Module #21-Chapter 21- Bureaucracy
-Issue Network
A complex set of cooperative relationships between groups of citizens affected by a particular set of policies and the bureaucratic agency and congressional committee with jurisdiction over those policies. ~This connotes (implies) the idea that on any given issue, those who have a vested (secured in the possession of) stake in the outcome are more likely to participate in policy development.
-Spoils System
A political system in which the winning party in an election compensates its supporters with government jobs and services. -This describes an informal practice in which political party would award government positions to its supporters in exchange for their continued support.
-Great Society
A series of federal government programs, promoted by President Lyndon Johnson in the 1960s, that aimed to end poverty and racial injustice.
-Bureaucracy
A set of structures and procedures used by government (or other large organizations) to administer policies and programs. -Despite the federal bureaucracy's perceived shortcomings, it serves a very important functioning administering our laws.
-Privatization
A shift in responsibility for service provision from the public sector to the private sector. -A final strategy for reducing the size and scope of federal government involves *privatization,* in which government services are provided by private contractors. ~These services are supported through federal funds, and private service providers must operate under a certain degree of federal oversight. -The idea behind privatization is to allow private companies to compete with one another to provide a government service at the lowest cost.
-Iron Triangle
A term describing the coordination among congressional committees, bureaucratic agencies, and interest groups. -Sometimes the issue network can develop into powerful alliance between the three. -It can result in policies and rules that benefit a narrow segment of the population. -In this relationship, the three actors involved serve one another in exchange for information, political support, and favors. -Some argue that iron triangles obstruct the democratic process by benefiting narrow interest at the expense of the public interest, while other maintain that they are consistent with democratic principles because people are represented through interest groups that act on their behalf. -While several of the departments are directed by law to serve the interest of particular segment of society, other departments and agencies serve more general purposes. ~Regulatory Agencies: Monitor and guide individual behavior on social and economic affairs. -Some are found within the cabinet departments, while others are independent agencies or commissions. ~Domestic and International Security Agencies: Maintain order within the country and protect Americans from threats abroad. ~Fiscal Agencies: Manage revenue or set monetary policy. -
21.13 Limits to Power
Although bureaucrats do have considerable power to interpret laws and make rules when it comes to implementation, a number of factors prevent them from abusing this power. ~One such factor is accountability. The department and agencies in the executive branch are accountable to both Congress, which makes the laws being implemented, and to the president, who is responsible for appointing the heads of the departments. ~This means that there is a substantial amount of oversight when it comes to the actions of bureaucrats. -It is important to note that although the president is the head of the executive branch, he does not have unlimited control over the bureaucracy. ~His main sources of power over the bureaucracy come in the form of his capacity to appoint the heads of departments and agencies and his ability to propose each agency's budget to Congress. ~The president also has the authority to reorganize the executive branch to better serve his priorities. -However, the bureaucracy is so large and manages so many programs that it would be impossible for the president o be involved in every aspect of the executive branch's work. -The president is also constrained by the specific mission and culture of each individual agency. -While bureaucrats do have a great deal of discretion in implementing public policy, several checks and balances limit the power of the bureaucracy. ~The president controls the bureaucracy through his appointment power. ~Congress controls the bureaucracy through its power over funding levels for executive departments and agencies. ~When the public expresses dissatisfaction with the performance of the federal bureaucracy, the president and Congress consider options for reform.
21.14 IV. Reforming the Bureaucracy
Americans continually seek ways to reform the bureaucracy. While the federal bureaucracy generally carries out the vast majority of its responsibilities successfully, people often argue that the bureaucracy can perform its task more efficiently, more economically, and more effectively. ~Presidential candidates---Republican and Democrat alike---routinely promise to reform the bureaucracy to amok it dunmore efficiently and use fewer taxpayer dollars. -Once in office, presidents exercise their authority as chief executive to reorganize the bureaucracy in a way that helps them to achieve their priorities. But permanently cutting the size and cost of the bureaucracy has proved to be more difficult than it may sound. -Despite a widespread perception of government as wasteful and inefficient, Americans have a difficult time deciding how federal spending can be reduced. ~In short, Americans want smaller government, but they do not want fewer government services.
21.9 The Great Society
Concerns about the social welfare of the American public, particularly the situation of minorities experiencing discrimination and poverty in urban areas, grew dramatically during the 1960s. Democratic President Lyndon Johnson oversaw a massive expansion of social welfare programs that spanned the area of education; job training; the arts; the environment; and most importantly, voting and civil rights. -The Johnson administration proposed new programs that constructed colleges and universities, provided loans and grants to college students, and instituted job training programs for individuals to build skills for the workplace. -The administration further proposed initiative to better society through federal investment in the arts, greater environmental protection, urban revitalization funds, mass transit development, and increased health care programs for the elder and the poor.
21.3 Executive Branch Organization
HOW IS THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH ORGANIZED? The federal bureaucracy is composed of cabinet departments, independent agencies and regulatory commissions, and government corporations. ~The president's White House staff and the Executive Office of the President (EOP) include some of the president's closest advisors and the people who assist him with his day-to-day responsibilities. -The Executive Office of the President is another arm of the executive branch separate from the cabinet. ~The EOP includes several advisory bodies to the president. ~President Franklin Roosevelt established it in 1939 with the intention of coordinating the president's responsibilities across a wide range of areas. -There are now 13 entities in the EOP, including the National Security Council and the Office of Management and Budget. -The largest units in the executive branch are the executive (or cabinet) departments. ~Today there are 15 executive departments, with jurisdictions that largely mirror the jurisdictions of congressional committees. [Each department is headed by a presidential appointee who must be confirmed by the Senate.--> referred to as Cabinet Secretaries] ~Each department is organized hierarchically and contains several smaller units within it. -In addition to the 15 executive departments, there are numerous agencies, regulatory commissions, and government corporations in the executive branch. ~An independent agency is an organization set up by Congress outside of the cabinet department structure. -These agencies coordinate and carry out important government functions, like the intelligence activities conducted by the CIA and the scientific research overseen by NASA. ^ The heads of these agencies, known as administrators, are appointed by the president, but they generally report to Congress rather than to the president. ~One exception is the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), who is usually invited to cabinet meet ins and reports directly to the president. -Independent regulatory commissions are also part of the executive branch, but, like agencies, they are responsible to Congress. ~Beginning in 1887, Congress established these commissions to make rules on issues involving commerce, economics, communications, and elections. -Finally, the executive branch also includes government corporations, which provide a public service for a charge. ~The U.S. Postal Service and Amtrak are both government corporations.
21.1 Central Ideas
I. The federal bureaucracy enables the president to implement laws passed by Congress. II. The federal bureaucracy has grown considerably since the Founding, and especially since the Great Depression. III. The federal bureaucracy can be a powerful forces, but its powers are limited. IV. Americans continually seek ways to reform the bureaucracy.
Yellowstone Timberland Reserve Act of 1891
Laid the foundation for the federal government to play a leading role in the maintenance and oversight of American lands.
21.2 I. Implementing Laws
Once a laws has been passed by Congress and signed by the president, the law must then be put into action. ~This is the job of the executive branch, and it is no small task. The executive branch is composed of: -the president -vice president -cabinet departments -agencies -bureaus -offices that are responsible for helping the president administer government polices. ^These executive departments, agencies, bureaus, and offices are collectively known as the federal bureaucracy. -Bureaucracy refers to a set of structures and procedures used by government (or other large organizations) to administer policies and programs. ~This system of administration is characterized by hierarchy of authority, specialization of functions, and strict adherence to established procedures. [typically compared to pyramid] ~An employee in a bureaucracy is known as b bureaucrat. -Bureaucracy---whether in government at the federal, state, and local levels, or outside of government in corporations or nonprofit organizations---serves several important functions. FIRST: Bureaucracy allows an organization to operate efficiently by dividing labor among employees who are experts at performing specific tasks. -The division and specialization of labor in a bureaucracy is often managed by hierarchy of authority that is typically compared to a pyramid. ~At the bottom of the pyramid, you find workers with more general skills. ~As you move up the pyramid, skills becomes more specialized, with fewer workers who possess them. [At each level there are managers who report to the manager above them in the hierarchy, and at the top of the pyramid you find a set of high-level managers who oversee the operations of the organization.] SECOND: Bureaucracy allows process to be standardized so that products and services can be provided with consistency, with transparency, and with fairness at large scales. ~Though bureaucracy is often associated with a sea of paperwork and rigid adherence to rules, paperwork and rules serve an important function. -Paperwork represents a standardized set of producers that allows the government to coordinate numerous actions and administer massive programs in a consistent and equitable way. -Such administration would be impossible if detailed procedures and strict adherence to them did not exist. -These procedures also allow for government processes to be transparent to citizens so that they can hold government accountable for its actions. The federal bureaucracy is likewise intended to operate efficiently according to set, transparent rules and processes. And it exists in order to implement, or enforce, the laws passed by Congress. ~The bureaucratic structure in place allows the branch to administer these and other laws.
Pendleton Act
Required federal employees to be hired based on merit. ~This prevented future presidents form seeking favors from people in exchange for federal employment, and further resulted in the hiring of bureaucrats qualified to hold their positions. -The merit-based hiring practice established by the Pendleton Act are still in place today.
21.7 The Progressive Era
The *progressive Era (1880-1920) ushered in a period of expanding government regulation. -The Progressive movement drew attention to the wealth disparity between the mostly immigrant labor class and the capitalists exploiting them by requiring long working hours with little pay. ~The Progressives called for reform through greater federal intervention in the business sector. -In the end, the Progressive Era legitimized the role of the federal bureaucracy as chief regulator of behavior in the areas of commerce and labor. ~This new role was made possible by increasing public demand for a stronger centralized government that would address the conflicts and social crises of an expanding American population and the inadequacies of state and local regulation.
21.8 The New Deal
The collapse of the global market economy that began on October 24, 1929, sparked a new era of government reform in the United States. ~During the ensuing (emerge, result,issue) Great Depression, Americans were plagued by rocketing unemployment and poverty rates. -This crisis exposed the inability of state, local, and private firms to coordinate their actions quickly in response to widespread economic hardship. ^Americans turned to Democratic presidential candidate Franklin Delano Roosevelt for help, electing him president in 1932 in support of his New Deal platform. ~President Roosevelt's campaign promises took shape not only in new financial reforms, but also in social welfare safety nets. -To stimulate the economy, he worked with Congress to establish numerous employment and economic growth programs, such as the National Industrial Recovery Act f 1933, which sponsored the implementation of modern infrastructure programs. -The New Deal included several initiatives meant to regulate industry and workplace practices. ~Supporters of the New Deal formed labor unions to represent the interest of specific sectors of the American workforce. -Congress passed the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Social Security Act of 1935 -The New Deal, with all of its diverse programs and massive government expenditures, came to signify the beginning of Americans' faith in the national government over local institutions. ~While the reforms of the Progressive Era some 30 years earlier established an independent bureaucratic structure, New Deal reforms helped to expand the range of policies that the federal government was responsible for administering and overseeing. -The reforms of the New Deal did more than just regulate specific industries; they also provided social services and benefits directly to American citizens, and all of these services needed to be administered by a growing federal bureaucracy. -The size of the federal workforce increased considerably during the 1940s in order to implement the New Deal reforms and to prepare the nation for mobilization in World War II. ~Once the economy rebounded and the war ended, the federal workforce accordingly decreased. ^In addition, President Truman (1945-1953) sought to make the bureaucrat smaller and more efficient in order to calm public fears about the zip of the federal government.
21.4 Legislative Oversight
The division of activities within the executive branch highlights several important characteristics of the federal bureaucracy and its relationship to Congress and the public. ~The organization of the executive departments into areas of jurisdiction that generally mirror the committees in Congress permits the bureaucracy to efficiently administer the policies hammered out in congressional committees; it also permits congressional committees to efficiently oversee bureaucratic activity. ^In this way, congressional oversight of the functioning of the executive branch is an important part of our system of checks and balances. -The legislative committees and executive departments sometimes work with one another when ironing out the details of a law and its implementation. ~More often, however, congressional committees monitor the implementation of policies by the departments with which they share jurisdiction (authority). -But the jurisdiction (authority) of executive departments is not always clear---just as congressional committees must share jurisdiction (authority) with one another, so too must executive departments. -Each of the 15 departments has a unique mission, administering policies that influence a particular segment of the population. ~Some of these departments are purpose-oriented (Department of Healthy and Human Services) and some of them are clientele-oriented (Department of Agriculture).
21.12 III. Bureaucratic Power
The federal bureaucracy can be a powerful force, but its powers are limited. The primary source of bureaucratic authority is the power of discretion granted to bureaucrats by Congress. ~Some of the laws passed by Congress give specific instructions on how the law should be implemented, and this makes the job of implementing legislation pretty straightforward. ~However, even when specific instructions are given to administrators, they might be open to multiple interpretations. ^ When an administrator has to interpret the intentions of Congress in order to put the law into action, he or she is exercising a bureaucratic power---the power of discretion. -In some cases Congress intentionally passes vaguely worded laws because members are either unable or unwilling to specify exactly how the law should be carried out. ~When this happens, Congress delegates considerable power to the executive branch to make the rules necessary to implement the law. -In addition to deciding who and what to regulate, you would also have to figure out exactly how to regulate these companies and how to enforce the regulations once they had been put in place. As you can imagine, making these decisions would put you in a very powerful position. ~The decisions you make would likely reflect several factors, including your personal values; the information available to you; the influence of those around you (including other bureaucrats, stakeholders, and the public); and the mission and structure of your agency.
21.6 II. Growth of the Bureaucracy
The federal bureaucracy has grown considerably since the Founding, and especially since the Great Depression. The federal bureaucracy was not always the size it is today. Until the election of President Andrew Jackson in 1828, the bureaucracy was limited in personnel and performed a narrow set of tasks. -Holding onto colonial-era grievances toward King George III and his ever-expanding number of British bureaucrats, leaders during this period limited the size of the federal bureaucracy. ~Congress insisted that these branches be small and limited, performing only the most essential of duties. -Despite general distrust in the effectiveness and honesty of a large centralized executive branch, the realities of an expanding territory and growing population resulted in an enlargement of the federal bureaucracy. ~Between the time of President Jackson and the onset of the Civil War, the size of department budgets and the number of employees increased by eight times, ushering in a new political era in American government.
Social Security Act of 1935
The first federally funded pension program targeting all working Americans. ~It has come to symbolize the defined moment when the federal bureaucracy metamorphosed into a critical social service provider.
Civil Rights Acts if 1964
The government finally provided comprehensive federal protection against discrimination voting, employment, education, and access to public facilities and accommodations. The Greater Society, while expanding the budget ands cope of the federal government even further, sought to improve the well-being of communtities across the United States.
-Progressive Era (1880-1920)
The period in the late 19th and early 20th centuries marked by a social movement calling for sweeping reforms through increased government regulation. Some of the Progressive's priorities included prohibition of alcohol, extension of voting rights to women, and limitations on government corruption.
21.5 Issue Networks
Policymakers seeking to please a particular constituency sometimes try to assign the administration of a program to a department that will make rules that favor their constituency.
21.15 Devolution and Privatization
President Reagan emphasized this approach (devolution) to service provisioning the 1980s, and Speaker Gingrich returned to it in the 1990s.
-Devolution
The delegation of power by the federal government to state and local governments. -Delegating the responsibility for implementing federal programs to state and local governments. ~The idea behind devolution is that state governments can better and more efficiently provide services at the local level.
Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Which created an independent agency to monitor and regulate the vulnerable stock market.
National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933
Which sponsored the implementation of modern infrastructure programs.
21.11 The Bureaucracy Today
While the federal bureaucracy's growth has slowed since the New Deal and Great Society eras, it still continues to advance. -The creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in January of 2003 marked the most significant reorganization of the federal bureaucracy in more than half a century. ~The Department of Homeland Security is the third largest government department in terms of staff size. In short, the history of the federal bureaucracy is one of government continuously attempting to address the demands of an evolving American society. ~As the responsibilities of the bureaucracy have increased, so has its power. But the bureaucracy still relies on the president and Congress for its size and funding, and thus remains limited in what it can do.
