Administrative Presidency Revisited: Public Lands, the Blm, and the Reagan Revolution

How the Reagan administration used bureaucratic control over the Bureau of Land Management to shape public lands policy.

When presidents seek to govern through bureaucracy rather than legislation, what really changes in public policy, and at what cost?

In The Administrative Presidency Revisited, Robert F. Durant delivers a rigorous, wide-ranging analysis of how presidential power is exercised through administrative strategy. Focusing on the Bureau of Land Management during the Reagan era, Durant traces how political objectives are translated into bureaucratic action across America's public lands.

Drawing on years of meticulous empirical research, Durant moves from theory to practice, revealing how tools of executive control reshape policy outcomes on the ground. From privatization debates and grazing conflicts to wilderness designation and energy development, Durant uncovers the complex political struggles embedded in land management decisions.

Structured in three parts--The Anatomy of an Administrative Presidency, A View from the Grassroots, and Beyond Fear or Favor: Lessons for Theory and Practice--The Administrative Presidency Revisited connects high-level theories of presidential leadership with the lived realities of policy implementation.