Law and Public Administration

The focus of this article is on what might be termed national administrative law, in contrast to international administrative law that governs international organizations such as the World Bank or United Nations tribunals. In democratic states, administrative law for present purposes includes mechanisms: to redress harm to individuals inflicted by government in the pursuit of government objectives, and for positive control of government agencies by branches of government with sovereign authority in lawmaking, e.g., the United States Congress. The latter function is more apparent in separation-ofpowers systems, though it has parliamentary analogs. It is part constitutional and rights-oriented, and part procedural. Courts, chief executives, and bureaus themselves demarcate administrative powers.