To Accompany Comprehensive, Alternate, and Texas Editions

American Government: Roots and Reform, 10th edition

Karen O’Connor and Larry J. Sabato

Pearson Education, 2009

Chapter 9

The Executive Branch and the Federal

Bureaucracy

The Roots of Bureaucracy

Foreign Affairs, War, Treasury first departments.

Growth in early 1800s with Post Office.

Patronage and the spoils system become common.

Civil War spawns another expansion.

Pendleton Act is beginning of civil service system.

Also known as merit system.

Creation of independent regulatory commissions.

Twentieth-Century Bureaucracy

Growing number of cabinet departments.

Need for a larger government to support wars.

New Deal and Great Society.

Modern Bureaucracy

More than 2.7 million employees.

Most are selected based on merit.

Also have high-level appointees.

Wide variety of skills represented.

Less diverse than America.

Scattered throughout D.C. and regional offices.

Growth of outside contractors.

Formal Organization

Cabinet departments handle broad, lasting issues.

Headed by secretaries.

Government corporations act like businesses.

Independent executive agencies handle services.

Narrower than Cabinet department, independent.

Independent regulatory commissions watch industry.

Designed to be free from partisan pressure.

Government Workers and Politics

Hatch Act sets first boundaries.

Federal Employees Political Act is current

standard.

Characteristics of Bureaucracy

Chain of command from top to bottom.

Division of labor.

Clear lines of authority.

Goal orientation.

Merit system.

Productivity.

How the Bureaucracy Works

Congress creates agencies.

Main job is implementation of laws.

Policy made in iron triangles or issue networks.

Increasing use of interagency councils.

Making Policy

Administrative discretion allows a lot of latitude.

Rule-making is a quasi-legislative process.

Formal procedure for making regulations.

Administrative adjudication is quasi-judicial

process.

Used to settle disputes between two parties.

Agency Accountability

Unclear who agencies should be accountable to.

Presidents try to make the right appointments.

Can also shape policy through executive orders.

Congress can use oversight powers and funding.

Police patrol v. fire alarm oversight.

Judiciary can review regulations.

AV- Growth of Government

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Figure 9.1- Civilian Employment

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Figure 9.2- Employee Characteristics

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Figure 9.3- Agency Regions

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Figure 9.4- The Executive Branch

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Figure 9.5- An Iron Triangle

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Figure 9.6- Rulemaking

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Table 9.1- FEPA

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Table 9.2- Agency Accountability

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Patronage

Granting favors or giving contracts or making appointments to office in return for political support

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Spoils System

Practice where a political party, after winning an election, gives government jobs to its voters as a reward for working toward victory, and as an incentive to keep working for the party—as opposed to a system of awarding offices on the basis of some measure of merit independent of political activity.

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Pendleton Act

A federal law that established the rules and regulations regarding who could be hired for and retain jobs within the federal government

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Merit System

System used by federal and state governments for hiring and promoting governmental employees to civil service positions on the basis of competence

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Independent Regulatory System

An agency created by Congress that is generally concerned with a specific aspect of the economy

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Hatch Act

A 1939 law to prohibit civil servants from taking part in political campaigns from their work place, or using their positions in the government as influence.

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Issue Networks

A collection of interest groups and people who join together to advocate for a specific problem and for changing a government policy that pertains to that problem. These alliances created make it possible for people to join together on their issue to change government policies pertaining to that issue.

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Executive Order

Rule or regulation issued by the president that has the effect of law. All executive orders must be published in the Federal Register.

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Administrative discretion

The ability of bureaucrats to make choices concerning the best way to implement congressional intentions

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Administrative Abjudication

The process by which an administrative agency issues a decision that can affect policies within the agency from that time forward. These changes only take place in that bureaucratic branch and do not necessary apply to any other agency.

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