Abstract

In every new presidential administration, the President and political appointees come to power with strong views about the policies they wish to enact and the substantive breaks they wish to make with the administration that came before – including views on where the U.S. government should change legal positions on key issues. But views on substantive positions alone are not enough preparation for a new administration seeking to impose its values on the government. And policy preparation on substance is especially insufficient when an incoming administration’s values include norms of process – such as adherence to the rule of law, policymaking based in expertise and information, and the neutral application of justice – that stand in contrast to those of an outgoing administration. At least as important for a new Administration is consideration of how to implement its positions and promote its values within what I call the “bureaucratic architecture” of the executive branch and how to organize that bureaucratic architecture to inform good decisionmaking when novel issues arise. I will call such affirmative consideration of process-based values and how to structure the bureaucracy to accomplish substantive goals “Intentional Bureaucratic Architecture.”

Document Type

Blog Post

Publication Date

10-31-2020

Source Publication

Just Security

Keywords

Good Governance Papers, Executive Branch, Bureaucratic Architecture, Policy Implementation, National Security Council

Disciplines

Administrative Law | Constitutional Law | Law | Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility | Legislation

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