The American State and the Limits of Public Policy

• In Event: Against the American State? Legitimacy and Reconfigurations.

Abstract

Both historically and contemporarily, public policies have been primary instruments through which the state has created, maintained and exacerbated racial and economic inequity. The flip side of this is that public policy has also been deployed to reverse, reduce and redress such disparities. Altogether, the trajectory of American public policy vis-à-vis racial and economic injustice has not been uniform, progressive or linear. Instead, the contours of policy have been variable over time, with even single policies at particular points having mixed racial and economic implications. Drawing on the historical and empirical record, this paper broadly charts the course of five domains of American policy (health, welfare, housing, crime, and employment). Within each of these arenas, we identify vital policy inflection points—some marked by progress towards racial and economic fairness, some characterized by damaging policies that undermined equity, others still with varied repercussions. Describing, comparing, and contrasting such patterns reveals the limits of public policy as a tool the state can wield to realize racial and economic justice. By systematically pinpointing the ways that policy has come up short, we develop crucial insights about reliance on public policy as a state channel for addressing inequality.

Author

• Jamila D. Michener, Cornell University