Already in his first run for the presidency, Donald J. Trump promised voters to "drain the swamp" and reign in the administrative state. To this end, the new administration created the temporary Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) which – under the controversial guidance of Elon Musk – intends to save the federal state one to two trillion US Dollars. For the past few weeks, various measures by DOGE have led some to claim that we are currently witnessing an "administrative coup" or a "coup from within". But is that indeed the case? And how revolutionary are the measures pursued by DOGE?

Professor Hiroshi Okayama joins us to discuss these questions and to explain what is actually meant by "the administrative state". He is a sought-after expert on US politics in Japan where he holds a professorship at Keio University’s Law School. He spent several years in the United States as a visiting researcher, twice at Cornell University and once at the University of Virginia. His most recent monograph is the result of his long-time interest in the history of the administrative state: Judicializing the Administrative State: The Rise of the Independent Regulatory Commissions in the United States, 1883-1937.

His book recommendation:

Ungoverning: The Attack on the Administrative State and the Politics of Chaos by Nancy L. Rosenblum and Russell Muirhead