Administrative law is deeply intertwined with government policymaking and politics. Yet administrative law scholarship sometimes seems detached from contemporary political and economic reality and from the day-to-day problems of public administration. The current project of the author bridges these gaps, and looks for common themes where the perspectives of political science, public administration, economics, and public law can be in conversation. This talk concentrates on one aspect of this topic: the relationship between public policymaking and administrative law. Public agencies do more than implement the law in particular cases; they also make policy through general rules and guidelines. The agenda for State reform in consolidating democracies needs to include administrative law reform as one way to further democratic legitimacy and government accountability. As democracy consolidates in Latin America and elsewhere, the State needs to create institutions of popular participation and oversight that go beyond elections and legislative oversight. Administrative law needs to move away from a primary focus on the technical legality of State actions toward principles that enhance policymaking accountability. A focus on the rights of individuals against an overarching State is not sufficient to deal either with executive assertions of policymaking power or the control of private entities that carry out public functions. Greater transparency in the executive is necessary but not sufficient. Administrative law needs to create mediating institutions that give people, civil society groups, business and labor, established channels for providing input and seeking justifications for public policies.
