A much-needed explanation of the function and purpose of the "administrative state" and how those government institutions could be better organized and operated to ensure they serve Americans.
The current administration is transforming the federal government in its image, dismantling the agencies most essential for addressing economic and social inequalities, while weaponizing and personalizing others to impose pressure on opponents and open more avenues for corruption.
After Trump's administration, future policymakers will have to reimagine and rebuild a very different federal government that restores trust, prevents autocratic overreach, and is capable of addressing the urgent needs of the public. With Remaking the State, Cornell Law professor K. Sabeel Rahman provides an argument for what a future administrative state should look like. He argues that a next administrative state should be centrally focused on addressing problems of domination: protecting Americans from social exclusion and economic extraction, and making government itself more accountable and responsive to "we the people".
K. Sabeel Rahman is a professor of law at Cornell Law School, and served in the Biden administration’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs from 2021 to 2023, including as the head of the office from 2022 to 2023. He previously led the public policy think tank Demos and cofounded the Law and Political Economy Project. He is the author or coauthor of numerous works, including Democracy Against Domination (2016) and Civic Power: Rebuilding American Democracy in an Era of Crisis (2019).
Rahman will be in conversation with Dorian Warren, co-president of Community Change and Community Change Action, and co-founder of the Economic Security Project. Warren taught for over a decade at the University of Chicago and Columbia University. He's the co-author of The Hidden Rules of Race, co-editor of Race and American Political Development, and has penned numerous academic articles. Dorian previously worked as a guest host and contributor at MSNBC. He sits on several boards, including the board of Economic Security Project, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights Education Fund Board and The Nation Magazine Editorial Board. As a commentator on public affairs, Warren has appeared regularly on television, radio and podcasts and has also written for The New York Times, Newsweek, and Ebony.com, among others.