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. Frontmatter Preface (page vii) Part I The state-building problem in American political development (page 1) 1 The new state and American political development (page 3) 2 The early American state (page 19) Part II State building as patchwork, 1877-1900 (page 37) Introduction The triumph of the state of courts and parties (page 39) 3 Patching civil administration: the limits of reform in the party state (page 47) 4 Patching the army: the limits of provincial virtue (page 85) 5 Patching business regulation: the failure of administered capitalism (page 121) Part III State building as reconstitution, 1900-1920 (page 163) Introduction From patchwork to reconstitution (page 165) 6 Reconstituting civil administration: economy, efficiency, and the repoliticization of American bureaucracy (page 177) 7 Reconstituting the army: professionalism, nationalism, and the illusion of corporatism (page 212) 8 Reconstituting business regulation: administrative justice, scientific management, and the triumph of the independent commission (page 248) Epilogue Beyond the state of courts and parties - American government in the twentieth century (page 285) Notes (page 293) Selected bibliography (page 353) Index (page 375)