Saving Democracy from Rent‐Seeking Economic and Political Behavior Robert F. Durant, Building the Compensatory State. An Intellectual History and Theory of American Administrative Reform (New York/London: Routledge, 2020). 358 pp (including index). $39.95 (hardback), ISBN: 978‐0‐367‐34844‐1

• Published date: 01 July 2021
• Author: Jos C.N. Raadschelders
• Date: 01 July 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13405

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Reviewed by: Jos C.N. Raadschelders

John Glenn College of Public Affairs, The Ohio State University

Saving Democracy from Rent-Seeking Economic and Political

Behavior Robert F. Durant, Building the Compensatory State. An

Intellectual History and Theory of American Administrative Reform

(New York/London: Routledge, 2020). 358 pp. (including

index). $39.95 (hardback), ISBN: 978-0-367-34844-1

Last year, Routledge asked me to offer

my opinion about this book for possible

publication, and this year the PAR book review

editor asked me for a book review. Both times I came

away with deep respect for the decades of scholarship

that led to this magnificent study. Bob Durant

provides rich detail to buttress his overall thesis as

that the structure and functioning of the American

administrative state can and should be characterized

as that of a compensatory state. This is a term coined

by political scientist Marc Eisner and characterizing

the interbellum (1918–1940) (Eisner2000), but used

Jos C.N. Raadschelders is professor

and associate dean of faculty, John

Glenn College of Public Affairs, The Ohio

State University. His interests include

administrative history, the nature of

government and its study, and comparative

government.

Email: raadschelders.1@osu.edu