2011 Gladys M. Kammerer Award

The Gladys M. Kammerer Award is given for the best book published in the U.S. during the previous calendar year in the field of U.S. national policy.

Award Committee: Daniel A. Mazmanian, Chair, University of Southern California; John G. Geer, Vanderbilt University; and Melinda Gann Hall, Michigan State University

Recipient: Sean Farhang, University of California, Berkeley

Book: The Litigation State: Public Regulation and Private Lawsuits in the U.S. (Princeton University Press)

Citation: In The Litigation State, Sean Farhang presents a path-breaking account of the power of Congress to shape fundamental civil rights by relying on private litigation as an enforcement mechanism and as an effective alternative to reliance on the administrative power of the bureaucracy. Among numerous aspects of a compelling analysis, Professor Farhang expands the concept of state to include private enforcement regimes as a strategic instrument utilized by Congress to achieve policy goals when faced with politically incongruent Presidents. He also describes how private enforcement regimes work and why Congress adopts them, and presents a rich contextual analysis of the origins and development of important civil rights laws starting with the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The Litigation State represents the best of public policy analysis and political science by combining a rigorous theoretical framework with a fascinating blend of investigative tools, including empirical analysis grounded largely in rational choice institutionalism and historical qualitative analysis. This innovative work informs numerous areas of inquiry in political science, including studies of Congress, separation of powers, civil rights, public policy, the regulatory process, and American political development.