Private Power and American Bureaucracy: The EEOC and Civil Rights Enforcement

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Robert Lieberman, Professor of Political Science, Columbia University

This paper examines the career of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which despite its structural weakness became an important catalyst in the rise of affirmative action in the United State. In contrast with traditional approaches to the American state, which emphasize the autonomy of state power from civil society, Lieberman shows that the EEOC was successful precisely because it was able to mobilize private activity in the service of public goals.