Unit V: Institutions The Federal...

Unit V: InstitutionsThe Federal Bureaucracy

• Pythagorean Theorem - 24 words.• Lord's Prayer - 66 words.• Archimedes' Principle - 67 words.• 10 Commandments - 179 words.• Gettysburg Address - 286 words.• Declaration of Independence - 1,300

words.• US Government regulations on the sale of

cabbage - 26,911 words.

Introduction to The Federal Bureaucracy

• What is it?• Where is it?• Who is it?• What do they do?• How do they get there?

A Basic Definition

“A” bureaucracy is a hierarchical power structure. You’ll find them in your…

• Home• School• Sports team• Church• Political party

…So what is “The” Bureaucracy?

…the collection of executive branch agencies responsible for administering the law under the leadership of the President.

Federal civilian employment 14.1

The Bureaucrats

The bureaucracy (Federal, State, and local) is everywhere …

Spokesman Review article: Plane Crash in East Spokane

A Few Stats …

• The Department of Defense employs about half of all federal bureaucrats (50% civilian/50% uniformed).

• The Postal Service accounts for 25% of all federal civilian bureaucrats.

• Health professionals account for about 10%.

only about 12% of bureaucrats work in Washington DC

Bureaucrats are the people who do the actual work of the government.

aka Civil Servant

Public ServantAgency Staff

Government Employee

Most bureaucrats perform non-controversial jobs that keep the system running smoothly..

• deliver mail• test milk• clean streets• issue Social Security and student loan checks• run national parks• inspect meat

Types of Bureaucratic Agencies

• Cabinet • Independent Regulatory Agencies• Government Corporations• Independent Executive Agencies

Hiring and Firing of Bureaucrats

Civil Service Employees = • Vast majority of bureaucracy• Merit based• Career oriented positions• Policies make it difficult to fire• “Institutional memory” aka…

“Bureaucratic inertia”

“Plum Jobs” = True patronage positions(Short Timers…ladder climbers)

Top Tier = Presidential appointments requiring Senate confirmation

How Bureaucracies Are Organized

• Cabinet Departments• Independent Regulatory Commissions• Government Corporations• The Independent Executive Agencies


• The Cabinet Departments– Fifteen Cabinet departments headed by a secretary

[Department of Justice headed by Attorney General]– Each has its own budget, staff, and policy areas– Status as a cabinet department can be controversial

• Republicans have tried to disband Departments of Education, Energy, and Commerce


• Independent Regulatory Commissions– Government agency responsible for regulating some

sector of the economy to protect the public interest.– Examples – Federal Reserve Board, Federal

Communications Commission, Federal Trade Commission, National Labor Relations Board …


• Government Corporations– Government organization provides a service that

could be provided by private sector and typically charges for its services.

– You can not buy stock and you can not collect dividends like with private corporations.

– Examples – United States Postal Service, Tennessee Valley Authority, Amtrak…


• The Independent Executive Agencies– The government agencies not accounted for by

cabinet departments, independent regulatory commissions, and government corporations.

– Examples – Social Security Administration, National Science Foundation, NASA…

Bureaucracies Implement Laws

• What Implementation Means• Why the Best-Laid Plans Sometimes

Flunk the Implementation Test• A Case Study of Successful

Implementation: The Voting Rights Act of 1965

• Privatization

• What Implementation Means– Policy Implementation – Putting laws into

practice.– Implementation involves translating the goals and

objectives of a law into a government program with practical, achievable goals.


• What Implementation Means (cont.)[3 elements of implementation:]– Create a new agency or assign a new responsibility

to an old agency.– Translate policy goals into operational rules and

develop guidelines for the program.– Coordinate resources and personnel to achieve the

goals.


• Why the Best-Laid Plans Sometimes Flunk the Implementation Test (cont.)– Lack of Clarity – Bureaucracies are often asked

to implement unclear laws and Congress can thus escape the messy details.

– Example – Title IX of Education Act of 1972 was unclear, making implementation very complex.


• Why the Best-Laid Plans Sometimes Flunk the Implementation Test (cont.)– Lack of Resources – Bureaucracy can lack the staff,

necessary training, funding, supplies, equipment, and/or authority to carry out the tasks it has been assigned to do.


• Why the Best-Laid Plans Sometimes Flunk the Implementation Test (cont.)– Administrators’ Dispositions – A bureaucrat

uses administrative discretion to select from many responses to a given problem.

– Street-level bureaucrats are in constant contact with public and have considerable discretion.


• Why the Best-Laid Plans Sometimes Flunk the Implementation Test (cont.)– Fragmentation – Responsibility for a policy is

dispersed among many units within bureaucracy.– Makes coordination of policies time consuming and

difficult.– Produces contradictory signals among the agencies

involved.


• A Case Study of Successful Implementation: The Voting Rights Act of 1965– Goal was clear – To register large numbers of

African American voters.– Implementation was straightforward – Sending

out people to register them.


• A Case Study of Successful Implementation: The Voting Rights Act of 1965 (cont.)– Authority of the implementors was clear –

They had the support of the attorney general and even U.S. marshals.

– Authority concentrated in the Justice Department disposed to implementing the law vigorously.


• Privatization– Private contractors have become a 4th branch of

government.– Contracting for services – The theory is that private

sector competition will result in better service at lower costs, but no evidence has proved this.

– Contracting leads to less public scrutiny as programs are hidden.[think Homeland Security, NSA, etc… remember Edward Snowden?]


Bureaucracies as Regulators

• Regulation– Use of governmental authority to control or

change some practice in the private sector.– Congress gives bureaucrats broad mandates to

regulate activities as diverse as interest rates, the location of nuclear power plants, and food additives.


• Regulation in the Economy and in Everyday Life (cont.)[3 elements of regulation:]– A grant of power and set of directions from

Congress.– A set of rules and guidelines by the regulatory

agency itself.– Some means of enforcing compliance with

congressional goals and agency regulations.


• Deregulation– The lifting of government restrictions on business,

industry, and professional activities.– Regulation critics – Regulation distorts market

forces, raises prices, hurts America’s competitive position abroad, and fails to work well.


• Deregulation (cont.)– Deregulation critics – Point out that deregulation

does not protect the public against severe environmental damage and power shortages, failures in the savings and loan industry, and bursts in real estate market.

Regulation vs. Deregulation

On the “Left” On the “Right”Greater regulation means…

•Protected workers•Protected environment•Protected consumers•Protected liberties•Equality under the law

Less regulation fosters…•More competition•Lower costs•Higher quality•Smaller government•More freedom•Personal responsibility

Which side are you on? Read “How Should We Regulate?” on page 495 to help you decide!

Managing & Controlling the Bureaucracy:

Yet Another Struggle for Power

The President…Uses patronage powerAppoints partisan alliesEstablishes agendaUtilizes executive ordersUtilizes signing statementsTinkers with budgets (OMB)

Congress…Uses confirmation powerTinkers with budgets (CBO)Conducts legislative oversightWrites “sunset” legislationHolds power to create/destroy

agencies

Managing & Controlling the Bureaucracy:

Yet Another Struggle for Power

Generally, the President has a difficult time controlling the bureaucracy because…

It’s so gosh darn big

Overwhelming majority of employees are career oriented…loyalties?

Cabinet members’ allegiances are often split between preferences of the president and needs of their department.

Understanding Bureaucracies

• Bureaucracy and Democracy– Iron Triangles and Issue Networks

• Iron Triangles: a mutually dependent relationship between bureaucratic agencies, interest groups, and congressional committees or subcommittees

• Exist independently of each other• They are tough, but not impossible, to get rid of• Some argue they are being replaced by wider issue networks

that focus on more than one policy.

Iron Triangles: One example 14.5

Summary

• Bureaucrats shape policy as administrators, implementers, and regulators.

• Bureaucracy’s primary responsibility is the implementation of public policy.

• Federal bureaucracy has not grown but has in fact shrunk of late.

The civil service system was designed to

1. hire and promote bureaucrats on the basis of merit.

2. produce an administration with talent and skill.

3. protect workers from politically motivated firings.

4. all of the above.

Which of the following is NOT one of the four types of agencies into which

the federal bureaucracy is organized?

1. Cabinet Departments2. Independent Regulatory Commissions3. Government Corporations4. Independent Legislative Agencies

Which of the following is NOT one of the three main factors that make policy implementation difficult?

1. faulty program design2. unclear laws3. lack of resources4. clear goals

Government is the use of governmental authority to control or change some practice in the private

sector.

1. regulation2. command-and-control policy3. incentive system4. deregulation

The development of subgovernments to include a system

of issue networks ensures more

1. presidents are now involved in all policy areas.

2. subgovernments are virtually impossible to dismantle.

3. policymaking is stable and predictable.4. widespread participation in the policy

process.

Unit V: Institutions The Federal...

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