the future of the modern administrative state (The Summer 2021 issue of Dædalus)

 

https://www.amacad.org/daedalus/administrative-state

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Shortly after the 2016 election, presidential advisor Stephen Bannon vowed to pursue the “deconstruction of the administrative state,” signaling the new administration’s view that parts of government itself had stolen power from the American people. But while the administrative state may have been a new term for many Americans, debates around this so-called fourth branch of government have persisted since its origins in the late nineteenth century: Is the administrative state constitutional? Who controls it? What limits should it face? And is it time for significant change?

The Summer 2021 issue of Dædalus explores the future of the modern administrative state—the more than two million civilian employees working largely in government agencies and institutions. Three options emerge: deconstruction via regulation and control by the legislature; tweaking, which would modify existing doctrine without making significant changes; and reconstruction, which might involve adopting ever more flexible modes of regulation, including direct citizen participation in making and enforcing regulation.

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Charlie Chaplin and Chester Conklin struggle to repair the giant machinery of an idle factory in the 1936 silent film “Modern Times.” Film distributed by the United Artists Corporation; image held by the Bettman Archive, courtesy of Getty Images.