To Accompany Comprehensive, Alternate, and Texas Editions

American Government: Roots and Reform, 10th edition

Karen O’Connor and Larry J. Sabato

Pearson Education, 2009

Chapter 9

The Executive Branch and the Federal

Bureaucracy

The Roots of Bureaucracy

Foreign Affairs, War, Treasury first departments.

Growth in early 1800s with Post Office.

Patronage and the spoils system become common.

Civil War spawns another expansion.

Pendleton Act is beginning of civil service system.

Also known as merit system.

Creation of independent regulatory commissions.

Twentieth-Century Bureaucracy

Growing number of cabinet departments.

Need for a larger government to support wars.

New Deal and Great Society.

Modern Bureaucracy

More than 2.7 million employees.

Most are selected based on merit.

Also have high-level appointees.

Wide variety of skills represented.

Less diverse than America.

Scattered throughout D.C. and regional offices.

Growth of outside contractors.

Formal Organization

Cabinet departments handle broad, lasting issues.

Headed by secretaries.

Government corporations act like businesses.

Independent executive agencies handle services.

Narrower than Cabinet department, independent.

Independent regulatory commissions watch industry.

Designed to be free from partisan pressure.

Government Workers and Politics

Hatch Act sets first boundaries.

Federal Employees Political Act is current

standard.

Characteristics of Bureaucracy

Chain of command from top to bottom.

Division of labor.

Clear lines of authority.

Goal orientation.

Merit system.

Productivity.

How the Bureaucracy Works

Congress creates agencies.

Main job is implementation of laws.

Policy made in iron triangles or issue networks.

Increasing use of interagency councils.

Making Policy

Administrative discretion allows a lot of latitude.

Rule-making is a quasi-legislative process.

Formal procedure for making regulations.

Administrative adjudication is quasi-judicial

process.

Used to settle disputes between two parties.

Agency Accountability

Unclear who agencies should be accountable to.

Presidents try to make the right appointments.

Can also shape policy through executive orders.

Congress can use oversight powers and funding.

Police patrol v. fire alarm oversight.

Judiciary can review regulations.

AV- Growth of Government

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Figure 9.1- Civilian Employment

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Figure 9.2- Employee Characteristics

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Figure 9.3- Agency Regions

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Figure 9.4- The Executive Branch

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Figure 9.5- An Iron Triangle

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Figure 9.6- Rulemaking

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Table 9.1- FEPA

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Table 9.2- Agency Accountability

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