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.
Russell Muirhead is the Robert Clements Professor of Democracy and Politics at Dartmouth College. Nancy L. Rosenblum is the Senator Joseph Clark Professor of Ethics in Politics and Government Emerita at Harvard University. They are the authors of A Lot of People Are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy (Princeton).
"An illuminating — and alarming — book. . . . Muirhead and Rosenblum finished ‘Ungoverning’ before the 2024 election, but Trump’s ludicrous nominations — one already crashed in flames — serve as a sort of publicity campaign for the book’s thesis."—Ron Charles, Washington Post
“Ungoverning provides an unflinching and much-needed look at the threat posed by a new form of politics that actively seeks to undermine the core functions of government. Muirhead and Rosenblum deftly show how this alarming and uniquely nihilistic political philosophy helps define Trumpism and threatens democracy.”—Corey Brettschneider, author of The Presidents and the People: Five Leaders Who Threatened Democracy and the Citizens Who Fought to Defend It
“At a time when we face ever more pressing and complex challenges in need of large-scale state action—from climate crises to pandemics to persistent inequities—we also face a powerful new form of politics specifically geared toward the deconstruction of state capacity. In this urgent and important book, Muirhead and Rosenblum provide an invaluable terminology and framework for understanding how reactionary fervor, personalistic politics, and systematic dismantling of governing institutions constitute a fundamental threat to democracy. This book articulates the tough challenge ahead to rebuild and relegitimate the most crucial and most easily overlooked feature of democratic governance: the state itself.”—K. Sabeel Rahman, author of Democracy against Domination
“Americans, like residents of every country, are familiar with arguments about what government should do, and how it should do it. But we are not used to controversy over how well government should act. Attacking the state’s capacity to carry out tasks that have been democratically chosen is an insidious, powerful way to undermine democracy itself—along with liberty and equality. Muirhead and Rosenblum point us toward an urgent issue; we must pay attention and stop nonconsensual ungoverning.”—Jennifer L. Hochschild, author of Facing Up to the American Dream: Race, Class, and the Soul of the Nation
“Ungoverning is an essential book for our moment, starting with a title that deserves to become a touchstone in our political conversation. Brilliantly drawing together philosophical reflections on democracy’s obligations to its citizens with a lively practical sense of how government works, Muirhead and Rosenblum offer a passionate defense of the now contested work of making our society fairer, safer, and more responsive.”—E. J. Dionne Jr., author of Our Divided Political Heart: The Battle for the American Idea in an Age of Discontent
