David Lewis

Rebecca Webb Wilson University Professor and University Distinguished Professor of Political Science Vanderbilt University

  • Nashville TN

Expert in federal bureaucracy, including agency performance, agency oversight and the political appointment process.

Contact

Vanderbilt University

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Biography

David E. Lewis is the Rebecca Webb Wilson University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Political Science and the Department of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations (Peabody College) at Vanderbilt University. His research interests include the presidency, executive branch politics and public administration. He is the author of two books, Presidents and the Politics of Agency Design (Stanford University Press, 2003) and The Politics of Presidential Appointments: Political Control and Bureaucratic Performance (Princeton University Press, 2008). He has also published numerous articles on American politics, public administration, and management in journals such as the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, the British Journal of Political Science, Presidential Studies Quarterly, and Public Administration Review. His work has been featured in outlets such as the Harvard Business Review, New York Times, and Washington Post.

In 2022, he was appointed to a two-year term as a public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States. He is a member of the National Academy of Public Administration and he is a past president of the Southern Political Science Association and Midwest Public Administration Caucus. He has earned numerous research and teaching awards, including the Herbert Simon Award for contributions to the scientific study of the bureaucracy and the Madison Sarratt, Jeffrey Nordhaus, and Robert Birkby awards for excellence in undergraduate teaching.

Before joining Vanderbilt’s Department of Political Science, he was an assistant professor of politics and public affairs at Princeton University. He began his academic career at the College of William and Mary, where he was an assistant professor in the Department of Government. He serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Public Administration Review, and Presidential Studies Quarterly. PhD. Stanford University.

Areas of Expertise

Congressional Oversight
Presidential Appointments
Public Administration
American Politics
Government Agencies
Bureaucracy
Presidency
Federal Agencies
Confirmation Hearings

Accomplishments

Madison Sarratt Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching

2015, Vanderbilt University

Herbert Simon Award

2015, Presented by the Midwest Public Administration Caucus to honor a scholar who has made a significant contribution to the study of the public bureaucracy.

Robert Birkby Award for Teaching Excellence in Political Science

2014

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Education

Stanford University

Ph.D.

Political Science

2000

Stanford University

M.A.

Political Science

2000

University of Colorado at Boulder

M.A.

Political Science

1996

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Affiliations

  • Public Administration : Editorial board
  • Presidential Studies Quarterly : Editorial board
  • American Political Science Association : Member
  • Midwest Political Science Association : Member
  • Presidency Research Group : Member

Selected Media Appearances

Elon Musk's time machine

Business Insider  online

2025-04-21

Perhaps that techno-libertarian vision — of a digitized world without government — is the entire point of DOGE. "You strip government down to remove all the parts of it that are resisting you," says David Lewis, a political scientist at Vanderbilt University, "and rebuild it in a way that makes it, in your view, more efficient and responsive to you." That's actually more authoritarian than libertarian. But it does make government smaller — and weaker. And the weaker government is, the more the powerful can call the shots.

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The history of civil service and the impact of Trump’s slashing of the workforce

PBS NewsHour  tv

2025-03-14

When Roosevelt takes office, the national government's probably about 500,000 employees. By the time he leaves office, it's well over three million.

In response to the Great Depression, he dramatically expands the role of the national government. These government employees are doing lots of new things. So the federal government's taking new responsibilities in regulating markets and providing social welfare, so we get Social Security and these kinds of things. And it created a conservative backlash.

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Breaking down the first month of Trump 2.0

KERA  radio

2025-02-21

President Trump signed more than 50 executive orders on his first day in office —the contents of which are already fundamentally changing the federal government. David E. Lewis is the Rebecca Webb Wilson University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Political Science at Vanderbilt University. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss Trump’s first month in office, from tariffs to foreign policy, domestic actions to DOGE, and what it all means to the American people so far.

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Selected Articles

Elite Perceptions of Agency Ideology and Workforce Skill

The Journal of Politics

Mark D Richardson, Joshua D Clinton, David E Lewis

2017

Perceptions of the policy leanings of government agencies are an important component of an agency’s political environment, and an agency’s political environment can greatly influence how agencies formulate and implement public policy. We use a recent survey of federal executives to measure the perceptions of the ideological leanings of twice as many agencies as previously possible.

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Agency Performance Challenges and Agency Politicization

Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory

Abby K Wood, David E Lewis

2017

In this article we evaluate the relationship between political control and bureaucratic performance using information requested by researchers via Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and Congress via congressional committee requests. The information requested was the same, and the timing of requests was similar. We find modest evidence of a relationship between agency politicization and a lack of responsiveness to requests for information from the public and Congress.

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Presidents and Patronage

American Journal of Political Science

Gary E. Hollibaugh Jr. Gabriel Horton David E. Lewis

2014

To what extent do presidents select appointees based upon campaign experience and connections? The answer to this question has important implications for our understanding of presidential management and political leadership. This article presents a theory explaining where presidents place different types of appointees and why, focusing on differences in ideology, competence, and non‐policy patronage benefits among potential appointees.

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