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Agenda
• Attendance• Announcement
• Quiz 3 on Tuesday
• Lecture on the bureaucracy• Plan for next week
Objective
• Explain how historical events influenced the bureaucracy’s independence and professionalism.
What Is the Federal Bureaucracy?
• Bureaucracy refers to the agencies – Civilian and military bureaucracies
• Bureaucrats are those who work for the government, but are not elected • Implement policies Congress and the president decide
upon • Agents to two principals
Development of the Executive Bureaucracy: Growth in Size • Increased nationalization led to the bureaucracy’s growth
• Spikes in the size are correlated with reform and new programs
Development of the Executive Bureaucracy: Spoils System • To the victorious party go the spoils • Jackson rewarded supporters with jobs in the • Bureaucracy
• Patronage
• Led to growth, but also interfered with implementation
• Congress established the civil service
Development of the Executive Bureaucracy: Civil Service • Pendleton Act of 1883 • Most bureaucrats are civil servants • Jobs are protected from patronage, and they cannot be fired for political reasons
• Break up role of party bosses
Pros and Cons of the Spoils System and the Civil Service System
• Spoils system created inefficiency and ineffectiveness with high turnover of unqualified workers
• However, it also minimizes agency loss as its members clearly support the president’s policies
• The civil service system ensures competency and diminished the power of political parties.
• However, it is also more likely to result in a principal-agent problem.
Development of the Executive Bureaucracy: Modern Reforms • Bureaucracy is widely seen as inefficient• It can be difficult to reform the bureaucracy
• Politicians support reform in principle, but avoid actual reforms
• Shrinking the bureaucracy could hurt constituents
Objective
• Describe the principal-agent problem and apply it to understanding bureaucratic governance.
• Explain mechanisms elected officials use to control the bureaucracy.
Principals and Agents in the Executive Bureaucracy• Elected officials (Congress and the president) are principals; bureaucrats are agents
• Two primary principal-agent problems in bureaucracy: • Agencies tend to drift from their defined missions • Conflicting motivations of bureaucrats and elected
officials
Bureaucratic Capture
• Agencies can also be influenced by organizations/corporations
• Often these are the very industries they are trying to regulate
• Agencies may care more about the industries than the principals they work for
Motivations of Bureaucrats
• Bureaucrats want autonomy and resources • Build coalitions to help bring about policy change • Possess information and expertise
Bureaucrats as Lawmakers
• Administrative law is made within the executive bureaucracy
• Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council (1984) • Established legal standard for upholding an agency’s
authority to write law in a specific area
Political Influences on the Bureaucracy
• Presidents appoint the top positions at almost all executive branch agencies • More difficult to get appointments through under divided
government
• Congress appropriates money for the bureaucracy
Political Influences on the Bureaucracy: Oversight
• Fire-alarm oversight • Administrative Procedures Act of 1946 established
guidelines • Freedom of Information Act of 1966 requires disclosure
of information • Sunshine Act of 1976 requires open meetings
• Police-patrol oversight• Congress routinely inspects agencies
Political Influences on the Bureaucracy: Interest Groups• Interest groups lobby agencies
• Influence those writing administrative laws • Complain when their interests are threatened
• The iron triangle • Includes interest groups, congressional committees,
and bureaucratic agencies