Administrative Competence
Reimagining Administrative Law

This book reimagines administrative law as the law of public administration by making its competence the focus of administrative law.

Elizabeth Fisher (Author), Sidney A. Shapiro (Author)

9781108799355, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 30 September 2021

356 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm, 0.53 kg

'... the book acts as a bridge between legal thought, administrative expertise, and the fiery rhetoric of politics ... I am pleased to recommend the book, which would be appropriate to assign for administrative law and regulation classes in MPA curricula.' Christopher L. Atkinson, Public Organization Review

This book, by two of the world's leading administrative law scholars, reimagines administrative law as the law of public administration by making its competence the focus of administrative law. Grounded in extensive interdisciplinary, historical, and doctrinal analysis, Fisher and Shapiro show why understanding both the capacity and authority of expert public administration is crucial to ensure the legitimacy and accountability of the administrative state. To address the current precarious state of administrative law, they support a new study of the administrative process by an Attorney Generals Committee on Administrative Procedure leading to a revised Administrative Procedure Act (APA). This book is a must-read for anyone interested in administrative law and its reform.

1. The State We Are In
Part I. Making Administrative Competence Visible: 2. Expert Administrative Capacity
3. Administrative Accountability
Part II. Confronting the Origin Myths of Administrative Law: 4. Enlightened Foundations
5. Debating Administrative Law: From the Spoils System to the New Deal
6. The Emergence of Administrative Law and the Limits of Legal Imagination
7. The Narrowing of the Administrative Law Imagination
Part III. The Law of Public Administration: 8. Administrative Competence and the Chevron Doctrine
9. Hard Look Review
10. Conclusion: Towards an Enlightened Administrative Law.

Subject Areas: Constitutional & administrative law [LND], Comparative politics [JPB]