Bureaucracy

What is it?

• What is bureaucracy?– Hierarchical authority– Job specialization– Formal rules

Structure• 2.5 million employees• Cabinet departments

– Vary greatly– Responsibility for general policy area– Appointed by and report to president—confirmed

• Independent Agency– Narrower responsibility– CIA– NASA– Appointed by and report to president—confirmed

• Regulatory Agency– Created when Congress sees need for regulation– SEC– EPA– Commission of members—nominated and confirmed– Independent

• Government Corporations– Charge and are governed by board– Postal Service, FDIC, Amtrak

• Presidential Commissions– Civil rights, fine arts

Being a Bureaucrat

• 90% hired by merit criteria

• Underpaid

• GS-1 through GS-15– GS-5 for college grads…$27k

• What other benefits, though?

• Taft-Hartley Act of 1947

• Hatch Act of 1939

Implementation

• It’s their job!

• Rulemaking

• Street-level bureaucrats

What Makes It Tough?

• We need to respond to partisan demands and still be fair and competent

• Federal bureaucracy started small (George Washington example)– Supposed to be distinguished med

• Andrew Jackson– Ordinary people of good sense– Patronage/Spoils System

Growth

• Late 1800s, economic pressures call for more government

• As it grows, we need more skilled and experienced workers

• Then Guiteau shoots Garfield

• Pendleton Act (1883) moves us toward merit system– Now it’s always at least 80%

• Neutral competence

And Keeps Growing…

• Problems with merit system emerge

• Then we move toward executive leadership– Coordinate for bureaucracy to

increase efficiency and responsiveness

– 1939 OMB and the budget

The Connection

• The bureaucracy is expected to carry out programs fairly and competently (merit), but it is also expected to respond to political forces (patronage) and to operate efficiently (executive leadership).

• Table 13-2

Power

• Agency point of view– Role of professionalism

• Sources of power– Expertise– Clientele groups (Sesame Street!)– Friends in High Places

Accountability

• We like our interactions…but we don’t like bureaucracy…

• Is it more efficient than private business?

• Bureaucracy is the antithesis to democracy

Through the Presidency

• They can’t eliminate an agency on their own

• Reorganization

• Appointments– Revolving door

• Budget

Through Congress

• Depend on Congress to exist– They authorize and fund

• Oversight

• GAO—are policies being implemented as Congress intended

• Sunset laws

Through Courts

• Tend to support administrators if their actions seem consistent with laws

Within Itself

• Whistle-blowing– Protection Act– Why is it so difficult?

• Demographic Representativeness– What do we mean?– Will it work?

The Push to Fix It

• Reinventing Government– Osborne and Gaebler– Leaner and more responsive– Focus on outputs more than inputs– National Performance Review

• Gore’s baby

For Tuesday…

• Be ready to discuss street-level bureaucracy

• Do you think bureaucracy is good? Why or why not?

• Be prepared to discuss the two CR articles

• Strengths/weaknesses of patronage, merit, and executive leadership