The Fragility of Merit

RECOMMENDED by Choice

The Fragility of Merit is packed with details and acronyms but provides excellent evidence of what Trump has done to hollow out the civil service. Released right after the 2024 presidential election, this book accurately foretold the first few months of Trump’s second administration and the steps the administration has taken to further its attempts from its first term. Kellough’s description of what the administration “accomplished” with regard to controlling the functions and behaviors of the bureaucracy is like looking at the first part of a road map. The removal of dispute mechanisms for employee complaints and appeals, the limiting of public employee unions’ power, and other actions taken between 2017 and 2021 have set the stage for the more damaging actions the administration would take in its earliest days in 2025. This work fits well into the niche of academic work over the last eight or so years depicting the deconstruction of the administrative state.

J. Twombly, emeritus, Elmira CollegeSumming Up: Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty; professionals

This book is very timely given the deep division in how Americans view our political system and how much or how little they value people who work in political environments. Civil service systems have long protected government employees, who at times, work in highly charged political environments. Dr. Kellough explores the evolution of the federal civil service system and reforms over the past few years as he traces the partisan effort to dismantle the federal workforce.

Doug Goodman, Professor of Public Administration, University of Central Florida

J. Edward Kellough is the Thomas P. and M. Jean Lauth Professor of Public Affairs at the University of Georgia where he serves as Head of the Department of Public Administration and Policy. Dr. Kellough specializes primarily in the field of public-sector human resources management. He is an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, has served as President of the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA), and has served as Chair of the Section on Public Administration of the American Political Science Association and as Chair of the American Society for Public Administration, Section of Personnel and Labor Relations and the Section on Public Administration Education.