Transcript Slide 1

The Federal Bureaucracy Chapter 10
A.
Introduction
1.
What is the Bureaucracy?
a.
Definition: any large, complex administrative
structure; a hierarchical organization with job
specialization and complex rules.
2.
Major Elements of the Federal Bureaucracy
a.
Constitution gives almost NO guidance
b.
Three major groups:
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Executive Office of the President
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15 cabinet departments
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Independent agencies.
c.
Carry out public policies.
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Can delay the implementation of policy
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Can write rules and regulations
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Can enforce such rules, regulations and
laws
3.
Terms
a. "department" agencies of cabinet rank
b. "Agency" unit headed by a single
administrator of near cabinet rank.
c. "Commission” agencies charged with
the regulation of business activities.
Headed by top-ranking officers, or
commissioners.
d. "Corporation" agencies that have a
board and a manager and that
conduct business-like activities.
e. Terms are not used consistently, little
uniformity, lines are blurred.
4.
Staff and Line
a.
Staff agencies: support capacity
b.
Line agencies: perform tasks
5.
Civil Servants (GS workers)
a.
Three million bureaucrats (17 million if state
and local public employees are included).
b.
Spoils system (a hiring and promotion system
based on knowing the right people) used to
dominate.
c.
Patronage: the practice of giving government
jobs to the President's friends and political
supporters.
d.
Civil service system (assassination of
President Garfield in 1881).
e.
The Pendleton Act of 1883: Competitive
examinations, merit
f.
Civil Service Reform Act of 1978: improved
the system
g.
The Hatch Act: Non-partisan civil service
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protected from being fired when a new
party comes to power.
B.
The Executive Departments and the Independent Agencies
1.
The Cabinet
a.
The head of each department is known as the
secretary (except Justice Department, attorney
general).
b.
Department secretaries are appointed by the
President with the approval of the Senate.
2.
Independent Agencies
a.
Agencies created by Congress which operate
outside the 15 executive departments.
•
protect officials from political pressures.
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more responsive to interest group pressures..
b.
Types of independent agencies:
•
independent executive agencies (CIA)
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independent regulatory commissions (regulate
business)
•
Government corporations (TVA, post office,
FDIC).
3.
Executive offices of the President (EOP): Advisory
C. Understanding Bureaucracies
1. Difficult to control bureaucracies
due to the existence of "iron
triangles."
a. Agencies, groups, and
committees all depend on one
another.
b. Iron triangles are characterized
by mutual dependency, in which
each element provides key
services, information, or policy
for the others.