Taming the Careerists: The Politics of Foreign Policy Implementation - Softcover

Kim, Minju

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1009789724 ISBN 13: 9781009789721

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2026

Synopsis

Over two million bureaucrats serve in the US federal government under various employment contracts. Minju Kim's Taming the Careerists asks how the design of those contracts – specifically, the features that strengthen or weaken job protections – shapes the behavior of bureaucrats and, in turn, American foreign policy. While past studies identify tools that help the president control the bureaucracy, Kim demonstrates that the president can additionally control the behavior of bureaucrats by weakening job protections, which makes bureaucrats more accountable to presidential preferences. The book shows that bureaucrats adjust how they implement policy based on the structure of their job protections, and that weakening these protections can unintentionally disrupt the stability of foreign economic policy. Drawing on administrative data, policy memos, interviews, and computational text analysis, Kim reveals the trade-off between accountability and stability, shedding light on the personnel management rules that quietly sustain the daily work of America's foreign policy bureaucracy.

About this title

About the Author

Minju Kim is an assistant professor of political science at Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. Her research examines how bureaucrats in domestic and international institutions impact foreign policy, diplomacy, and international cooperation.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1009789724
• ISBN 13: 9781009789721
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224