Alphabet Soup!!!

Chapter 15-Bureaucracy

BureaucracyA set of complex hierarchical departments,

agencies, commissions, and their staffs that exist to help a chief executive officer carry out his or her duties

Bureaucracies may be private organizations of government.

The Executive Branch and the Federal Bureaucracy

The Bureaucrats

1789 only three departments under the Articles of ConfederationForeign Affairs, War, and TreasuryWashington inherited these.

Head of each called a “secretary”Foreign Affairs renamed Department of State

1816 to 1861 size increased and demands increasedPost Office expanded as country grewMajor source of jobs (spoils system/patronage)

Origins and Growth of the Federal Bureaucracy

Civil War spawned need for new government agencies.Department of Agriculture (1862)

Not given Cabinet-level status until 1889Pension Office (1866)Department of Justice (1870)Spoils system

The firing of public-office holders of a defeated political party and their replacement with loyalists of the newly elected party

PatronageJobs, grants, or other special favors that are given

as rewards to friends and political allies for their support

Civil War and the Growth of Government

Garfield’s presidencyBesieged by office-seekers (patronage seekers)Wished to reform the system Irony: assassinated by a frustrated job seekerReaction to Garfield’s death and increasing criticism of the

spoils system was the Civil Service Reform Act in 1883 Also called the Pendleton Act

Reform measure that created the Civil Service Commission to administer a partial merit system

The act classified the federal service by grades to which appointments were made based on the results of a competitive examination.

It made it illegal for federal political appointees to be required to contribute to a particular political party.

Civil service system operated to 1978New version is the merit system

From the Spoils System to the Merit System

Growth of big business, price fixing, and other unfair business practices after the Civil War stimulated Congress to create the Interstate Commerce CommissionFirst independent regulatory commission

An agency created by Congress that is generally concerned with a specific aspect of the economy

Theodore Roosevelt Department of Commerce and Labor

Woodrow WilsonDivided it into two separate departmentsEncouraged Congress to create the Federal Trade

Commission16th Amendment

Regulating the Economy

Franklin RooseveltGreat DepressionFDR created hundreds of new government agencies

to regulate business practices and various other areas of the national economy.

WWIIAffected the economyManufacturing of goods related to the warTax rates increased and never fell againAfter the war

Demands for services/new money infusion=more governmentCivil Rights MovementWar on Poverty

Growth of Government in the 20th Century

The Bureaucrats

Who Are Bureaucrats 2.7 million federal workers

1/3 in the U.S. Postal Service Tests usually for entry-level positions Mid-level to upper ranges of federal positions do not normally

require tests. 10 percent of federal workforce not covered by civil service.

Appointive policy-making positions (cabinet secretaries, for example)- Schedule C

Independent Regulatory Commissioners (appointed by the president) Low-level, non-policy patronage positions

Secretarial assistants to policy makers, for example Many located in Washington, D.C., but many are spread out

throughout the country (decentralized) Graying of the federal workforce Hiring of outside contractors

The Modern Bureaucracy

Cabinet Departments Major administrative units with responsibility for a broad area of

government operations Indicates a permanent national interest Government Corporations Businesses established by Congress that perform functions that could be

provided by private businesses Example: Amtrak, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

Independent Executive Agencies Governmental units that closely resemble a Cabinet department but have a

narrower area of responsibility and are not part of any Cabinet Department Example: Central Intelligence Agency

Independent Regulatory Commissions Agencies created by Congress to exist outside the major departments to

regulate a specific economic activity or interest Example: Federal Reserve Board

Formal Organization

How Bureaucracies Are Organized

How Bureaucracies Are Organized

Hatch ActLaw enacted in 1939 to prohibit civil servants

from taking activist roles in partisan campaigns

Could not make political contributions, work for a political party or campaign for a particular candidate

Federal Employees Political Activities Act 1993 liberalization of the Hatch ActAllowed federal employees to run for office in

nonpartisan elections and to contribute money to campaigns in partisan elections

Government Workers and Political Involvement

WeberChain of commandDivision of labor/specializationClear lines of authorityGoal orientationImpersonalityProductivity

How the Bureaucracy Works

ImplementationThe process by which a law or policy is put into operation by

the bureaucracy Iron triangles

Relatively stable relationships and patterns of interaction that occur among an agency, interest groups, and congressional committees or subcommittees

Issue networksThe loose and informal relationships that exist among a large

number of actors who work in broad policy area Interagency Councils: working groups that bring together

representatives of several departments and agencies to facilitate the coordination of policy making and implementation

Increasing complexity of policy domainsInteragency councils

How the Bureaucracy Works

Administrative discretionThe ability of bureaucrats to make choices concerning the

best way to implement congressional intentionsRule making

A quasi-legislative administrative process that has the characteristics of a legislative act

RegulationsRules that govern the operation of a particular government

program that have the force of law1946 Administrative Procedures Act

Public notice of time, place and nature of rule-making proceedings provided in the Federal Register

Submission of written argumentsStatutory purpose and basis of rule to be statedOnce rule is written, 30 days must elapse before it takes effect.

Making Policy

Administrative adjudicationA quasi-judicial process in which a

bureaucratic agency settles disputes between two parties in a manner similar to the way courts resolve disputes

Making Policy

Executive ControlAppointmentsExecutive orders

Rules or regulations issued by the president that have the effect of law

Congressional ControlConstitutional powersPower of the purseGeneral Accounting Office, Congressional

Research Service, and Congressional Budget Office

Judicial Control

Making Agencies Accountable

Iron Triangles