State Building through Reputation Building: Coalitions of Esteem and Program Innovation in the National Postal System, 1883-1913

In: Studies in American political development, Band 14, Heft 2, S. 121-155

Abstract

Argues that US Post Office Dept reforms during 1883-1913 represent a "model" of American state building through bureaucratic entrepreneurship & multiple network affiliations that became a pattern of 20th-century institutional change. Contrary to most historical accounts, it is contended that civil service reform did not play a key role in postal transformation. Rather, reform-minded bureaucrats who had risen through the postal ranks promoted operational changes aimed at increasing the department's overall power, as well as its control over local offices. The bureaucrats garnered support for their innovative ideas from a wide variety of community & business groups/organizations. Their efforts generated experimental programs that later became institutionalized, such as free delivery to every American home & parcel post delivery. It is contended that their success in gaining politically grounded legitimacy contributed to the emergence of a new mode of institutional change & created an academic model of American political development that recognized the importance of innovative, coalition-building activities by bureaucrats. 7 Tables, 4 Figures, 1 Appendix, 35 References. J. Lindroth