Reform of the American Bureaucratic System from the Perspective of the “Deep State” Theory

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-551-5_99How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Deep State; Bureaucratic Reform; Department of Government Efficiency; Trump Administration; Administrative Centralization

Abstract

This paper employs the “Deep State” theory as its core framework to examine the scope and feasibility of administrative reforms initiated during Donald Trump’s second presidential term. The “Deep State” primarily refers to a persistent power network composed of unelected bureaucrats, intelligence agencies, military institutions, and judicial entities, which exerts influence and autonomous discretion beyond the reach of political leadership, aiming to preserve institutional stability and continuity. During Trump’s administration, the “Deep State” was characterized by its opposition to policy implementation, with bureaucratic resistance intertwined with conspiracy theory narratives, manifesting in officials’ refusal to execute directives and engaging in covert power struggles. During his second term, President Trump prioritized a strategic reorganization of the administrative state, consolidating executive power through executive orders, reintroducing the “Schedule F” classification for civil servants, and establishing a technology-driven Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to reform the federal bureaucracy. His goal was to replace traditional meritocracy with political loyalty, reduce institutional resistance to policy implementation, and ensure the enduring influence of the conservative policy agenda. This radical administrative reform encountered significant institutional resistance from the civil service, raised constitutional concerns about the legitimacy of executive orders, brought the risk of subsequent government policy reversals, and exacerbated social divisions and political polarization. While these reforms temporarily enhanced presidential prerogatives, they also exposed and exacerbated systemic tensions between the executive branch and the federal bureaucracy. In the long run, these measures may lead the executive branch toward authoritarianism, exacerbate polarization, and become a key case in the evolution of the American political and administrative landscape.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Zhaohui Yu
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/03/26
TI  - Reform of the American Bureaucratic System from the Perspective of the “Deep State” Theory
BT  - Proceeding of 2025 8th International Conference on Humanities Education and Social Sciences (ICHESS 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 921
EP  - 932
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-551-5_99
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-551-5_99
ID  - Yu2026
ER  -