Chapter 13: The Bureaucracy



Chapter 13: The Bureaucracy

I. Bureaucracy in modern governments

A. Large, complex organization of appointed officials

B. Max Weber’s bureaucracy

1. Bureaucracy as a well-organized, complex machine that is a “rational” way for a modern society to organize its business

2. Basic characteristics

a. Hierarchical authority structure – chain-of-command in which the top bureaucrat has ultimate control and authority flows from the top down

b. Task specialization – clear division of labor in which every individual has a specialized job

c. Extensive rules – clearly written, well-established formal rules that all people in organization follow

d. Clear goals – clearly defined set of goals that all people in the organization strive toward

e. Merit principle – hiring and promotion of the best qualified

f. Impersonality – job performance judged on productivity or how much work the individual gets done

II. American federal bureaucracy

A. Divided supervision between President & Congress

1. Congress has the power to create, organize and disband all federal agencies

2. Most agencies under the control of the president

3. Encourages bureaucrats to play one branch of government against the other

4. Many agencies have counterparts at state and local level too

5. Based on separation of powers & federalism

B. Close public scrutiny

1. More scrutiny than in other countries

2. Makes court challenges to agency actions more likely (because emphasis on individual rights and their defense against abuse by government)

C. Regulation rather than public ownership

1. Agencies regulate privately-owned businesses and companies

2. In other countries agencies operate publically owned ones

III. The growth of the bureaucracy

A. The early years

1. Constitution said nothing about creating an administrative system other than to allow the president to appoint ambassadors, other public ministers…and all other officers of the United States whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for and which shall be established by law

2. Department of State created during Washington’s presidency to help T. Jefferson exercise his duties as Secretary of State

3. President given sole right of removal (argument made for Senate consent to removal of officials is challenged by supporters of a strong president )

4. But Congress funds and investigates bureaucracy

B. Patronage

1. Officials affect how laws are interpreted, the tone of the administration, and the effectiveness of the president so important who got appointed

2. Patronage used in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to reward supporters

3. Andrew Jackson & the Spoils System

a. Believed it insured effectiveness & responsiveness from those who owed jobs to the president

b. Greater participation by middle & lower classes

4. Created a full turnover in the federal service with each new president

5. Increase in federal employees as a result of increased demands on its traditional functions

6. Civil War a watershed in bureaucratic growth – new officials & new offices; showed the weakness of federal government

C. Regulation to service (1861-1901)

1. Creation of new agencies to deal with particular sectors of society & the economy

2. Reflects the desire for limited government, laissez-faire beliefs in promoting the economy instead of regulating it, and the Constitution's silence

D. A change to government activism

1. Created by the depression and World War II

2. Also change in public attitudes and in constitutional interpretation

3. Introduction of heavy income taxes supports the large bureaucracy

IV. The federal bureaucracy today

A. Direct and indirect growth

1. Modest increase in the number of government employees (about the same as in 1960)

2. Indirect increase through the use of private contractors

B. Duties of bureaucrats

1. Follow orders

2. Create the “nuts & bolts” of executing policy made by Congress, the president and the Supreme Court

a. Implement through procedures & rules

b. Manage routines of government

3. Regulation of private sector activities

a. Develop guidelines with input from interest groups

b. Apply & enforce them

C. More discretionary authority means more power for the bureaucracy & bureaucrats

1. Ability to choose courses of action and to make policies that are not spelled out in advance by laws (i.e. the delegation of undefined authority by Congress)

2. Primary areas of delegation

a. Paying subsidies to groups including farmers, veterans, scientists, schools, etc)

b. Transferring money from federal government to state and local governments through grant-in-aid programs

c. Devising and enforcing of regulations

3. Some areas are closely monitored; others not so closely

D. Factors explaining behavior of officials

1. Hiring & firing

a. Competitive service: most bureaucrats compete for jobs through OPM

1. Appointment by merit based on a written exam

2. Decreased to less than 54 percent of federal government work force

b. Excepted service: most are appointed by other agencies on the basis of qualifications approved by OPM

1. Fastest growing sector of federal government employment

2. Examples: Postal Service employees and FBI agents

3. But president can also appoint employees: presidential appointments, Schedule C jobs, and NEA jobs

c. Pendleton Act (1883) transferred basis of government jobs from patronage to merit

1. Created Office of Personnel Management (OPM)

I. Administers civil service laws, rules & regulations

II. Administer the written exams

2. Merit system protects president from pressure and protects patronage appointees from new presidents ("blanketing in")

d. Name-request job is filled by a person whom an agency has already identified for middle- and upper-level jobs

1. Job description may be tailored for person

2. Circumvents usual search process

3. But also encourages "issue networks" based on shared policy views

e. Firing a bureaucrat

1. Most bureaucrats cannot be fired

2. Exception: Senior Executive Service (SES)

I. Created so president had more flexibility in hiring & firing top policy-making positions

II. SES managers receive cash bonuses for good performance

III. But very few SES members have been fired or even transferred

2. An agency point of view

a. Agencies are dominated by lifetime bureaucrats who have worked for no other agency

b. System assures continuity and expertise

c. But also gives subordinates power over new bosses: can work behind boss's back through sabotage, delaying, and so on

3. Personal attributes

a. Pretty representative of population

1. Higher civil servants are elitists

2. Political appointees and career bureaucrats think about government and politics differently than public at large

b. Correlation between type of agency and attitudes of employees: activist agencies have more liberal employees while traditional agencies have more conservative employees

4. Do bureaucrats sabotage their political bosses?

a. Possibly but loyalty to bosses runs strong especially if treated cooperatively & constructively -- despite the power of bureaucrats to obstruct or complain

1. Whistleblower Protection Act (1989) created Office of Special Counsel

2. Investigates allegations that bureaucrats punished or fired for reporting waste, fraud or abuse

3. "Cooperation is the nature of a bureaucrat's job"

b. Most civil servants have highly structured roles make them relatively immune to the influence of personal attitudes

5. Culture and careers

a. Each agency has its own culture or informal understandings as how they are supposed to act

b. Jobs with an agency can be career enhancing if you have a job that emphasizes that agency’s culture (or not)

c. Strong agency culture motivates employees but makes agencies resistant to change

V. Constraints

A. Biggest difference between a government agency and a business deals with hiring, firing, pay, procedures, and so forth

B. General constraints

1. Administrative Procedure Act (1946) requires agencies to hold hearings or give notice before adopting new rule or procedure

2. Freedom of Information Act (1966) allows citizens to inspect all government records with some exceptions

3. National Environmental Policy Act (1969) requires an agency to issue an environmental impact statement before doing anything affecting the environment

4. Privacy Act (1974) certain government files must be kept confidential

5. Open Meeting Law (1976) agency meeting must be open to the public with some exceptions

6. Duplication -- assignment of single jobs to several agencies

C. Effects of constraints

1. Government moves slowly

2. Government acts inconsistently

3. Easier to block than to take action

4. Reluctant decision making by lower-ranking employees

5. Red tape

D. Why so many constraints?

1. Constraints come from us as we require certain things form our government

2. Agency's response to our demands for openness, honesty, fairness, and so on

VI. Agency allies

A. Iron triangles

1. Agencies often seek alliances with congressional committees and interest groups

2. Interest groups

a. Provide information to agency & committees

b. Pressure agency to interpret policy in their favor

c. Provide campaign contributions to committee members

3. Committees

a. Pass legislation favoring interest group

b. Approve bigger budget for agency

4. Agency

a. Gives information to committee

b. Helps with constituent complaints

c. Develops rules and regulations favorable to interest group

5. Far less common today because politics has become too complicated

a. More interest groups, more congressional subcommittees, and easier access for individuals

b. Far more competing forces than ever given access by courts

B. Issue networks

1. Groups (think tanks, media, interest groups, etc.) that regularly debate government policy on certain issues

2. Contentious and partisan ; often split on political, ideological & economic lines

3. New president often recruits from networks to get those most sympathetic to his views

VII. Bureaucratic organization

A. Executive Office of the President

1. Organization of offices staffed by most of the president’s closest advisers

2. White House Office

a. Chief of staff

b. Press secretary

c. Legal counsel

d. President’s physician

e. Diplomatic, military, speech writers, PR, etc. (400-500)

f. Domestic Policy Council

g. Homeland Security Council

h. National Economic Council

i. Office of faith-based & Community Initiatives

j. Office of the First Lady

k. Office of national AIDS Policy

l. Privacy & Civil Liberties Oversight Board

m. USA Freedom Corps

n. White House Fellows Office

o. White House Military Office

3. National Security Council

a. Advises the president on all domestic, foreign & military matters that affect national security

b. President, VP, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, legal counsel, Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs, Chief of staff

4. Council of Economic Advisers

5. Council on Environmental Quality

6. Office of Administration

7. Office of Management and Public

8. Office of National Drug Control Policy

9. Office of Science & Technology

10. President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board

11. United States Trade Representative

B. Cabinet Departments

1. Informal advisory group that helps the president in making decisions and setting government policy

2. Made up of 15 executive departments each headed by a secretary

3. Secretaries are appointed by the president and approved by the Senate

4. Each manages a specific policy area

5. Departments

a. Department of State (Condoleezza Rice)

1. Advises the president on foreign policy

2. Represents the U.S. abroad and in international organizations

3. Run embassies in foreign countries

b. Department of Treasury (Henry Paulson)

1. Produces coins & currency

2. Borrows money & manages federal debt

3. Collects taxes

c. Department of Defense (Robert Gates) – provides for the national defense & runs the military

d. Department of Justice

1. Headed by Attorney General (Michael Mukasey)

2. Enforces federal laws

3. Operates federal prisons

e. Department of the Interior (Dirk Kempthorne)

1. Manages public lands & national parks

2. Helps Indian tribes manage their affairs

f. Department of Agriculture (Ed Schafer)

1. Assists farmers & ranchers

2. Inspects food

g. Department of Commerce (Carlos Gutierrez)

1. Conducts the census

2. Grants patents & copyrights

h. Department of Labor (Elaine Chao)

1. Enforces federal laws on minimum wages, maximum hours & safe working conditions

2. Administers unemployment insurance & workers’ compensation

i. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Michael Leavitt

1. Administers Medicare & Medicaid programs

2. Enforces pure food & drug laws

3. Conducts programs to prevent & control disease

j. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Alphonso Jackson

1. Enforces fair housing laws

2. Operates home-financing & public housing programs

3. Department of Transportation -- promotes & regulates railroads, air travel, waterways, oil/gas pipelines

k. Department of Energy (Samuel Bodman)

1. Production of renewable energy, fossil fuels & nuclear energy

2. Conducts nuclear research & production

l. Department of Education (Margaret Spellings)

1. Administers federal aid to schools

2. Conducts educational research

m. Department of Veterans Affairs (James Peake)

1. Oversees military cemeteries

2. Administers benefits, pensions & medical programs for veterans

n. Department of Homeland Security (Michael Chertoff)

1. Prevent attacks on U.S. soil

2. Reduce America’s vulnerability to terrorism

3. Minimize damage from potential attacks & natural disasters

6. HHS spends the most money but Defense has more employees

7. Cabinet rank also to EPA Administrator, OMB Director, National Drug Control Policy Director & U.S. Trade Representative under G.W. Bush

C. 2004 Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act

1. Created a position for Director of National Intelligence

2. Puts 15 intelligence agencies under the control of the director including CIA and FBI

3. Created a National Counterterrorism Center to serve as the primary organization that processes all terrorism-related intelligence

D. Independent Regulatory Agencies

1. Make rules for large industries and businesses that affect the interests of the public

2. “Watchdogs” so operate independently – not part of a department and most not directly controlled by president

3. Commissioners appointed by president and confirmed by Senate

4. Cannot be removed by president during their terms of office

5. Examples

a. Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) – regulates railroads & trucking

b. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) – regulates business practices & controls monopolies

c. National labor Relations Board (NRLB) – regulates labor-management relations

d. Federal Reserve Board (FRB) – governs banks and regulates the supply of money

e. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) – polices the stock market

E. Government Corporations

1. Blend of private corporation and government agency

2. Have more control over their budgets and often have right to decide how to use their own earnings

3. Examples

a. Corporation for Public Broadcasting – operates public radio & TV stations

b. Tennessee Valley Authority – harnesses the power of TN River to protect farmland and provide cheap electricity

c. U.S. Postal Service

d. Amtrak – provides railroad passenger service that is heavily subsidized by federal government

F. Independent Executive Agencies

1. Narrower areas of responsibility

2. Don’t regulate but fulfill a myriad of other administrative responsibilities

3. Examples

a. General Services Administration (GSA) – operates and maintains federal properties, handling buildings, supplies and purchasing

b. National Science Foundation (NSF) – supports scientific research

c. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) – administers the U.S. space program

VIII. Congressional oversight

A. Forms of congressional supervision

1. Congressional approval necessary for creation

2. Statutes influence agency behavior (sometimes precisely)

a. Congress may rewrite legislation or make it more detailed which restricts power of an agency

3. Authorization of money, either permanent or fixed number of years

a. No agency may spend money unless it’s been authorized by Congress

b. But money must also be appropriated

4. Appropriation of money allows spending

a. Money formally set aside for a specific use and usually less than what was authorized

b. Appropriation Committees of House & Senate divide up all the available money among the agencies

5. Duplication

a. Congress rarely gives any one job to a single agency

b. Spreading out responsibility can lead to contradictions among agencies and inhibits responsiveness of government

c. Prevents one agency from becoming all powerful

6. Hearings

a. Congressional committees investigate agency abuses

B. Congressional oversight and "homeland security"

1. Lieberman's call for Department of Homeland Defense after September 11 attack

2. President Bush's creation of Office of Homeland Security

a. Appointment of Governor Ridge and the blueprint for homeland security

b. Congressional calls for testimony about strategies

c. Need to coordinate personnel and budgets

3. Proposal of a Department of Homeland Security

a. Consolidation, reorganization and transformation

b. Need for Congress to reorganize itself to make the bureaucracy work

1. Immediate protests about committee and subcommittee jurisdiction

2. Congress' historical tendency to resist streamlining

C. Importance of Appropriations Committee and legislative committees

1. Legislative committees are important when

a. A law is first passed

b. An agency is first created

c. An agency is subject to annual authorization

2. Appropriations Committee most powerful

a. Most expenditure recommendations are approved by full House without change

b. Has power to lower agency's expenditure request

c. Has power to influence an agency's policies by marking up an agency's budget

d. Losing power

1. Trust funds like Social Security are automatic

2. Annual authorizations are done by legislative committees not Appropriations

3. Meeting target spending limits in an attempt to reduce spending (leaves little time to discuss the merits of particular programs)

3. Informal congressional controls over agencies

a. Individual members of Congress can seek privileges for constituents

b. Congressional committees may seek committee clearance or the right to pass on certain agency decisions

c. Committee heads may ask to be consulted before certain actions are taken

D. The legislative veto

1. Requirement that executive decisions lie before Congress for a certain period of time before it takes effect so Congress could “approve or disapprove”

2. Declared unconstitutional by Supreme Court in Chadha (1983)

3. Weakens traditional legislative oversight but Congress continues creating such vetoes

E. Congressional investigations

1. Power inferred from power to legislate

2. Means for checking agency discretion

3. Means for limiting presidential control

IX. Presidential accountability

A. Appointments

B. Executive orders

X. Bureaucratic "pathologies" or criticisms

A. Red tape -- complex and sometimes conflicting rules, regulations and paperwork among agencies that makes government so overwhelming to citizens

B. Conflict -- agencies work at cross-purposes

C. Duplication -- two or more agencies appear to be doing the same thing

D. Imperialism or unchecked growth -- tendency of agencies to grow, irrespective of benefits and costs of programs

E. Waste -- spending more on products and/or services than is necessary

F. Lack of accountability – the difficulty in firing or demoting an incompetent bureaucrat

XI. Reforming the bureaucracy

A. Numerous attempts to make bureaucracy work better for less money

1. Eleven attempts to reform in this century alone

2. National Performance Review (NPR) in 1993 designed to reinvent government

a. Differs from previous reforms that sought to increase presidential control

b. Emphasizes customer satisfaction by bringing citizens in contact with agencies

3. NPR calls for innovation and quality consciousness by

a. Less-centralized management

b. More employee initiatives

c. Customer satisfaction

B. Other suggestions for reform

1. Limiting appointments to 6-12 years

2. Making it easier to fire a bureaucrat

3. Rotating professionals between agencies and from outside – new blood and encourage a broader view of governmental service

4. Rewarding employee initiatives and fewer rules

5. Emphasizing customer satisfaction

C. Bureaucratic reform always difficult to accomplish

1. Most rules and red tape result from the struggle between the president and Congress

2. This struggle makes bureaucrats nervous about irritating either

3. Periods of divided government exacerbate matters, especially in implementing policy

a. Republican presidents seek to increase political control (executive micromanagement)

b. Democratic Congresses respond by increasing investigations and rules (legislative micromanagement)

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Power of the purse

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