The Bureaucracy

Bureaucracy Defined

A large organization in which people with specialized knowledge are organized into a clearly defined hierarchy of bureaus and offices, each of which has a specific mission

Democratic?

Bureaucrats are de facto policymakers Sometimes conduct judicial-style hearings IRS, not a court, determines penalties; you

must prove innocence to the IRS

Bureaucrats yield considerable responsibility, but are not subjected to elections

Organizational Structure of the Federal Bureaucracy

Departments Independent Agencies

Independent Regulatory

Commissions

Government Corporations

Cabinet Departments

Originally 3 State, War, Treasury

Homeland Security Most Recently Headed by Secretaries

Appointed by the President with the “advice and consent of the Senate”

Departments

State (1789) Treasury (1789) Defense (1947; formerly the War

Department, created in 1789, and the Navy Department, created in 1798)

Justice (1870; created in 1789 as Office of the Attorney General – a part-time position, made a cabinet level department in 1870)

Interior (1849) Agriculture (1889) Commerce (1913) Labor (1913)

Health and Human Services (1953 as Health, Education, and Welfare; reorganized with Education as a separate department in 1979)

Housing and Urban Development (1965)

Transportation (1966) Energy (1977) Education (1979) Veterans Affairs (1989) Homeland Security (2002)

Centralized?

Departments are NOT centralized or monolithic Each has many sub-units with responsibilities

Department of Justice FBI, DEA, ATF, US Marshals, Bureau of Prisons, etc

What is a Czar?

A popular term used in reference to an official who is appointed to oversee a particular policy or issue

DrugCounterterrorismEnergyClimate

Czars

Allows quicker action on important matters

CriticismNo “advice and consent of the Senate”

Number of Positions by President FDR 12 Truman 6 Eisenhower 1 Kennedy 0 Nixon 3 Reagan1 GHW Bush 2 Clinton 7 GW Bush 35 Obama 38

Independent Agencies

These agencies are independent from larger departments, but still under the control of the president.

Independent Agencies

Currently ~ 50 NASA ~20,000 employees

Little oversight responsibility

Independent Executive Agencies

Not included in any departments, but are distinct from corporations and regulatory commissions

Environmental Protection, Central Intelligence, National Science Foundation

Government Corporations

These agencies are run by an independent board in the same way as a private corporation.

Government Corporations

Perform an economically important activity Mostly self-supporting

Postal Service, AMTRAK, Tennessee Valley Authority

Independent Regulatory Commissions

While these agencies are run by “political” figures, they are independent of both the president and larger departments.

Regulatory Commissions

Regulate where the free market does not work properly to protect the public interest

FCC, FEC

The Advantages of Bureaucracy

• Standardization• Expertise and Competence• Coordination

Ideological Problems

Lack of popular sovereignty Little incentive to be efficient Public Opinion not as important to bureaucrats Largely shielded from Congress, the President “Captured” by interest groups, private firms

Political Liberty

Red Scare DOJ’s “Red Squads” IRS used to harass critics

Nixon most famous for this Bill O’Reilly audited four consecutive years under

Clinton

Political Liberty

FBI most notorious, especially under Hoover McCarthy witch hunts Cointelpro MLK

The Development of the Bureaucracy

The Expansion of Federal Civil Employment

Shrinking Government

“Government is not the solution

to our problems; it is the problem”

Patronage vs. Merit System

Patronage System

Government employees are hired and fired based on

support for a political party or individual

candidate.

Merit System

Government employees are hired

based on their qualifications and

cannot be fired arbitrarily for political

reasons

Assassination of President Garfield

Patronage

President Jackson“To the victor goes the spoils”

ProblemsMassive turnover every administration

Pendleton Act curbed patronage