Matthew Holden Jr.: Between Theory and Practice Joseph McCormick Jr., Howard University Steven M. Teles, Boston University atthew Holden is a man who lic administration theory. In addition Mstands astride what, in the late to his scholarship and teaching, twentieth century, are often thought Holden has held a number of posi- to be contradictions. He has been, at tions in the discipline that not only different times in his life, both a se- reflect his commitment to the pro- rious, theoretically informed scholar fession, but also reflect the high es- and public official. Insistent upon the teem in which he is held by his col- centrality to politics of the exercise leagues. Outside of the academy, of power and the maintenance of Holden has worked as a consultant order, he is at the same time a seri- and as a public servant. From these ous, believing Christian. A modern, experiences, Holden has typically behaviorally driven political scientist, gathered raw material that he has he is also a student of history, both then refined and explicated in the of politics and the discipline itself. form of penetrating scholarship. Finally, while he has done cutting- Careful consideration of his work as Matthew Holden, Jr. edge work on race in the American a scholar and teacher, his service to political order, he is also insistent the discipline, and his contributions upon placing this problem within the as a public official provide us with cago and earned his baccalaureate universal questions of politics. It is some understanding of why he is char- degree in political science (with a the unique characteristic of the man acterized in this profile as both a theo- minor in history) in 1952; While he who we honor this year as the presi- rist and a practicing political scientist. once aspired to go to law school, he dent of the American Political Sci- chose instead to pursue a career as a Professor Holden was born in university professor for, as he has ence Association that, in his skillful Mound Bayou, Mississippi, an all- and rigorous hands, these seeming told one of his biographers, college black town founded in 1887 by ex- teaching "was an occupation with contradictions do not seem like con- slaves. One of the founders of this tradictions at all. the least racial impedimenta" (Willie town was one Isaiah T. Montgomery, 1986, 67-68). In the fall of 1952 he Between 1963 (the year of his first an archetypal practitioner of "client- entered Northwestern University to major publication, "Litigation and age" politics that Holden subjected pursue an M.A. degree in political the Political Order") and 1997 (the to insightful treatment in his classic, science. In both the summers of year of his most recent publication, The Politics of the Black "Nation " 1954 and 1955, with the help of one "Toward a Political Science of (1973, chap. 2). With the push of a of his mentors at Northwestern, American History") Matthew lack of economic opportunity in Mis- Charles S. Hyneman, Holden worked Holden Jr. has worked both inside sissippi and the pull of an economy as a research associate with the Ohio and outside of the discipline. Holden stimulated by World War II, the Legislative Service Commission. He is the Henry L. and Grace M. Holden family migrated to Chicago completed the M.A. in 1956, and was Doherty Professor of Government in 1944. It was in Chicago that Hold- drafted into the U.S. Army that same and Foreign Affairs at the University en's interest in political life was year. During this two-year military of Virginia and the president-elect stimulated. Relatives frequently dis- tour, he saw duty in Korea. of the American Political Science cussed political issues, and young Following his military experience, Association. The scope of his re- Matthew had the opportunity to Holden decided to resume his pur- search and teaching is impressive, meet and "talk politics" with the leg- suit of a career as a university-based spanning the fields of urban politics, endary African-American Ward political scientist. With limited funds metropolitics, decision-making the- Committeeman William Dawson. and no immediate prospects for de- ory (especially as it relates to the After a brief stint at the Univer- partmental or university scholar- regulatory process), the politics of sity of Chicago, in 1950 Holden en- ships, Holden returned to Ohio, af- race and ethnicity, and general pub- tered Roosevelt University in Chi- ter having successfully passed a PSOnline www.apsanet.org 653 state-level civil service examination the 1962 meeting of the American in the concept of "turbulence" and and worked first as a research assis- Political Science Association. In it, the centrality of administration in tant on government organization he argued that "metropolitics and politics. As we shall see, he returns with the Cleveland Metropolitan international politics are analogous to examine both of these ideas in Services Commission (from 1957- in that each occurs not within politi- much greater detail in his 1996 58), and then as a staff consultant cal communities but within diplo- book, Continuity and Disruption: with the Cuyahoga Charter Commis- matic systems" (1964, 627; emphasis Essays in Public Administration. sion. Between these two jobs, he re- in original). In this piece Holden A companion concept that implic- turned to Northwestern University to extensively relied on the work of in- itly acknowledges the existence of enter the Ph.D. program in political ternational relations theorists Ernst conflict and therefore, by definition, science studying, principally, under Haas, Morton Kaplan, and Karl attempts to bring the contestants to Charles Hyneman and Norton Long. Deutsch. This effort clearly demon- some mutually agreeable outcome, is These experiences in Cleveland strates that this scholar has not per- bargaining. This proves to be a piv- proved to be important, for they mitted the somewhat artificial otal concept in his next major publi- contributed to the selection of his boundaries of the various fields of cation. In the summers of 1965 and dissertation topic. His doctoral dis- the discipline to stop him from 1966 Matthew Holden served as a sertation, "Decision-Making on a cross-application of those concepts consultant to Resources for the Fu- Metropolitan Government Proposi- he found useful. While the focus of ture. It was in this capacity that, long tion: The Case of Cuyahoga County, much of his work has been on the before many political and social sci- Ohio, 1958-59," was completed in United States, this publication fur- entists, he began to develop both 1961. Long was Holden's dissertation ther reveals a marked characteristic interest and expertise in environ- director and "intellectual Godfather." seen throughout much of his work; mental policy making. As seen from The completion of the dissertation an insistence upon viewing the his earlier writings, it was then typi- marked the beginning of an extremely United States in a comparative per- cal for him to bring such experiences productive academic career that had spective. It is also in this publication back to the "writing table" inside of its roots in Holden's experiences as a that we see further evidence of his the academy for further thought and practicing public administrator. interest in conflict and the mecha- explication. Such was the case with nisms used by humankind to resolve His experiences in Cleveland as a the 1966 publication of a monograph differences and establish consensus. entitled Pollution Control as a Bar- researcher and public official, along Two years later, Holden made his with his exposure to urban politics as gaining Process: An Essay on Regula- mark as rising scholar in the area of tory Decision-Making (1966c). Here, a young teenager, undoubtedly con- public administration with a publica- tributed to his selection of urban Holden advances a view of "politics" tion in The American Political Science that can be seen as one that reveals politics and metropolitics as early Review, " 'Imperialism' in Bureau- topical areas in a long stream of his continuing intellectual interest in cracy" (1966d). The opening sentence conflict. In this monograph, he tells scholarship. His first major publica- of this frequently cited piece of schol- tion, "Litigation and the Political us that he writes as a behavioral po- arship is significant for what it reveals litical scientist "who assumes politics Order" (1963), conceptually focused about Holden's later work: on metropolitan conflict that in- to be a process of conflict leading to volved a number of units of local the distribution of advantages and government in the northwestern por- If an important part of the politi- disadvantages." He goes on to say, tion of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, the cal scientist's mission is to antici- "If one further assumes ... [the deci- pate and explain "the critical prob- sion-making] process to be a perma- Regional Planning Commission, the lems that generate and explain state of Ohio, and an entity called nent part of human life, it becomes turbulence" in that part of the world of some importance to understand the Freeway Board. It is in this pub- which attracts his attention, then, in lication that we see Holden's early the study of administration, bu- its consequences for policies, rather scholarly interest in decision-making reaucratic "imperialism" must be than to assume that policies can be theory, bargaining, and conflict be- of compelling interest.... Bureau- devised somehow and brought to tween competing interests (be they cratic imperialism seems pre-emi- realization in a political vacuum" (2; nently a matter of inter-agency con- emphasis added) It is with this publi- units of government or some other flict in which two or more agencies organized or semi-organized interest).