Building a new American state : the expansion of national administrative capacities, 1877-1920

This book is about governmental change in America. It examines the reconstruction of institutional power relationships that had to be negotiated among the courts, the parties, the president, the Congress and the states in order to accommodate the expansion of national administrative capacities around the turn of the twentieth century. Stephen Skowronek argues that new institutional forms and procedures do not arise reflexively or automatically in response to environmental demands on government, but must be extorted through political and institutional struggles that are rooted in and mediated by pre-established governing arrangements. As the first full-scale historical treatment of the development of American national administration, this book will provide a useful textbook for public administration courses. Cover......Page 1 Frontmatter......Page 2 Contents......Page 6 Preface......Page 8 Part I - The state-building problem in American political development......Page 12 1 - The new state and American political development......Page 14 2 - The early American state......Page 30 Part II - State building as patchwork, 1877--1900......Page 48 Introduction: The triumph of the state of courts and parties......Page 50 3 - Patching civil administration: the limits of reform in the party state......Page 58 4 - Patching the army: the limits of provincial virtue......Page 96 5 - Patching business regulation: the failure of administered capitalism......Page 132 Part III - State building as reconstitution, 1900--1920......Page 174 Introduction: From patchwork to reconstitution......Page 176 6 - Reconstituting civil administration: economy, efficiency, and the repoliticization of American bureaucracy......Page 188 7 - Reconstituting the army: professionalism, nationalism, and the illusion of corporatism......Page 223 8 - Reconstituting business regulation: administrative justice, scientific management, and the triumph of the independent commission......Page 259 Epilogue: Beyond the state of courts and parties -- American government in the twentieth century......Page 296 Notes......Page 304 Selected bibliography......Page 364 Index......Page 386