Administrative Law and Process is about power and principles. The principles underlying administrative law have been the subject of controversy, as the de-and anti-regulatory trends of the 1970s and 1980s yielded the neoliberalism of the 1990s and 21st century. This examines administrative law in this context of market-oriented reform, emphasizing the connections to some of the broader societal issues of our times, especially the trend towards privatization of governmental services. Public/private partnerships are pervasive and raise new issues for administrative law. A statecentric approach to administrative law no longer suffices: administrative law mediates public and private power in novel ways, the implications of which can be far reaching. This raises new and important issues for administrative law.
Administrative Law and Process is divided into two parts: an introductory chapter provides students with an overview of such key administrative law concepts as rules and orders as well as some of the various ways they might conceptualize administrative processes generally. Part I (Chapters 2 to 5) deals with the procedures agencies use to exercise their adjudicatory and rulemaking powers. It focuses on the exercise of power within the walls of administrative agencies. Part II (Chapters 6 to 10) examines how various actors outside of agencies attempt to influence and control the exercise of agency discretion.
Given the major changes occurring in our political global economy, administrative law today is truly entering a new era. As we adapt to changing times, creative and imaginative approaches towards law and policy will be evermore necessary. Understanding the basic principles set forth in this book will help students build the intellectual foundation for their own future innovations, as legal professionals, thereby devising a new public law appropriate for sustaining democratic government in a global era. |
