The Federal Bureaucracy: What is it and how is it organized?

Bureaucracy: Definition The government organizations, usually staffed with officials selected on the basis of experience and expertise, that implement public policy Hierarchical organization into specialized staffs Free of political accountability (non-partisan) –Still affected by Congressional budget and oversight Ideal scenario?

Bureaucracy What does it do? –From protecting the environment to collecting revenue to regulating the economy –American bureaucracies implement a $2 trillion budget –Vague lines of authority allow some areas of the bureaucracy to operate with a significant amount of autonomy

Growth of the Federal Bureaucracy 1789 – 50 federal government employees 2000 – 2.8 million (excluding military, subcontractors, and consultants who also work for federal government) Growth mainly at state and local level since 1970 –Federal government began devolving powers and services to state and local government Total federal, state, local employees – roughly 21 million people

Organization of Bureaucracy A complex society requires a variety of bureaucratic organizations Four components of Federal Bureaucracy: –Cabinet departments (State, Defense) –Independent executive agencies (EPA) –Independent regulatory agencies (Federal Reserve Board) –Government organizations (USPS, FDIC, TVA)

Staffing the Bureaucracy Natural Aristocracy –Thomas Jefferson fired Federalist employees and placed his own men in government positions Spoils System –Andrew Jackson used government positions to reward supporters –Bureaucracy became corrupt, bloated, and inefficient

Civil Service Reform Pendleton Act of 1883 –Employment on the basis of merit and open, competitive exams –Civil Service Commission to administer the personnel service Hatch Act of 1939 –Civil service employees cannot take an active party in the political management of campaigns Rutan v. Republican Party of Illinios (1990) –Court ruled that partisan political considerations as the basis for hiring, promoting, or transferring public employees was illegal

Political Control of Bureaucracy Who should control the bureaucracy? –Bureaucracy should be responsive to elected officials (Congress, the President) Members of the bureaucracy are not elected, and must be held accountable for their actions Making them responsive to elected officials give the public a voice in bureaucratic operations –The bureaucracy should be free from political pressures They should be autonomous

Theories of Bureaucratic Politics Politics-Administration Dichotomy –Bureaucracy should be free of politics Iron Triangles –Interest groups –Congressional subcommittees –Bureaucratic agencies Issue Networks Principal-Agent Model

Politics-Administration Dichotomy Wilson: Bureaucracy is neutral and not political –Bureaucrats are experts in their specialties and must be left alone to do their job without political interference However, people began to realize that politics and administration were NOT separate –Norton Long: “Power is the lifeblood of administration”

Iron Triangles Reinforcing relationship between: –Interest Groups –Congressional Subcommittees –Bureaucratic agencies Policy decisions are made jointly by these three groups who feed off each other to develop and maintain long-term, regularized relationships

Issue Networks The relationship between bureaucracy is not as rigid as iron triangle theory would have us believe –Also, more than three actors involved in process For every issue, there are also a number of political elites who are involved (and who know each other via the issue) –Members of Congress, congressional committees, the president, advocacy groups, and “issue watchers” (like academics or highly interested citizens)

Principal-Agent Model Who are principals, who are agents? Principals and agents both seek to maximize their interests –Principals want to control bureaucracy –Agents want to have the least amount of control exerted over it To keep agents in check, two possibilities: –Monitoring/oversight –Minimizing goal conflict