Building the Compensatory State: An Intellectual History and Theory of American Administrative Reform

Robert F. Durant (American University, Washington, DC, USA)

Building the Compensatory State: An Intellectual History and Theory of American Administrative Reform
Format
Hardback
Publisher
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Country
United Kingdom
Published
8 October 2019
Pages
358
ISBN
9780367348441

Building the Compensatory State: An Intellectual History and Theory of American Administrative Reform

Robert F. Durant (American University, Washington, DC, USA)

Contemporary public administration research has marginalized the importance of taking history seriously. With few exceptions, little recent scholarship in the field has looked longitudinally (rather than cross-sectionally), contextually, and theoretically over extended time periods at big questions in public administration. One such big question involves the evolution of American administrative reform and its link since the nation’s founding to American state building. This book addresses this gap by analyzing administrative reform in unprecedented empirical and theoretical ways. In taking a multidisciplinary approach, it incorporates recent developments in cognate research fields in the humanities and social sciences that have been mostly ignored in public administration. It thus challenges existing notions of the nature, scope, and power of the American state and, with these, important aspects of today’s conventional wisdom in public administration.

Author Robert F. Durant explores the administrative state in a new light as part of a compensatory state -driven, shaped, and amplified since the nation’s founding by a corporate-social science nexus of interests. Arguing that this nexus of interests has contributed to citizen estrangement in the United States, he offers a broad empirical and theoretical understanding of the political economy of administrative reform, its role in state building, and its often paradoxical results. Offering a reconsideration of conventional wisdom in public administration, this book is required reading for all students, scholars, or practitioners of public administration, public policy, and politics.

This item is not currently in-stock. It can be ordered online and is expected to ship in approx 4 weeks

Our stock data is updated periodically, and availability may change throughout the day for in-demand items. Please call the relevant shop for the most current stock information. Prices are subject to change without notice.

Sign in or become a Readings Member to add this title to a wishlist.