PSCI 308
In Search of the American State Spring 2026
Division II

In 1981, President Ronald Reagan famously proclaimed that “government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem.” In 2025, President Trump has invoked this sentiment to justify his aggressive effort to unilaterally reduce the federal bureaucratic state. Skepticism of government has deep roots and strong resonance throughout American political history. Despite this, national government has grown in scope and size for much of this history, including under both Democratic and Republican administrations. Today, there are few areas of citizens’ lives that are untouched by the federal government, and there is significant disagreement about the role and power of government. This course aims to provide historical and theoretical context for battles over state power. We will examine the growth of the American state in various arenas over time, as well as the assaults on government legitimacy in recent years. We will assess traditional theories about the weakness of the American state in light of arguments about the state as: regulator of family and “private” life, adjudicator of relations between racial and ethnic groups, manager of economic inequalities, insurer of security, and arbiter of the acceptable uses of violence and surveillance.