Regulatory Politics in Transition (Interpreting American Politics) - Softcover

"The major strength of Regulatory Politics in Transition is that it systematically assesses a defining element of the modern American state, namely, regulatory policy... I suspect that many of us interested in the history of regulation or business-government relations will be cribbing lectures from [this book]."

"A comprehensive and readable history of regulatory politics in the United States. It will be an excellent supplementary text for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses, and it also provides much perspective for scholars. The field needs such a book... Superb."

In Regulatory Politics in Transition Marc Eisner argues that to understand fully the importance of regulatory policy we need to survey the critical policy shifts brought about during the Progressive period, the New Deal, and the contemporary period. Eisner adopts a regulatory regime framework to address the combination of policy change and institutional innovation across multiple policies in each period.

For each of these periods Eisner examines economic structural changes and the prevailing political economic and administrative theories that conditioned the design of new policies and institutions. Throughout, Eisner adds a valuable historical dimension to the discussion of regulation, by showing how policies and institutions were shaped by particular historical and political circumstances. The new edition examines how the efficiency regime of the 1980s found a new expression in the regulatory reinvention during the Clinton presidency. Moreover, it explores the impact of globalization trends and international regimes upon the politics of regulation and asks whether a new global regime is on the horizon.