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Dr. Bryan Evans

Prof. Bryan Evans PhD

Director, Centre for Policy Innovation and Public Engagement
DepartmentPolitics
EducationPhD (Political Science): York (Can.
Phone(416) 979-5000 x 4199

 

Biography:

Bryan Evans is Full Professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at Ryerson University and a member of the Yeates School of Graduate Studies. In addition to a PhD in Political Science from York University, he holds a Master of Arts from York University and a Bachelor of Arts from Laurentian University.

Dr. Evans joined the faculty of Ryerson's Department of Politics and Public Administration in August 2003, however, his association with the Department, as a sessional instructor and member of the Department's Advisory Council goes back to the early 1990s. Prior to his appointment to a tenure-stream position, Bryan enjoyed a diverse career as a researcher, policy advisor and senior manager spanning several public sector organizations including the Ontario Legislative Assembly, the Ontario Public Service and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board.

Research Interests:

Dr. Evans' teaching and research interests focus on public service leadership, the politics and public management of neoliberalization, the effect of privatization on public sector employment and the quality of public services, policy capacity, and provincial government and politics.  His publications reflect this research agenda and most notably, Shrinking the State, co-authored with Dr. John Shields, is regarded as a path-breaking contribution toward a critical understanding of the new public management and public sector restructuring.

Current research projects include: “Policy Work in the Provinces: The 'Production' of Policy Analysis and Advice in Canada's Provincial Public Services”, a SSHRC funded ($132,000) research project;  green energy policies as part of a $1 million SSHRC-CURA grant (Work in a Warming World) lead by Dr. Carla Lipsig-Mumme (York University); changing roles of labour ministries; privatization of public services delivery; and the politics and policy of austerity in the post ‘rescue’ period.

Professional Affiliations:

Professor Evans integrates his research with various political, professional and community activities. He has served as an elected faculty representative on Ryerson's Board of Governors and has been a regular media commentator on provincial politics. On 28 March 2012, for example, he appeared on The Agenda with Steve Paikin (TVO) to discuss The Politics of Austerity (external link) . He currently serves as an advisor to the Institute of Public Administration of Canada’s (IPAC) annual survey of deputy ministers and chief administrative officers, and was a member of the IPAC’s Research Committee and Editor of the Case Study Series. In addition, he is a member of the editorial boards of the following journals: Administrative Sciences (external link) ; Alternate Routes: A Journal of Critical Social Research (external link) ; and Socialist Studies: The Journal of the Society of Socialist Studies (external link) .  In addition he is a member of the editorial board of Relay: A Socialist Project Review (external link) , a quarterly magazine of political analysis and commentary.

In 2009, Bryan was appointed to the board of directors of the Centre for Social Justice (external link) .

Spoken Languages:

English

Selected Publications:

Forthcoming publications include:

  • The Austerity State (ed. with Stephen McBride).  Toronto: University of Toronto Press, forthcoming.
  • Austerity: The Lived Experience (ed. with Stephen McBride).  Toronto: University of Toronto Press, forthcoming.
  • "The Living Wage Movement in Canada: Responses to Low Wage Work" (with Carlo Fanelli). In Reading Sociology: A Canadian Sociological Association Reader, 3rd ed., ed. Lorne Tepperman and Patrizia Albanese.  Toronto: Oxford University Press (forthcoming).
  • From Pragmatism to Neoliberalism: The Remaking of Ontario's Politics and Administrative State.  Toronto: University of Toronto Press (forthcoming).

Publications include:

  • “Policy Analysis and the Voluntary Sector” (with Juniper Glass and Adam Wellstead). In Routledge Handbook of Comparative Policy Analysis, ed. Marleen Brans , Iris Geva-May and Michael Howlett, 291-305.  New York And London:  Routledge, 2017. 
  • “Alternatives to the Low Waged Economy: Living Wage Movements in Canada and the United States.”  Austerity, Urbanism, and the Social Economy – Alternate Routes: A Journal of Critical Social Research 28 (2017):  80-113.
  • “Policy Dialogue and Engagement between Non-Government Organizations and Government: A Survey of Processes and Instruments of Canadian Policy Workers” (with Adam Wellstead).   In Policy Work in Canada, Michael Howlett, Adam Wellstead and Jonathan Craft, ed., 241-264.  Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2017.
  • “The Commanding Heights of Power and Politics in Ontario.”  In The Politics of Ontario, ed. Cheryl Collier and Jonathan Malloy, 100-117.  Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2017.
  • “Foreword.” In Beyond the Welfare State: Postwar Social Settlement and Public Pension Policy in Canada and Australia by Sirvan Karimi, ix-x. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2016.
  • “A Survey of the Living Wage Movement in Canada: Prospects and Challenges” (with Carlo Fanelli).  Interface: A Journal For and About Social Movements 8:1 (2016.): 77-96.
  • “Co-constructing Performance Indicators in Home and Community Care: Assessing the Role of NGOs in Three Canadian Provinces (external link) ” (with Janet Lum and John Shields).  Canadian Journal of Nonprofit and Social Economy Research/Revue canadienne de recherche sur les OBSL et l’économie sociale 7:1 (2016): 46-73.
  • “Canadian Dimension and the 'Other' Ontario: Radical Reportage Through Four Transformative Decades.”  In Canada Since 1960: A People’s History, ed. Cy Gonick, 423-433.  Toronto: James Lorimer and Co. Ltd.
  • “The Policy Role of Non-Government Actors: In From The Cold?” (with Adam Wellstead).  Canadian Government Executive 22:2 (02 February 2016) (external link) : 10-11.
  • “Election 2015 and Canada’s Public Services.  In  (PDF file) 2015 Canadian Election Analysis: Communication, Strategy, and Democracy (external link) , ed. Alex Marland and Thierry Giasson, 96-97.  Vancouver: UBC Press/Samara, 2015.
  • “Are Non-government Policy Actors Being Heard? Assessing New Public Governance” (with Halina Sapeha). Canadian Public Administration 58:2 (June 2015): 249-270.
  • “Policy formulation, policy advice and policy appraisal: The distribution of analytical tools” (with Michael Howlett, Seck L. Tan, Andrea Migone, and Adam Wellstead). In The Tools of Policy Formulation: Actors, Capacities, Venues and Effects, ed. Andrew J. Jordan and John R. Turnpenny, 163-183.  Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc., 2015.
  • Transforming Provincial Politics: The Political Economy of Canada’s Provinces and Territories in the Neoliberal Era, ed. (with Charles W. Smith). Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2015.
    • “The Transformation of Ontario Politics: The Long Ascent of Neoliberalism” (with Charles W. Smith). In Transforming Provincial Politics: The Political Economy of Canada’s Provinces and Territories in the Neoliberal Era, ed. Bryan M. Evans and Charles W. Smith, 162-191. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2015.
  • “The rise of Europe’s new Left (external link) .”  OpenCanada.org.  Canadian International Council / Conseil International du Canada, 23 February 2015.
  • Neoliberalism and the Degradation of Education  – Alternate Routes: A Journal of Critical Social Research 26 (2015).  Yearly edition (co-edited with Carlo Fanelli). Edmonton: Athabasca University Press, 2015.
    • "Capitalism in the Classroom: The Commodification of Education” (with Carlo Fanelli).  Neoliberalism and the Degradation of Education  – Alternate Routes: A Journal of Critical Social Research 26 (2015): 11-22.
  • “Tales of Policy Estrangement: Non-governmental Policy Work and Capacity in Three Canadian Provinces” [with Adam Wellstead (Michigan Technological University)]. Canadian Journal of Nonprofit and Social Economy Research 5:2 (2014): 7-28.
  • Transforming Provincial Politics: The Political Economy of Canada's Provinces and Territories in the Era of Neoliberalism (ed. with Charles Smith).  Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2014.
  • “Social Democracy in the New Age of Austerity.” In Orchestrating Austerity: Impacts and Resistance, ed. Donna Baines and Stephen McBride, 79-90.  Halifax: Fernwood Publishing, 2014.
  • Contemporary Policy Work in Subnational States and NGOs.” A special edition (guest edited with Arnošt Veselý), Policy and Society: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Policy Research 33:2 (2014).
    • “Nonprofit engagement with provincial policy officials: The case of NGO policy voice in Canadian immigrant settlement services” (with John Shields). Policy and Society 33:2 (2014): 77-87
    • “Contemporary policy work in subnational governments and NGOs: Comparing evidence from Australia, Canada and the Czech Republic” (with Arnošt Veselý). Policy and Society 33:2 (2014): 103-15.
    • “Comparing sub-national policy workers in Canada and the Czech Republic: Who are they, what do they do, and why does it matter?” (with Arnošt Veselý and Adam Wellstead). Policy and Society 33:2 (2014): 117-127.
  • “The distribution of analytical techniques in policy advisory systems: Policy formulation and the tools of policy appraisal” [with Michael Howlett (Simon Fraser), Seck L. Tan (National University of Singapore), Andrea Migone (Simon Fraser), and Adam Wellstead (Michigan Technological University). Public Policy and Administration 29:4 (October 2014): 271-291.
  • “From “Gurus” to Chief Executives? The Contestable Transformation of Ontario’s Deputy Ministers, 1971 to 2007” (with Janet Lum and Duncan MacLellan).  Ch. 6 in Deputy Ministers in Canada: Comparative and Jurisdictional Perspectives, ed. Jacques Bourgault and Christopher Dunn, 148-200.  IPAC Series in Public Management and Governance.  Toronto:  University of Toronto Press, 2014.
  • “A Canada-wide Survey of Deputy and Assistant Deputy Ministers: A Descriptive Analysis” (with Janet Lum and John Shields).  Ch. 12 in Deputy Ministers in Canada: Comparative and Jurisdictional Perspectives, ed. Jacques Bourgault and Christopher Dunn, 324 – 363.  IPAC Series in Public Management and Governance.  Toronto:  University of Toronto Press, 2014.
  • Climate Change and Its Discontents – Alternate Routes: A Journal of Critical Social Research 25 (2014).  Yearly edition (co-edited with Carlo Fanelli).
    • “Climate Change and its Discontents” (with Carlo Fanelli).  Editorial introduction to Climate Change and Its Discontents – Alternate Routes: A Journal of Critical Social Research 25 (2014): 9-12.
  • "The Commodification of Public Services” (Review Essay). Work Organization, Labour and Globalization 7:1 (2013): 149-152.
  • “When Your Boss is the State.” In Public Sector Unions in the Age of Austerity, ed. Stephanie Ross and Larry Savage, 18-30. Halifax: Fernwood Publishing, 2013.
  • “Policy Dialogue and Engagement between Non-Governmental Organizations and Government: A Survey of Processes and Instruments of Canadian Policy Workers” [with Adam Wellstead (Michigan Technological University)]. Central European Journal of Public Policy 7:1 (June 2013): 60-87.
  • Great Recession-Proof?:  Shattering the Myth of Canadian Exceptionalism – Alternate Routes: A Journal of Critical Social Research 24 (2013). Yearly edition (co-edited with Carlo Fanelli).
  • “Trends in Australian and Canadian Public Service Perceptions from an Employee Survey Perspective” [with Catherine Althaus (University of Victoria, AUS) and Emily Rathbone (University of Victoria, AUS)]. Australian Journal of Public Administration 71:4 (2012): 423-439.
  • “Building a Policy-Oriented Research Partnership for Knowledge Mobilization and Knowledge Transfer: The Case of the Canadian Metropolis Project” (with John Shields).  Administrative Sciences 2:4 (2012): 250-272.
  • “Poverty Reduction Strategies: What a Difference an Economic Crisis Makes” (with Andrew Mitchell).  Canadian Review of Social Policy / Revue Canadienne de Politique Social 65/66 (2011) : i-xi.
  • Social Democracy after the Cold War, ed. (with Ingo Schmidt). Edmonton: Athabasca University Press, 2012.  [Reviewed by Max Crook, Capital and Class 37:2 (June 2013): 341-43.]
    • “Introduction:  The New Social Democracy.” In Social Democracy after the Cold War, ed. Bryan Evans and Ingo Schmidt, 1-11. Edmonton: Athabasca University Press, 2012.
    • “From Protest Movement to Neoliberal Management: Canada’s New Democratic Party in the Era of Permanent Austerity.”  In Social Democracy after the Cold War, ed. Bryan Evans and Ingo Schmidt, 45-98. Edmonton: Athabasca University Press, 2012.
  • “The New Democratic Party in the Era of Neoliberalism.”  In Re-Thinking the Politics of Labour in Canada, ed. Stephanie Ross and Larry Savage, 48-61.  Halifax: Fernwood Publishing, 2012.
  • Organizing for Austerity: The Neoliberal State, Regulating Labour, and Working Class Resistance (with Ian Hussey, eds.).  Special edition of Socialist Studies: The Journal of the Society for Socialist Studies 7:1/2 (2011).
  • “Policy Opinions of Canada’s Top Public Service Leaders (external link) ” (with Janet M. Lum and John Shields).  Public Sector Digest (external link) , July 2011.
  • “The Changing Profile of Canada’s Top Public Service Leaders (external link) ” (with Janet M. Lum and John Shields). Public Sector Digest (external link) , June 2011.
  • “Assessing policy capacity in Canada's public services: Perspectives of deputy and assistant deputy ministers” (with Tuna Baskoy and John Shields).  Canadian Public Administration 54:2 (June 2011): 217–234.
  • “From Pragmatism to Neoliberalism: Ontario’s hesitant Farewell to Dr. Keynes” (with John Shields).  In The Guardian: Perspectives on the Ministry of Finance of Ontario, ed. Patrice Dutil, 131-161.  Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2011.
  • “Permanent Austerity: The Politics of the Canadian Exit Strategy from Fiscal Stimulus” (with Gregory Albo).  Alternate Routes: A Journal of Critical Social Research 22 (2011): 7-28.  Saving Global Capitalism: Interrogating Austerity and Working Class Responses to Crises, eds. Carlo Fanelli, Chris Hurl, Priscilia Lefebre and Gulden Ozcan.  Ottawa: Red Quill Books.
  • “From Rescue Strategies To Exit Strategies: The Struggle Over Public Sector Austerity” (with Gregory Albo).  In Socialist Register 47 (2011): The Crisis This Time, ed. Leo Panitch, Greg Albo and Vivek Chibber, 283-308.  Pontypools, Wales: Merlin Press, 2010.
  • “The Third Sector and the Provision of Public Good: Partnerships, Contracting and the Neo-liberal State” (with John Shields). In The Handbook of Canadian Public Administration, 2nd ed., ed. Christopher Dunn, 305-318. Toronto:  Oxford University Press, 2010.
  • Review of Regulating Flexibility: The Political Economy of Employment Standards, Mark P. Thomas. Socialist Studies: The Journal of the Society for Socialist Studies 5:2 (Fall 2009): 163-65.
  • “Ontario’s Budgetary Dilemmas: Exit Strategies and Neoliberalism” (with Greg Albo).  The Bullet 266 (external link) , 26 October 2009.
  • “An End to Neoliberalism? Ontario Responds to the Crisis” (with Greg Albo ).   (PDF file) Relay: A Socialist Project Review 27 (external link)  (Jul-Sep 2009): 4-6.
  • “ (PDF file) Some Preliminary Findings on Government Policy Capacity from a Survey of Senior Public Policy Professionals” (with Janet Lum and John Shields).  Ryerson Policy Capacity Report 1 (July 2009): 1-11.
  • “Election 2008:  Five Parties and Few Options,” Outlook: Canada's Progressive Jewish Magazine 46:5 (Sept-Oct 2008): 5-6.
  • “Capacity, Complexity, and Leadership: Secretaries to Cabinet and Ontario’s Project of Modernization at the Centre.”  In Searching for Leadership: Secretaries to Cabinet in Canada, ed. Patrice Dutil, 121-160.  Toronto:  University of Toronto Press, 2008.
  • “Knowledge Mobilization/Transfer, Research Partnerships, and Policymaking: Some Conceptual and Practical Considerations” (with John Shields).  (PDF file) Policy Matters (external link)  33 (April 2008): 1-13. A report of CERIS – The Ontario Metropolis Centre.
  • “The Poverty of Ontario’s Liberals: The 2008 Budget.” The Bullet 92 (external link)  (29 March 2008).
  • “Taxes and the forward march of Neoliberalism.” The Bullet 84 (external link)  (29 February 2008). Reprinted by rabble.ca, Canadian Dimension (external link)  online, and by Global Research.ca (external link) .
  • “Capacity, Complexity and Leadership: Secretaries to Cabinet and Ontario’s Project of Modernization at the Centre.” In Leadership Lessons of Secretaries to Cabinet, Patrice Dutil, ed. Toronto: University of Toronto Press/IPAC, 2008 (Forthcoming).
  • “Profiling of the Public Service Élite: A Demographic and Career Trajectory Survey of Deputy and Assistant Deputy Ministers in Canada” (with Janet Lum and John Shields). Canadian Public Administration 50:4 (Winter 2007): 609-634.
  • “ ’One Ontario’ Under Neoliberalism.” Canadian Dimension (January/February 2008): 21-24.
  • “Limited Horizons: Assessing Ontario’s Election” (with Greg Albo).  (PDF file) Relay: A Socialist Project Review 20 (external link)  (November/December. 2007): 4-7. Also in Europe: solidaire sans frontiers (external link) , 11 January 2008. Translated by David Mandel as “Des horizons limités: Les élections ontariennes et ce qui suit (external link) ” in Presse-toi-a-gauche 15 January 2008.
  • “Ontario Budget 2007: Liberals Not in a Hurry.”  (PDF file) Relay: A Socialist Project Review 17 (external link)  (May-June 2007): 32-33.
  • “Four Years of Ontario’s Liberals.”  (PDF file) Relay: A Socialist Project Review 16 (external link)  (Mar-Apr 2007): 7-9.
  • “In from the Margins: The Dutch Socialist Party.”  (PDF file) Relay: A Socialist Project Review 16 (external link)  (Mar-Apr 2007): 18-19.
  • “Echoes of the 1930s: Today’s Hotel Workers Lead the Struggle to ’Upgrade’ the Service Economy” (with Sedef Arat-Koç and Aparna Sundar). Relay: A Socialist Project Review (Jan.-Feb. 2007): 16-17. [Reprinted (external link)  by MRzine (On-line Monthly Review), March 15, 2007]
  • Review of Ruling Canada: Corporate Cohesion and Democracy by Jamie Brownlee. Socialist Studies: The Journal of the Society for Socialist Studies 2:2 (Fall 2006): 113-116.
  • “Renewing Democracy in Ontario – From the Top Down.”  (PDF file) Relay: A Socialist Project Review 14 (external link)  (Nov-Dec 2006): 4-6.
  • “This Election will Not End the Impasse of Canadian Democracy” (with Greg Albo).  (PDF file) Relay: A Socialist Project Review 9 (external link)  (Jan-Feb 2006): 4-5.
  • “The Election and Canadian Democracy.” MRzine (on-line Monthly Review) 01 Dec 2005.
  • “Structuring Neoliberal Governance: The Nonprofit Sector, Emerging New Modes of Control and the Marketization of Service Delivery” (with Ted Richmond and John Shields). Policy and Society (Australia) 24:1 (Fall 2005): 73-97.
  • “How the State Changes its Mind: A Gramscian Account of Ontario’s Managerial Culture Change.” Philosophy of Management Special Edition, Marx, Marxism and Global Management 5:2 (2005): 47-68.
  • “CBC and Hydro Workers Defending Good Jobs: Employers Seek to Create a Workforce of Excluded.”  (PDF file) Relay: A Socialist Project Review 8 (external link)  (Nov-Dec 2005): 11-12.
  • “Ontario and the New Competitiveness Agenda.”  (PDF file) Relay: A Socialist Project Review 6 (external link)  (PDF file)  (external link)  (Jul-Aug 2005): 10-11.
  • “The Empire and Neoliberalism: Here, There and Everywhere.”  (PDF file) Relay: A Socialist Project Review 5 (external link)  (PDF file)  (external link) (May-Jun 2005): 10-11.
  • "Capacity, Complexity and Leadership: Secretaries to Cabinet and Ontario's Project of Modernization at the Centre." Institute of Public Administration of Canada Special Conference, Leadership Lessons of Secretaries to Cabinet. Toronto: 12 May 2005.
  • “Now that the Federal Election is Over…Lessons and Challenges.”  (PDF file) Relay: A Socialist Project Review 1 (external link)  (PDF file)  (external link) (Aug-Sep 2004): 4-5.
  • Review of The Politics of Public Management: The HRDC Audit of Grants and Contributions, by David A. Good, Canadian Journal of Political Science 37:4 (December 2004): 1022-1023.
  • “Old Endings, New Beginnings: Socialist Realignments,” Canadian Dimension 38:3 (May-Jun 2004): 17-20.
  • “World Public Sector Report: Globalization and the State 2001,” Canadian Public Administration 46:2 (Summer 2003): 281-284.
  • “The poverty of comparative public administration in a neo-liberal era: a commentary on Subramanium” (with John Shields). International Review of Administrative Sciences 67:2 (June 2001): 329-334.
  • “The Third Sector, Neo-liberal Restructuring and ‘Partnerships:' Governance and the Re-making of State-Civil Society Relationships” (with John Shields). In Oxford Handbook of Canadian Public Administration, ed. Chris Dunn, 139-158. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2002.
  • “Globalization and the Challenge to Canadian Democracy: National Governance under Threat” (with Stephen McBride and John Shields). In Restructuring and Resistance: Canadian Public Policy in an Age of Global Capitalism , ed. Mike Burke, Colin Mooers, and John Shields, 80-97. Halifax: Fernwood Publishing, 2000.
  • Neoliberal Restructuring and the Third Sector: Reshaping Governance, Civil Society and Local Relations (with John Shields). Centre for Voluntary Sector Studies Working Paper No. 13. Toronto: Ryerson University CVSS, July 2000.
  • 'Reinventing' the Third Sector: Alternative Service Delivery, Partnerships and the New Public Administration of the Canadian Post-Welfare State (with John Shields). Centre for Voluntary Sector Studies Working Paper No. 9. Toronto: Ryerson University CVSS, May 1998.