Twelfth Global Studies Conference

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is threefold. First, I discuss how globalization has resulted in the transnationalization and neoliberalization of domestic administrative law in the United States. In this context, globalization and transnationalization are related but not interchangeable terms; transnationalism refers to the relational and localized aspects of economic globalization, and that is my main focus here. Second, I discuss the legal mechanisms by which U.S. domestic administrative law became integral to globalization through its transnationalization and how it affected institutions such as courts. Third, I offer brief reflections on the state of U.S. administrative law with respect to transnationalism today—particularly in relation to courts and especially to the growth of executive power and the potential for administrative law reforms in the public interest. Globalization is often (correctly) seen as a source of democracy deficit, but thinking about administrative law in terms of its transnationalization draws attention to what are also its democratic possibilities. My focus is on U.S. experience, but I hope in a way that contributes to a wider comparative discussion.