Associations Steer State Bureaucracies

Updated: 2025.10.03 19D ago 2 sources
National professional associations are quietly setting policy inside state agencies by training officials and embedding templates for ESG, DEI, and procurement scoring. Examples include NAST pushing ESG as fiduciary duty, NAMD making 'equity' the foundation of Medicaid reform, ASTHO coordinating public‑health messaging with the White House, and NASPO adding race/gender criteria to bids. This shifts practical authority from voters and legislatures to unelected guilds. — If governance runs through professional associations, reform debates must target these gatekeepers and their standards, not just elections or statutes.

Sources

New Zealand's Institute of IT Professionals Collapses
BeauHD 2025.10.03 78% relevant
ITP NZ functioned as a de facto governance node—assessing IT worker visas, certifying university IT degrees, and overseeing the NZ Cloud Computing Code of Practice. Its insolvency highlights how a professional association’s fortunes can directly impact state migration pipelines, higher‑ed quality control, and tech standards.
Some Links, 8/31/2025
Arnold Kling 2025.08.31 100% relevant
Thomas Murray’s list of NAST, NAMD, ASTHO, and NASPO directives shaping treasuries, Medicaid, health, and procurement.
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