Delegitimization, Deconstruction and Control: Undermining the Administrative State

• Author: Donald Moynihan
• Published date: 01 January 2022
• Date: 01 January 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00027162211069723
• Subject Matter: Democratic Institutions: Resilience and Vulnerability

36 ANNALS, AAPSS, 699, January 2022

DOI: 10.1177/00027162211069723

Delegitimization,

Deconstruction

and Control:

Undermining

the

Administrative

State

By

DONALD MOYNIHAN

1069723ANN The Annals Of The American AcademyDelegitimization, Deconstruction, and Control

research-article2021

Three phenomena that undermine the U.S. adminis-

trative state were taken to extremes under President

Trump, contributing to democratic backsliding. The

first is delegitimization: a suspicion of the public sector

that has curdled into claims that public officials are

deep state enemies of the people. This undermines

belief in the capacity of government to deliver on

democratic promises. Second is deconstruction, which

includes undermining administrative capacity and

delivery of services, making it harder for institutions to

deliver on democratic promises, or to do so in ways

that are transparent or generative of conditions in

which the public sees government helping. The third

is political control, in which loyalty to the political

leaders is a primary virtue: this weakens structural

protections of public employees and the capacities of

government agencies to pursue their statutory mission

or respond to other sources of democratic control such

as Congress.

Keywords: Trump; public administration; administra-

tive state; administrative capacity; politici-

zation; bureaucracy

An uneasy relationship with the government

and centralized power patterns the U.S.

experience of democracy. Mistrust of a distant,

unjust, and unrepresentative administration

remains, we are told, central to the American

political creed (Huntington 1981). But a country

does not become a world power without a capa-

ble public service. As it gradually emerged from

the spoils system, the U.S. public service became

larger, more transparent, professional, and

more capable (Ingraham 1995). Improvements

in the quality of administration arose to match

Donald Moynihan is the inaugural McCourt Chair at

the McCourt School of Public Policy. His research

examines executive government management reforms,

performance management, and the administrative bur-

dens that people encounter in their interactions with

government.

Correspondence: donald.moynihan@georgetown.edu