This book, by two of the world's leading administrative law scholars, reimagines administrative law as the law of public administration by making its competence the focus of administrative law. Grounded in extensive interdisciplinary, historical, and doctrinal analysis, Fisher and Shapiro show why understanding both the capacity and authority of expert public administration is crucial to ensure the legitimacy and accountability of the administrative state. To address the current precarious state of administrative law, they support a new study of the administrative process by an Attorney Generals Committee on Administrative Procedure leading to a revised Administrative Procedure Act (APA). This book is a must-read for anyone interested in administrative law and its reform.

'... the book acts as a bridge between legal thought, administrative expertise, and the fiery rhetoric of politics ... I am pleased to recommend the book, which would be appropriate to assign for administrative law and regulation classes in MPA curricula.' Christopher L. Atkinson, Public Organization Review

Elizabeth Fisher is Professor of Environmental Law at Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford. She is the author of the award-winning Risk Regulation and Administrative Constitutionalism (2007) and Environmental Law: A Very Short Introduction (2017). Sidney A. Shapiro is Frank U. Fletcher Chair in Administrative Law at Wake Forest University. He is co-author of ten books, including Achieving Democracy: Pragmatism, Regulation and Markets (2014), Risk Regulation at Risk: Restoring A Pragmatic Approach (2003), and Administrative Law and Procedure (6th Edition, 2019).