Ungoverning: The Attack on the Administrative State and the Politics of Chaos

by Nancy L. Rosenblum, Russell Muirhead

How a concentrated attack on political institutions threatens to disable the essential workings of government

In this unsettling book, Russell Muirhead and Nancy Rosenblum trace how ungoverning—the deliberate effort to dismantle the capacity of government to do its work—has become a malignant part of politics. Democracy depends on a government that can govern, and that requires what’s called administration. The administrative state is made up of the vast array of departments and agencies that conduct the essential business of government, from national defense and disaster response to implementing and enforcing public policies of every kind. Ungoverning chronicles the reactionary movement that demands dismantling the administrative state. The demand is not for goals that can be met with policies or programs. When this demand is frustrated, as it must be, the result is an invitation to violence.

Muirhead and Rosenblum unpack the idea of ungoverning through many examples of the politics of destruction. They show how ungoverning disables capacities that took generations to build—including the administration of free and fair elections. They detail the challenges faced by officials who are entrusted with running the government and who now face threats and intimidation from those who would rather bring it crashing down—and replace the regular processes of governing with chaotic personal rule.

The unfamiliar phenomenon of ungoverning threatens us all regardless of partisanship or ideological leaning. Ungoverning will not be limited to Donald Trump’s moment on the political stage. To resist this threat requires that we first recognize what ungoverning is and what it portends.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Government

280 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2024

About the author

Nancy L. Rosenblum is the Senator Joseph Clark Research Professor of Ethics in Politics and Government at Harvard University. Her books include Good Neighbors: The Democracy of Everyday Life in America and On the Side of the Angels: An Appreciation of Parties and Partisanship (both Princeton). She lives in New York City.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book on an important topic. The core idea is to defend the administrative state against what the authors call "ungoverning" - the attempt to destroy the state in order to render it subservient to personal will. And as a popular, relatively breezy presentation of the idea it's good. But as a philosopher, this raised a lot more questions for me than it answered. I'd like to hear more about how the independence and relative unaccountability of administration can be rendered compatible with democracy. I'd like to hear more about why someone like Rosenblum shouldn't worry to be finding herself arguing on the same side as someone like Adrian Vermule. And I'd like to hear more about the kinds of reforms that ought to made to counter the seemingly obvious excesses of administration that have accrued over the course of the last century.
For all that, though, this is still a worthwhile book.

[Andrew Morse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scary. But a comprehensive read for those of us sane Americans who see where this is going.

[George · Rating 2 out of 5]

Doesn’t live up to the premise of recounting historical ungoverning actions, so much as discussing the many faults of the Trump administration. Given the latter is widely covered by many other journalists I wish they would have spent more time looking at a broad spectrum of elected officials.

[Cabot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Generally a pretty solid book, and a great introduction of the term ungoverning. The concepts discussed are especially relevant during the second Trump administration, which represents the acceleration of all the ideas the authors discuss. I also saw another review suggest that this book is all about criticizing Trump, which, like, yeah that’s the point (they frame him as the primary driving force of ungoverning). Despite making a great contribution to the present moment’s literature, I think this book is hurt because it is written solely from the lens of political science (which is perhaps my own disciplinary bias). There seem to be some points where the authors ought to have historicized their observations a little more, or at least been more critical of the conventional wisdom they seem to follow. Moreover, there is something to be said for an approach like Arlie Russel Hochschild’s attempts to build “empathy bridges” to the people who support the reactionary right and ungoverning, and I think had Muirhead and Rosenblum adopted that methodology for a moment the book could have benefited.

[Efox · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really, really interesting. Rosenblum and Murihead have worked to explain the active destruction of the administrative state and chaos politics in real political science terms. The book takes seriously the idea that someone who was just elected to an executive position would want to destroy his own ability to get anything done, and lays out both the how and the why of this seemingly backwards political movement.

I've recommended it to several of my colleagues because one of the core things that the authors set out to explain is why an elected executive would want to destroy their ability to do the work they were elected to do - and this book puts a name to this phenomena "ungoverning" and seeks to explain what it is and what the political incentives are that would make it attractive. I found the book extremely clarifying, as I'm living through the active ungoverning right now, and it was helpful to better understand the political incentives that make this an attractive strategy for a reactionary movement.

The chapter on political violence was really eye opening and terrifying. As someone who has extremely strong views on January 6 and just generally has had the privilege of growing up at a time when we weren't lynching people regularly, that chapter really concerned me, because we already live in a country with a massive violence problem and it seems unlikely to get better.

I really appreciate this book and, unfortunately, I think it and books like it are going to be needed a lot in political science and history classes in the future. Ungoverning is just about creating a system where more power is concentrated solely in the executive, which inevitably leads to a huge amount of corruption and abuses. I so wish that this was still a cautionary tale and that some of their really good advice about engaging the public about what the administrative state does for them every day (which I know because it's my life, but is so amorphous and unknowable most Americans don't have a clue) and ideas for strengthening protections for civil service and rule of law. There is no grand plan for putting things back together. There's no alternative playbook of what goes in the place of the agencies that are being torn down and the systems that are being ripped apart. They're just gone because they pose a threat to consolidatete power and the action of ripping them apart feeds the political appetites of a reactionary movement.

[JP · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this but some of the writing reminded me of Sex in the City narration

[MikePeterS · Rating 4 out of 5]

As of today (11/4/25), the United States government has been shut down for an almost record-breaking 35 days. Assuming the shut-down continues into tomorrow, it will have broken the record originally set during Trump’s first term back in late 2018/early 2019.

Should we really be surprised that the two record-breaking instances of a paralyzed federal government comes during the tenure of a president hell-bent on dismantling the bureaucratic systems and congressional forces which could keep his power in check? The resounding answer is: No. The government shut-down is exactly the tool for consolidating power to the executive branch.

This is a fruitful, yet nerve-wracking, piece of evidence for the model proposed in “Ungoverning: The Attack on the Administrative State and the Politics of Chaos.” Written and published prior to Trump’s second term as president, the book is an unsettling summary of the political forces which gave rise to the MAGA movement in America. In brief, Trump is a populist who represents those that believe the federal government is actively working against their interests in some capacity. In one way, for many lower class Southern white folks, the federal government is the enemy that brought forth and enforced the Civil Rights movements of the 50s-60s. This is the same federal government that legalized gay marriage in recent decades. For all intents and purposes, it appears as if minority groups like black and gay folks have become the priority of the federal government, “forgetting” the white folks that are now struggling financially due to mass layoffs and the movement of industry out of their towns and into foreign markets. They no longer see themselves in their representative government. They are at the back of the line.

Aside from that, in any instance in which an average American interacts with some aspect of the Administrative state, there is usually some modicum of tediousness and disappointment. It’s time consuming and frustrating to achieve one’s goals via bureaucracy.

The combination of these two forces lead to a situation in which average Americans are distrustful of those working in government. The “Deep State” actors are actively working to prop up people and ideals that aren’t of value to working class white Americans. So, what better way to take care of the issue than to entirely dismantle the bureaucracy? To “drain the swamp?”

This is exactly what Trump offers. He is wildly anti-establishment and claims to be the only one who is capable of giving “the real Americans” what they want. In reality, Trump can do very little with congress and the courts pushing back. But to his base, legitimate results pale in comparison to Trump’s posturing. As long as Trump performs in such a way that makes it seem like he is getting things done, that’s all his constituents seem to need. This is another key theme in the book: there are staunch disagreements between left and right as to what is real. Conspiracy and the fight over fact has become another key tool in the MAGA tool box. What better way to disorient and distract your political opponents than to distort reality?

Finally, in dismantling the administrative state, it gives Trump an opportunity to act with impunity. His base believes that results will come quicker without the humdrum of congressional bickering. They want what they want, and they want it now!

All in all, this book is a scalding synthesis of the conservative and conspiratorial forces which have driven MAGA republicans. Good read.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine if a political party or other entity has as its goal not to force its own spin on government but wants instead to end government entirely. They do this by simply not governing - eliminating departments and not enforcing taxation or other policies that keep government going. That is the basic premise of this book. The authors make a good case for how this could be done, with examples of how the coming Trump administration would implement policies that result in ungoverning.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Important more than fascinating read IMO. They're at pains to say it's not just about Trump, and there is some material on Reagan and subsequent Republican presidencies and congressional leaders, but probably 90% of the examples are Trump 1.0 plus his promises for Trump 2.0 (book finished in 2024 pre-election) that are indeed taking place now. They differentiate arguments over this or that policy or taxes/spending level (i.e., normal give-and-take between traditional conservatives and progressives) and the wholesale attack on "Deep State" and on the knowledge and expertise of government workers/administrators in favor of personal rule by the President. They make a lot, for instance, of the Trump 1.0 thing of alluding to military leaders as "my generals."

Final chapter on what needs to change focuses a lot on public opinion and suggests that stories/narratives re what specific government workers actually do would be useful. Perhaps readers should take in this one alongside Michael Lewis' Who is Government?

Glad they wrote it, and I think it will be a valuable compilation of examples and trends for future historians. 3- rather than 4- or 5-star for me right now just because (a) I already think what they are endorsing, and (b) I well remember almost all of the incidents/decisions/actions they recount.

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The authors present compelling arguments and evidence that 2016-2020 and January 6, 2021 were precursors to what citizens can expect the next four years- a very dark time. The best chapters provided examples of Trump’s use of authoritarian style coupled with ungoverning and chaos. For anyone who’s been paying attention, the disasters of Trump’s first term ( caging children, separating families, willfully ignoring Covid’s death march in the US, etc) are well known but have been mostly forgotten.
What the authors do well is not only remind us what he did , but name and explain how Trump’s actions dismantle democracy.
As GOP state governors revise history curricula and legacy media like The Washington Post bow to Trump under owner Jeff Bezos and Editor in chief Murdoch acolyte William Lewis, this is an important history book to have around to remind us how we got here and why we should fear for America’s democratic foundations.

[Lisa]

This sets itself up to be a development of a theory of a new way of thinking politically called “Ungoverning” but it seems more to be a history of MAGA and indictment of Trumpian politics than a new theory. I did appreciate the discussion and definition of US based politics as opposed to the authoritarian anti-democratic theories in other places in the world. Our authoritarianism is populist and therefore claims to be more democratic. I thought the argument for the importance of the bureaucratic state was helpful along with the history of how even conservatives in the past wanted to work with experts. I just really hope we haven’t lost our trust in government entirely otherwise there isn’t much hope for the future.

[Rachel Shattuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ungoverning is the systematic dismantling of the essential work of the government so that the administration of government activities ceases. Democracy depends on a state that can govern. Without it we fall into tyranny, free and fair elections are threatened, and checks and balances eroded. We’re living through this right now. Muirhead and Rosenblum published this important work in October 2024.

[Paul Cisneros · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book. It is rare that researchers describe a new political phenomenon these days. I loved the straightforward narrative with precise examples. Perhaps considering alternative explanations would have made the argument stronger but I think there is enough to interest specialists and non specialists. I’d love to read something on how do something tangible to manage the spreading ungoverning.

[Bill Petkanas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great coinage. "Ungoverning" really makes sense - not bad governing, but looking to break the ability of government to work. Otherwise, a lot of stuff you already know because you're in the choir and the authors are preaching to you. Nice if you are in the choir but no Trump supporter is reading this.

[Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This should be required reading for every American. It helped me understand the country’s downward slide away from a capable state and it motivated me to help educate citizens about the under-appreciated benefits of that state capability.

[Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, fascinating. The book describes the administrative structure of the US government calling it the fourth branch. Learned a lot about the legal powers of some of the shanties.

[Julian Pritchard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty similar to the last book by these two authors, this book talks about the conservative attack on governance itself

[Benjamin Foore · Rating 3 out of 5]

A small piece of a larger puzzle.

I found this book to be a well-done factual summary of Muirhead and Rosenblum's concept of ungoverning.

That being said, the average reader's time would be better spent on the bigger picture, which I will argue is populism. It is my opinion that it is impossible to understand the current political landscape without a strong grasp of the concept of populism. While this book uses that term several times, it never really defines it or explains it in depth. Fair enough, as this is not a book about populism, but as a reader who does know about it, I found myself thinking that all of the information in this book kind of logically followed from what I already knew, and the information would be half-formed in the mind of a reader without this important concept. For this reason, I think I would recommend someone read something like Yuval Noah Harari's Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI before (or perhaps instead of) this.

That being said, this book is not about populism, and perhaps it's not fair to criticize it for something it's not instead of looking at what it is. Along those lines, I found the account the inception of Reagan-era small government philosophy and the obstructionism at the heart of the Tea Party to be informative and useful. Divorced from the pragmatic lens of what may be read instead, this book is a good read.

[Aaron Champagne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written last year, it's stunning how much the authors have called Trump's shots at dismantling the bureaucratic state. At times it was more like reading the news...