Experts

Rachel Augustine Potter

Fast Facts

  • Associate professor of politics, University of Virginia
  • Winner, American Political Science Association's Theodore Lowi Award for the best first book in any field of political science
  • Expertise in the hidden politics of procedure and process, government bureaucracy, regulation

Areas Of Expertise

  • Economic Issues
  • Finance and Banking
  • Governance
  • Founding and Shaping of the Nation
  • Leadership
  • Politics
  • The Presidency

Rachel Augustine Potter is an associate professor of politics at the University of Virginia and a senior fellow at the Miller Center of Public Affairs. Her first book, Bending the Rules: Procedural Politicking in the Bureaucracy (University of Chicago Press, 2019), received the American Political Science Association's Theodore Lowi award for the best first book in any field of political science, APSA's Richard Neustadt award for the best book on executive politics, APSA's Herbert A. Simon book award for contributions to public administration scholarship, and the National Academy of Public Administration's Louis Brownlow award for the best book on public administration. 

Potter's other research has appeared in political science, public policy, public administration, and administrative law journals. She has served as an expert witness before Congress, a consultant to the Administrative Conference of the United States, and as the president of the Midwest Public Administration Caucus. Before becoming a political scientist, she worked for a number of government bureaucracies, including the White House Office of Management and Budget, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, and the German Federal Ministry of the Interior.

Rachel Augustine Potter News Feed

Why would Trump and his allies even want Schedule F? Some potential benefits might be increased responsiveness of the bureaucracy to political oversight and improved agency performance from firing poor performers. But the literature is not so optimistic on these points.
Rachel Potter Miller Center Election 2024 Blog
Leading up to the Miller Center’s 50th anniversary in 2025, this conference shares new ideas and best practices to support a more responsible and effective presidency.
Miller Center Presents
The office of the presidency itself has become a polarizing institution, write Sidney Milkis and Rachel Augustine Potter.
Sidney Milkis and Rachel Augustine Potter
The United States currently faces a historic crisis that threatens our system of self-government, write William Howell and Terry Moe in their new book, 'Presidents, Populism, and the Crisis of Democracy'. Howell joins a panel to discuss, moderated by Rachel Augustine Potter, faculty senior fellow at the University of Virginia's Miller Center.
Rachel Augustine Potter Miller Center Presents