Bureaucracy in America

The Administrative State's Challenge to Constitutional Government

Joseph Postell

416 pages

Published: June 2017

ISBN: 9780826221230

Studies in Constitutional Democracy

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About This Book: The U.S. Constitution requires laws be made by elected representatives. Yet today, most policies are made by administrative agencies whose officials are not elected. Not coincidentally, many Americans increasingly question whether the political system works for the good of the people. In this trenchant intellectual history, Postell demonstrates how modern administrative law has attempted to restore the principles of American constitutionalism, but it has failed to be as effective as earlier approaches to regulation.
Authors and Editors: Joseph Postell is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, where he teaches courses in Administrative Law, American political thought and American political institutions, particularly Congress and political parties. He received his Ph.D. in 2010 from the University of Dallas.

Postell is the editor (with Bradley C.S. Watson) of Rediscovering Political Economy (Lexington, 2011) and (with Johnathan O’Neill) Toward an American Conservatism: Constitutional Conservatism during the Progressive Era. He has published scholarly articles in The Review of Politics, American Political Thought, and Perspectives on Political Science, and has written for a variety of popular publications including the Claremont Review of Books, the Washington Times, and National Review. He currently resides in Colorado Springs, CO.
Praise For This Book: “Federal bureaucracy often seems to roam far beyond what Congress has clearly authorized and often does so without meaningful check from courts. Postell’s book demonstrates that Americans have worried about over-reaching officials since colonial times. Bureaucracy in America shows what we can learn from past efforts to secure the people’s rights, even from government officials.”—Jeremy A. Rabkin, George Mason University, author of Law without Nations?

“The labyrinthine edifice of administrative law can be neither wholly reconciled with the nation’s deepest principles nor wholly efface them, and Postell’s clear explication of what is at stake in this notoriously complex subject will make this book a landmark in the field.”—Johnathan O’Neill, Georgia Southern University, author of Originalism in American Law and Politics: A Constitutional History

“Postell’s book shines a light on the new reality of American government: critical national policies are made, by and large, by bureaucratic agencies today, not by Congress and not even, in many cases, by the president. This new reality raises vital constitutional questions—questions which have, with just a few exceptions, been ignored in the scholarly literature. Postell’s examination of these vital questions is meticulously researched, balanced, and persuasive. Employing a unique combination of political theory, American political thought, and administrative and constitutional law, Bureaucracy in America will be an important work to scholars in all of these disciplines, and will also be of interest to citizens and policymakers alike.”—Ronald J. Pestritto, Graduate Dean at Hillsdale College and author of Woodrow Wilson and the Roots of Modern Liberalism

“A definitive model of outstanding scholarship and a timely, much needed contribution to our contemporary national dialogue on political governance and policy making.”—Midwest Book Review

“This book is worth the time and effort to read because of what it says about the future of the Constitution.”—The Electric Review

“Postell succeeds in telling what is admittedly dense and complex history. Administrative law tempts scholars into either vague abstraction (in an effort to cover a wide-range of government activities) or mind-numbing detail (in an effort to get to the core of agency decisions). Mercifully, Postell avoids both temptations, steering a middle course that is accessible and readable.”—Public Discourse