Ch 15: The Bureaucracy

Question 0

Bureaucracy

Answer 0

The way an entity organizes itself, a large complex organization composed of appointed officials

Question 1

The American bureaucracy

Answer 1

• distinct from other governments: president and congress share political authority over it, federal agencies share functions with related state and local government agencies, adversary culture leads to closer scrutiny and makes court challenges more likely
• scope of bureaucracy: little public ownership of industry, High degree of regulation on industries which creates government agencies to oversee

Question 2

Proxy government

Answer 2

• a federally funded program with work done by state and local governments
• disadvantages: no accountability on how the funds are used, no incentives for congress to increase oversight
• advantages: increases flexibility, can get more accomplished, great utilization of skills found in private and nonprofit sectors, defends constitutional principle of federalism by not centralizing power in just the fed gov, many average citizens receive costly federal services without ever directly interacting with civil servants

Question 3

Hiring bureaucrats

Answer 3

• competitive service: merit system, Pendleton act to choose employees
• has become more decentralized: OPM is cumbersome and not geared to dpt needs, not all professionals can be evaluated by an exam, there is pressure to diversify personnel, gives way to the buddy system (you already have in mind who you want to hire and you cater the job description to fit them)
• excepted service (3% of people working for gov): jobs are so specialized they don’t take exam and are appointed by the president

Question 4

Growth of the bureaucracy

Answer 4

• little said about it in the constitution
• began when Andrew Jackson hired a lot of people through patronage system
• the civil war showed the weaknesses of the fed gov which increased demands for reform
• post civil war brought a national economy, regulation of interstate commerce was made necessary, the Pendleton act of 1883 abolished the system of patronage and moved to a merit based system
• grew dramatically in the 20th century with the progressive era which called on the economy and brought agencies to deal with economic and social problems, the depression and new deal led to gov activism, growth was upheld by the Supreme Court and granted more discretion to agencies, increased income taxes, and public support
• post Cold War there was a small, temporary decrease in size with a reduction of hiring civil servants because people didn’t trust the gov as much, we didn’t need as many programs as we had during the war
• 21st century and 9/11 added a department of homeland security, they also needed an agency to streamline other agencies dealing with terrorism
• today’s growth: there is a modest increase in gov employees, the number of civilian employees has decreased by 10% due to proxy gov, except the dpt of justice has increased by more than 10%, no president wants to admit they increased the size of the bureaucracy

Question 5

Firing a bureaucrat

Answer 5

• is very difficult: takes time, energy, and resources that are not worth the investment
• they can be disciplined
• advantages of making it difficult to fire: long term service assures continuity and expertise
• disadvantages: bureaucracy can run Ineffectively with poor leadership, gives subordinates power over new bosses (easier to challenge your boss because it’s hard to fire you), it is so structured that personal opinions are irrelevant, whistleblower protection act 1989: gives employees opportunity to out someone else because they are not afraid they will lose their job, most people do carry out the policy even if they don’t agree

Question 6

Congressional oversight

Answer 6

-create agencies out of need
-authorize funds for programs agencies won’t
-appropriate money for agencies to spend BUT trust funds operate outside of appropriations committees, annual authorizations allow for greater oversight for money given, budget deficits have necessitated cuts
-investigate claims of wrongdoing
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Question 7

Bureaucratic pathologies

Answer 7

• red tape: difficult to access the fed gov
• conflict: so many agencies create conflict on how to deal with an issue
• duplication: wasting money on agencies that do essentially the same thing
• imperialism: the gov agencies are going to fight over who has authority to intervene and when
• waste: unnecessary spending
• however: most Americans have judged each agency to be fair and useful which explains why agencies haven’t been reduced by size or budget

Question 8

Reforming the bureaucracy

Answer 8

• 11 reform attempts in the 1910s which centralized control on behalf of efficiency, accountability, and consistency
• national performance review 1993: less centralized management, more employee initiative, fewer detailed rules
• reform is difficult: struggle between president and congress, especially in a divided gov, agencies don’t want to alienate influential voters