Chapter 13

THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH

The Federal Bureaucracy Under Siege• The opening vignette in Chapter 13 describes

the terrorist bombing of the Federal Center in Oklahoma City (April 1995) in the context of a wave of anti-federal government emotions.

• Anti-federal-government anger has a long history in the United States.

• Some scholars believe that one result of the anti-federal-government mood is that the executive branch is becoming increasingly damaged in its ability to carry out its duties.

A Comparative View of the American Bureaucracy• The American bureaucracy is different from

bureaucracies in other democratic nations.– Structural influences such as the American

political culture and the constitutional rules of the game have a great deal to do with these differences.

• Hostile political culture — Americans do not trust government and they do not think it can accomplish most tasks that are assigned to it.

• Civil Servants have so little prestige and many of the most talented tend to stay away.

• Incoherent organization — the American bureaucracy has few clear lines of control, responsibility, and accountability

• Divided control — bureaucratic agencies have two bosses, the president and Congress, who are constantly battling for control

• Accessibility — individuals and groups can get a hearing and a response from bureaucrats without necessarily starting at the top

Transformation of the Executive Branch: The Structural Context• Executive departments and officers are referred to only

indirectly in the Constitution.• Administrative history — expansion in the size and

responsibilities of the executive branch– Political linkage sector pressures on government decision

makers– Changes in structural factors– Nineteenth-century changes– The corporation and the progressives– The Great Depression– World War II and its aftermath– The regulatory state– Devolution and rollback

Bureaucracy

• Bureaucracy has always been an unsavory word to the American public — it implies red tape, inefficiency, and nonresponsiveness.

• To social scientists, bureaucracy and bureaucrat are neutral terms that describe a type of social organization and the people who work in it.

• The ideal bureaucracy: a model– Large organizations in which people with

specialized knowledge are organized into a clearly defined hierarchy of bureaus or offices

– A clear chain of command in which each person has only one boss or supervisor and a set of formal rules to guide behavior

– Appointment and advancement based on merit rather than on inheritance, power, or election

• Advantages of bureaucracies– Ability to organize large tasks– Concentration of specialized

talent

How the Executive Branch Is Organized• The executive branch is made up several

different kinds of administrative units.– Departments are headed by cabinet-level

secretaries appointed by the president and approved by the Senate.

– Bureaus and agencies are subdivisions within cabinet departments.

– Independent executive agencies are federal agencies that are not included in any of the departments and are not corporations or regulatory commissions.

– Government corporations are agencies that operate in a market setting and are organized much like a business enterprise.

– Quasi-governmental organizations are hybrids of public and private organizations

– Independent regulatory commissions are responsible for regulating aspects of the economy where it is judged that the free market does not work properly to protect the public interest.

– Foundations are units that are separated from the rest of government to protect them from political interference with science and the arts.

What Do Bureaucrats Do?

• Executing the law• Regulating (rule making)• Adjudicating

Who Are The Bureaucrats?

• Personnel systems in the executive branch– Career civil service– Separate merit services in specific

agencies– Political appointees

Staffing the Executive Branch• The executive branch was staffed

through a spoils system from the election of Andrew Jackson (1828) until the late nineteenth century.– Corruption and favoritism during the years

after the Civil War gave emphasis to the reform effort.

– The final catalyst for change was the assassination of President James Garfield, who was shot by a disappointed office-seeker.

• Civil Service Act of 1883 (Pendleton Act)– Created a bipartisan Civil Service Commission to

oversee a system of appointments to certain executive branch posts on the basis of merit

– Competitive exams were to be used to determine merit.

– Congress abolished the Civil Service Commission in 1978 and replaced it with two separate agencies.

• Office of Personnel Management (OPM)• Merit Systems Protection Board

• Overview– The career civil service covers about 60

percent of all federal employees at the present time.

– Declining status of the civil service– The recent increase in anti-federal-

government feelings has made the lives of civil servants even less enviable than before.

– Characteristics of civil servants

Common Criticisms of the Federal Bureaucracy• The authors of The Struggle for Democracy

look at common criticisms of the bureaucracy and offer evaluations of these criticisms.

• “The federal bureaucracy is always expanding.”

• “The federal bureaucracy is ineffective.”• “The federal bureaucracy is wasteful and

inefficient.”• “The bureaucracy is mired in red tape.”

Reforming the Federal Bureaucracy• A number of suggestions have been made to fix

what is wrong with the bureaucracy.• Scaling back the size of the bureaucracy:

cutting the fat• “Reinventing government”• Protecting against bureaucratic abuses of power• Increasing popular participation• Enhancing democracy: for the people to rule,

popular sovereignty, political equality, and political liberty must flourish.