A Civic Republican Justification for the Bureaucratic State

Authors

Mark Seidenfeld

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1992

Publication Title

Harvard Law Review

Publication Title (Abbreviation)

Harv. L. Rev.

Volume

105

First Page

1511

Abstract

Scholars have debated the legitimacy of the modern administrative state since its rise in the early twentieth century. In this Article, Professor Seidenfeld argues that the political theory of civic republicanism, with its emphasis on citizen participation in government and deliberative decisionmaking, provides the best justification for the American bureaucracy. Beginning with an analysis of civic republican theory, he notes that it promises greater citizen involvement in political decisionmaking, yet at the same time threatens to increase government power. Professor Seidenfeld finds that the current regime of administrative law neither allows for the full realization of civic republicanism's potential nor guards adequately against its dangers. He therefore suggests political and legal reforms applicable to the three constitutional branches of government and the bureaucracy itself.

Rights

© 1992 Mark Seidenfeld

Comments

First published in Harvard Law Review.

Faculty Biography

http://archive.law.fsu.edu/faculty/mseidenfeld.html

Recommended Citation

Mark Seidenfeld, A Civic Republican Justification for the Bureaucratic State, 105 Harv. L. Rev. 1511 (1992),
Available at: https://ir.law.fsu.edu/articles/3