It is with deep sadness that we grieve the loss of our colleague and friend, Professor Christopher Hood, who passed away in Scotland on 3rd January 2025.

Christopher was perhaps the most distinguished scholar of public administration of his generation. He is best known for coining the term ‘New Public Management’ to describe the profound changes in public sector management practices that many industrialised countries experienced in the 1980s and 1990s. And yet, while his article on this subject in 1991 became one of the most highly cited in the field and prompted a line of research into the ‘paradigms’ of public administration that continues to this day, Christopher revolutionised the study of executive government and public administration far more widely.

From his earliest thinking on administrative dilemmas and bureau-pathologies, to his studies of rhetoric and regulation (including regulation inside government), to public service bargains, transparency, and blame games, Christopher developed innovative theoretical, conceptual, and empirical tools that he – and countless others – found helpful in answering the ‘big questions’ of contemporary political science. Christopher himself considered his work on the cultural biases of organisations (published in 1998 as The Art of the State), influenced by the anthropologist Mary Douglas, to be among his most important.

Following his retirement as Gladstone Professor of Government in 2014 – a post he held since leaving the London School of Economics in 2001 – Christopher was appointed Visiting Professor at the Blavatnik School and Emeritus Fellow of All Souls College. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1996, appointed CBE in 2011, and held various other appointments and visiting positions in the UK and around the world. 

While at the Blavatnik School, Christopher remained as productive as ever, conducting a study with Iain McLean, Maia King, and Barbara Piotrowska on public expenditure control which was published in 2023 as The Way the Money Goes. Books from two earlier projects were also published while he was at the School: A Century of Fiscal Squeeze Politics, with Rozana Himaz in 2017, and A Government that Worked Better and Cost Less? with Ruth Dixon in 2015.  This last won the WJM Mackenzie book prize from the Political Studies Association – the second time that Christopher won that prize – and the US National Academy of Public Administration's Louis Brownlow Book Award. In 2021 he was awarded the John Gaus Award from the American Political Science Association, marking his lifetime achievements. In accepting the Gaus Award, Christopher offered a masterly account of government responses to COVID-19, drawing on many of the themes of his life’s work.

The outpouring of appreciation for Christopher in the week since his death, from colleagues, former students and users of his work alike, demonstrates the respect and affection in which he was held. Throughout his career, Christopher was generous with his time and attention, and meticulous when commenting on ideas or drafts. Many scholars are grateful for his advice and mentorship, and he was always happy to celebrate their successes. We will remain indebted to him, and his work, for many years to come.

Dr Ruth Dixon and Dr Thomas Elston