Transcript The Bureaucracy

THE BUREAUCRACY
THE BUREAUCRACY
Bureaucracies are large, complex organizations in which
employees have very specific job responsibilities and work within
a hierarchy of authority.
The employees of the departments, agencies, bureaus, and offices
of government are known as bureaucrats. The Bureaucracy is
considered part of the Executive Office.
The bureaucracy of the federal government is the largest in the
United States, employing more that 2.8 million people.
WHO ARE THE BUREAUCRATS?
The Spoils System is the practice of winning candidates’ rewarding their supporters
with government jobs. Made famous by President Andrew Jackson and based on the
saying “to the victor the spoils of the enemy.”
In the 19th century, nearly every federal job was a patronage job. President Grover
Cleveland, a Democrat, replaced nearly 40,000 Republican postal employees with
Democrats. The Pendleton Act of 1883 was legislation to replace the patronage, or
spoils system, with the merit system.
The Civil Service is a system or method of appointing government employees on the
basis of competitive examinations, rather than by political patronage.
The Merit System is a system or policy whereby people are promoted or rewarded on
the basis of ability or achievement rather than because of seniority, quotas, patronage
or the like.
BUREAUS AND BUREAUCRATS
Departments, Independent Agencies (NASA, SBA,)
Government Corporations (TVA, USPS, AMTRAK,)
Independent Regulatory Agencies (SEC, FRB)
Civil Service; Presidents appoint fewer than 1% of all
executive branch positions
The primary function of the bureaucracy is policy
implementation and policymaking.
CABINET DEPARTMENTS
Department of State
http://www.state.gov
Department of the Treasury
http://www.treasury.gov
Department of Defense
http://www.defenselink.mil
Department of Justice
http://www.usdoj.gov
Department of the Interior
http://www.doi.gov
Department of Agriculture
http://www.usda.gov
Department of Commerce
http://www.commerce.gov
Department of Labor
http://www.dol.gov
Department of Health and Human Services
http://www.hhs.gov
Department of Housing and Urban Development
http://www.hud.gov
Department of Transportation
http://www.dot.gov
Department of Energy
http://www.energy.gov
Department of Education
http://www.ed.gov
Department of Veterans Affairs
http://www.va.gov
Department of Homeland Security
http://www.dhs.gov
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF
HOMELAND SECURITY
REASONS FOR GROWTH OF THE
BUREAUCRACY
Science and Technology
Business Regulation
Social Welfare
Ambitious Administrators
INFLUENCES ON THE FEDERAL
BUREAUCRACY
Executive Influence
Congressional influences
Iron triangles
Issue networks
The Media