PS 201 Chapter 8 Flashcards
The First Congress started organizing the executive branch- under the Articles of Confederation
Congress started recreating the departments: Treasury, Foreign Affairs, and War
They later changed them into Treasury Department, State Department, and Defense Department
These are subdivided into specialized units called “bureaus”
Later on, Congress established official managers to oversee the departments operations, which led to complications as to who the managers would report to
Dilemmas of delegation
Key challenges with effective delegation usually arise from 2 issues (a) lack of confidence in staff engaged to perform delegated tasks and (b) lack of time to effectively brief staff on requirements of the task or job. These are real challenges and sometimes they cannot be solved in the short term.
Dilemmas of delegation
o dismissal controversy
The right of the president to dismiss officials without the consent of the Senate
This is a delegation problem
Struggled with which decision to make for a very long time from Washington to 1877
A potential drawback to allowing the president to dismiss officials without Senatorial consent is that the executive might pursue their own goals rather than making the same decision that would have been reached had the decision been approved or disapproved by the Senate.
This idea of needing to control government employees has had an extreme impact on the laws and policies put into place today as we continue to do that
President Washington believed:
-Washington thought popular support for the new national government was dependent on competent and honest administration
Tried to appoint able civil servants who were respected by their communities
This meant that he appointed men with superior education, means, family, and a good local reputation
-Presidents could still dismiss at their own will (the right that was contested in the dismissal controversy), but often the officials served as long as they had good behavior, even passing positions down to their sons and nephews which was consistent with Federalism but contrary to the democratic spirit
President Andrew Jackson proposed:
Andrew Jackson was a particularly strong opponent of the perception of a government position as “private property”. In other words, when it comes to governing, “no experience is necessary.” Jackson thus advocated rotation in office; an official would serve in a position for a short, fixed period, then move on to something else, perhaps in government, but more often returning to private life
Senator William Marcy, spoils system
Problems with the Spoils System: While the spoils system may have changed the nature of the corruption in the civil service, it did not end it. Rotation in office—with civil servants being replaced by opposing partisans with every new partisan administration—prevented the development of expertise and experience.
Party machines
Organized groups that kept political control through shady acts such as patronage, bribery, and manipulation
There is a link between party machines and spoils system
The most compelling argument for reform
-President James Garfield in 1881
o President James Garfield in 1881: There was growing corruption in office due to the spoil system. After winning an election, this system allowed the political party to give government jobs to their supporters, friends, or relatives. During Garfield’s presidency, his assassinator believed that he should be given a job. Garfield disagreed leading to his assassination. This led to the creation of the Pendleton Act
The most compelling argument for reform
-the Pendleton act
The Pendleton Act: Created in 1883, this was known as the Civil Service Reform Act. It required for government jobs to be given to individuals based upon merit and not on political affiliation. This act also made it illegal to fire government workers based on their political affiliation.
Why do people need modern civil service system?
The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 is intended to provide Federal managers with the flexibility to improve Government operations and productivity while, at the same time, protect employees from unfair or unwarranted practices.
Max Weber the characteristic features of bureaucratic institutions
the German sociologist, delineated more than a century ago the characteristic features of bureaucratic institutions: a hierarchical structure of authority, a division of labor to reap the advantages of specialization in taking on complex tasks, a consistent set of abstract rules regarding what is to be done and who is to do it, impersonality (treating everyone in the same category equally regardless of who they are as individuals)
Model bureaucracy
a purposive machine with interchangeable human parts designed to facilitate collective action (coordinating relevant actors, discouraging free riding, and enforcing cooperative agreements) while enabling principals to control agents
Complete contrast to spoils system
After passage of the Pendleton Act in 1883, reformers replaced the spoils system with a civil service system
the civil service system turned government jobs into professional careers.
Woodrow Wilson “politics” and “administration”
Wilson came up with a theory that politics and administration are inherently different and should also be approached differently.
Components of administrative state
-Cabinet
department-level agencies, core of the executive branch, no special powers or privileges are associated with membership in the president’s cabinet
