7th.

  2002

  
  

  Other

  
  

  Publication

  Year

  Cohn, D. RBC's Political Blunder. The Toronto Star 19 April, p. A23.

  2013

  Cohn, D. [Lead Author] and Peter P. Constantinou. Ford, Hudak and Harper, Friends with Benefits? The Mark News 12 January.

  2011

  Cohn, D. [Lead Author] and Peter P. Constantinou. Cabinet and the Existential Crisis of the Centre-Right. The Mark News 12 January.

  2011

  Cohn, D. Libre opinion: Les universitaires dans la vie publique (Free Ideas: Academics in Public Life), Le Devoir, 13 julliet, p.A6.

  2006

  Cohn, D. The Truth about Sweden: Proponents of Private Medicine Told Everyone the Socialist Country was Embracing For-Profit Hospitals, But Now We Know it Wasn't True. Ottawa Citizen, 19 October,p.B7.

  2002

  Cohn, D. Public Drug Plans Save Money. Nanaimo Daily News. 5 October, p.A6.

  2001

  Cohn, D. Bill 11 Won't Reduce Costs or Waiting Lists. Edmonton Journal, 14 April, p. A19.

  2000

  
  

  Approach to Teaching

  
  

  At the undergraduate level I use a mix of methods depending on the level of the course and topic. I place a strong emphasis on assignments that help students to develop their analytical and critical thinking, as well the development of their communications skills and capacity to work in teams. Where possible, I try to include experiential learning exercises, such as policy developmemt simulations, in my undergraduate courses.

  Current Graduate Supervisions

  • Political Science Graduate Program: 2 Ph.D. Supervisions
  • Social and Political Thought: 1 Ph.D. Committee Membership
  
  

  Current Courses

  Term	Course Number	Section	Title	Type
  Fall/Winter 2024	AP/PPAS3190 6.0	A	Public Administration	LECT
  Fall/Winter 2024	AP/PPAS3190 6.0	C	Public Administration	ONLN