Merilee S. Grindleis Edward S. Mason Professor of International Development at theKennedy School of Government. She is a specialist on the comparativeanalysis of policymaking, implementation, and public management indeveloping countries, with particular reference to Latin America. Sheis the author of a number of books, including Bureaucrats, Politicians,and Peasants in Mexico; State and Countryside; Searching for RuralDevelopment, Challenging the State; Audacious Reforms; Despite theOdds; and Going Local. In addition, she has written numerous articlesabout policy management and the political economy of reform. She alsois the editor of Politics and Policy Implementation in the Third World;Getting Good Government; and Proclaiming Revolution. She is coauthor,with John Thomas, of Public Choices and Policy Change, which won anaward as the best book in public policy in 1991. A political scientistwith a PhD from MIT, Grindle is engaged in research on the politicaleconomy of public sector reform.