Rescuing state capacity: Proceduralism, the new politicization, and public policy

Donald P. Moynihan

Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 2025, vol. 44, issue 2, 364-378

Abstract: The administrative capacity of a government matters enormously to public policy design and implementation. But it is usually taken for granted in public policy settings, a background variable left largely unconsidered. This essay argues that the fields of public policy and public management need to more directly consider threats to state capacity. A creeping threat is a tendency towards proceduralism that layers in rules, veto points, and delay that constrains state actors from achieving critical goals. A more immediate threat for the American administrative state is a dramatic increase in the politicization of public service delivery. This new model of politicization pursued by President Trump features three key attributes: 1) a personalist infrastructure of presidential power that centers on loyalty above all other values; 2) governing by fear via conspiratorial messaging towards the public sector and threatening individual public servants; and 3) a weakening of civil service protections that blurs the traditional distinction between political appointees and civil servants and enables purges of those deemed to be disloyal.

Date: 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.22673

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:jpamgt:v:44:y:2025:i:2:p:364-378

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