Remaking the State

K. Sabeel Rahman is a professor of law at Cornell Law School, and served in the Biden administration’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs from 2021 to 2023, including as the head of the office from 2022 to 2023. He previously led the public policy think tank Demos and cofounded the Law and Political Economy Project. He is the author or coauthor of numerous works, including Democracy Against Domination (2016) and Civic Power: Rebuilding American Democracy in an Era of Crisis (2019).

“America's governing crisis undermines our capacity to address our most urgent challenges. Sabeel Rahman offers a critical diagnosis and illuminates the pathway out. Drawing on scholarly brilliance and top government experience, Remaking the State uncovers the origins of the modern administrative state and outlines how to remake it to reflect and advance democratic values. Urgent, clear-eyed, and persuasive, this is an extraordinarily timely read.” —Lina Khan, former chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission“Every social movement achievement eventually depends on a government that can actually deliver it. In this essential new book, Sabeel Rahman argues that American democracy’s deepest crisis isn’t elections or money in politics—it’s a bureaucracy hollowed out, weaponized against vulnerable groups, and designed to strengthen the power of elites. Drawing on his time as a government insider, Rahman offers advocates and organizers something precious: not just a critique, but a blueprint for building a state that can protect our freedoms, provide essential services, and strengthen democratic participation.” —Deepak Bhargava, president, Freedom Together Foundation“In the spirit of FDR’s refounding moment, Rahman offers a crystal-clear vision for the administrative state we need now—one that dismantles the long-concentrated power that’s brought us oligarchy, delivers results for working people instead, and values democracy as an everyday muscle. It’s essential reading for anyone who wants the words ‘by the people’ to truly mean something.” —Elizabeth Wilkins, president and CEO, Roosevelt Institute“Sabeel Rahman’s timely and compelling book Remaking the State is a citizen’s guide to repairing democracy in the aftermath of Trump. The cure for the autocratic abuse of executive power requires more than technocratic expertise, he shows. It requires rethinking governance to resist capture by powerful interests, give citizens a voice, and deliver for the public good.” —Michael J. Sandel, Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government at Harvard University, author of Democracy’s Discontent: A New Edition for Our Perilous Times