Founding Dean, College of Public Policy, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha, Qatar.
BA, Joint Honours in Political Science and Sociology (Mount Allison University, Canada)
MA in Political Science (Queen’s University, Canada)
PhD in Political Science (Queen’s University, Canada)
Leslie’s research uniquely engages public administration and public policy from both a rich theoretical as well as practical perspective. Currently he is working on global policy advisory systems and networks, and how they inform both global policy-making as well as domestic government policies. As well, he is a lead investigator on major project on SDGs and global citizenship funded by the Qatar National Research Fund.
The focus of my work has always been on public policy, but it is no longer possible to think of domestic policy arenas as distinct from international ones. Policy issues now get processed and implemented in complex ways that certainly continue to engage governments and states, but now include international organizations, transnational NGOs and civil society, think tanks, foundation, consultants, and even academic communities. How these networks operate (or don’t), and how they contribute to global governance (or don’t) is a central issue in trying to understand contemporary governance. My current research explores the nature of policy advice to governments, and how that advice cycles through global networks. Since the 2008 financial crisis, for example, the G20 has emerged as a global steering mechanism for economic, social, and other policies, and increasingly relies on global networks of think tanks and other advisors to clarify problems, issues, and coordinated responses. These processes of policy advice are part of a lager phenomenon of policy transfer, of how models of policy and governance travel across jurisdictions at the global level, and become benchmarks for policy-making at the domestic level.
Selected Publications
Informing Action: Higher Education Countering Violent Extremism (Doha, Qatar: Hamad Bin Khalifa University Press, 2021).
Beyond Policy Analysis: Public Issue Management in Turbulent Times (6th ed., with Graeme Auld and Alexandra Mallett). (Toronto: Top Hat, 2020).
Global Governance and Muslim Organizations. (co-edited with M. E. Tok) (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018).
Public Policy Transfer: Micro-Dynamics and Macro-Effects. (co-edited with M. Hadjiisky and C. Walker) (Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2017).
Policy-Making in a Transformative State: The Case of Qatar. (co-edited with M.E. Tok and L. Alkhater) (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016).
Frontiers of Governance: The OECD and Global Public Management Reform. (Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012).
Funded Research
“SDG Education and Global Citizenship in Qatar: Enhancing Qatar’s Nested Power in the Global Arena.” Sub-Project. Qatar National Research Fund, $4,500,000. 2021-2026
“Global Policy Advisory Systems: Patterns, Trajectories, and Impacts.” Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Standard Grant, $184,000. 2017-2022