Should We Defend the Administrative State?

Troubled by actions of the Donald Trump administration, some academics have defended the administrative state. This may be a mistake. The scholarly definition of the administrative state has shifted over decades, and today scholarly usage of the term often diverges substantially from popular usage....

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPublic administration review Vol. 80; no. 3; pp. 391 - 401
Main Author Roberts, Alasdair
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Hoboken, USA Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.05.2020
American Society for Public Administration
Subjects
Academic staff
Action
American history
Associations
Fear & phobias
History
Management
Politics
Trump, Donald J
United States History
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Summary:Troubled by actions of the Donald Trump administration, some academics have defended the administrative state. This may be a mistake. The scholarly definition of the administrative state has shifted over decades, and today scholarly usage of the term often diverges substantially from popular usage. When academics invoke the concept, they may unwittingly trigger negative associations in the minds of nonacademics and defeat their own cause. This mistake is easily avoided, because academics often do not need to talk about the administrative state at all. Research would be improved by using different terms to describe three distinct ideas: the state, administrative systems within the state, and the administrative state, which is best understood as a type of state that emerged at a specific moment in American history. If academics want to defend the public service in the realm of politics, it would be better to do so in those terms, rather than using a phrase that often triggers fears about big and irresponsible government.
ISSN:0033-3352
1540-6210
DOI:10.1111/puar.13185