The Loyalty Trap

Jaime Lee Kucinskas offers a compelling analysis of how bureaucratic loyalty can pave the way toward authoritarianism. Her study of bureaucratic resistance during the Trump administration revitalizes the conversation on ethics in public administration and provides strategies for safeguarding democracy. A must-read on organizational transformation. -- Michael W. Bauer, coeditor of <i>International Bureaucracy: Challenges and Lessons for Public Administration</i> Kucinskas’s book offers a captivating insider account of civil servants’ challenges in staying morally and culturally committed to their positions as autocratic leadership put them in ethically and legally compromised situations. This study reveals the surprising fragility of our democratic institutions as seen through the eyes of government employees who are experiencing their deterioration in real time. -- Brayden King Jaime Kucinskas offers profound insights into the tensions between bureaucracy and democracy, illuminating the precarious tightrope public servants walked navigating the unprecedented challenges of the Trump administration—balancing professional standards, personal ethics, competing loyalties, and workplace culture in an increasingly difficult political environment. This is essential reading to understand the complexities of governance in an era of profound political polarization. -- Rosemary O’Leary, author of <i>The Ethics of Dissent: Managing Guerrilla Government</i> The Loyalty Trap provides extraordinary insights into how U.S. federal civil servants walked the fine line between their bureaucratic roles and their obligations to American democracy during the Donald Trump's presidency. Kucinskas’s three waves of in-depth interviews give readers an insider’s view of institutions that have served Americans well for more than a century. -- James Perry, author of <i>Managing Organizations to Sustain Passion for Public Service</i>