Book: Democracy and the Origins of the American Regulatory State

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Democracy and the Origins of the American Regulatory State

Samuel DeCanio, assistant professor of political science

(Yale University Press)

In this book, Samuel DeCanio examines how political elites used high levels of voter ignorance to create a new type of regulatory state with lasting implications for American politics. Focusing on the expansion of bureaucratic authority in late-19th-century America, DeCanio’s archival research examines electoral politics, the Treasury Department’s control over monetary policy, and the Interstate Commerce Commission’s regulation of railroads to examine how conservative politicians created a new type of bureaucratic state to insulate policy decisions from popular control.

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