9 - Privatization, Constitutional Conservatism, and the Fate of the American Administrative State

Summary

The American administrative state has, of late, been under siege, attacked on two fronts. The war on one front is somewhat parochial – a pitched battle over US constitutional law. It is waged largely by conservative movement lawyers who view the modern administrative state as an affront to the constitutional separation of powers.

The war on the other front has much greater transnational relevance. This second fight pits defenders of modern bureaucratic governance against those who see public administration as hopelessly inefficient, rigid, and unaccountable. This latter group of critics present themselves as more or less comfortable with the constitutionality of the administrative state – and thus claim to raise only technocratic objections.