Bureaucracy is a system of organisation and control that is based on three principles: hierarchical authority, job specializaiton, and formalised rules. Hierarchical authority refers to a chain of command whereby the officials and units at the top of a bureaucracy have authority over those in the middle, who in turn control those at the bottom. Job specialisation refers to explicitly defined duties for each job position and to a precise division of labor within the organisation. Formalised rules are the established procedures and regulations by which a bureaucracy conducts its operations.
The U.S. federal bureaucracy is organised along policy lines. Most of them take one of five norms: cabinet department, independent agency, regulatory agency, government corporation, or presidential commission. The leading administrative units are fifteen cabinet (executive) departments. Except the Department of Justice which is led by the attorney general, the head of each department is its secretary, who also serve as a member of the president’s cabinet. Each cabinet department has responsibility for a general policy area, and the responsibility is carried out within each department by semiautonomous operating units.
Independent agencies resemble the cabinet departments but typically have a narrower area of responsibility. The heads of these agencies are appointed by and report to the president but are not members of the cabinet. Regulatory agencies are created when Congress recognises the need for ongoing regulation of a particular economic activity. They develop lowlife regulations and then judge whether individuals or organisations are complying with them. Government corporations are similar to private corporations in that they charge clients for their services and are governed by a board of directors.Government corporations’ directors are appointed by the president with Senate approval. Presidential commissions provide advice to the president.
Most civil servants are hired through the government’s merit system, whereby they have to score high on a competitive exam. The merit system is an alternative to the patronage system that governed federal employment during much of the nineteenth century. Patronage was the post election practice of filling administrative offices with people who had supported the winning party. However, because the patronage system was later extended to all levels of administration without much regard for its impact on the quality of administration, it is labeled as the spoils system - a device for the awarding of government jobs to friends and party hacks. The administrative objective of the merit system is neutral competence. It is “competent” in the sense that employees are hired and retained on the basis of their skills and it is “neutral” in the sense that employees are not partisan appointees and are expected to be of service to everyone.
The Constitution mentions executive agencies but does not grant them authority. Of special importance to executive agencies is the budgetary process - the process through which annual federal spending and revenue decisions are made. The budgetary process begins when the president and the Office of Management and Budget established general budget guidelines. The agencies receive their guidelines in the spring and then work through the summer to create a detailed agency budget. Agency budgets are then submitted to OMB in September for a full review, then they are finalised and combined into the president’s budget proposal. The president will then work on the margins of the budget and propose a modest spending increase or decrease. The president’s budget is submitted to the Congress in January. The budget proposal goes to the House and Senate budget committees. Once approved by the full House and Senate, the House and Senate appropriations committees will take over. Then they submit their recommendations to the full chambers for a vote. If approved in Senate and House, the differences of the two versions will be reconciled inc conference committee. Then if approved, it will be sent to the president to sign or veto.
Administrative agencies’ main task is policy implementation - the carrying out of decisions made by the Congress, the president, and the courts. In implementing decisions, the bureaucracy is constrained by the budget, meaning it cannot spend money on an activity unless Congress has appropriated the necessary funds.
Although bureaucrats are responsive to both the perspective of the Congress and the President, they are even more responsive to the needs of the agency in which they work, a perspective known as the agency point of view. Although the agency point of view distorts government priorities, bureaucrats have little choice but to look out for agency’s interests. In order to get support, agencies are forced to get support from the President or the Congress, the Democrats or the Republicans.
In promoting their agency’s interests, bureaucrats rely on their specialised knowledge, the support of interests that benefit from their programs, and the backing of the president and Congress. Bureaucrats spend their careers working in a particular policy area, and so all agencies acquire some influence over policy through their careerists’ expertise. Most federal agencies were created for the purpose of promoting, protecting, or regulating a particular interest. In most case, these interests are clientele groups in the sense that they benefit directly from the agency’s programs. Although the goals of the president or Congress can conflict with those of the bureaucracy. they need it as much as it needs them. An agency’s resources can help elected officials achieve their policy goals. Agencies with programs that benefit important key voting blocs are particularly likely to have congressional support.
Because the bureaucrats are not elected and yet exercise a significant degree of power, their influence raises the question of bureaucratic accountability - the degree to which bureaucrats are held accountable for the power they exercise. For the most part, bureaucratic accountability occurs largely through the president, Congress, and the courts.
Presidents have launched broad initiative aimed at making the bureaucracy more responsive. Presidents can also intervene more directly through executive orders to force agencies to pursue particular administrative actions. Nevertheless, presidents do not have the time or knowledge to exercise personal oversight of the federal bureaucracy. Presidents must rely on management tools that include reorganization, presidential appointees, and the executive budget.
The most substantial control that the Congress exerts over the bureaucracy is through its power of the purse. Congress has constitutional authority over spending. Congress can also void and administrative decision through legislation that instructs the agency to follow a different course of action. The Congress can also monitor the bureaucracy’s work to ensure its compliance with legislative intent.
The bureaucracy is also overseen by the judiciary. A party can bring suit against an agency on the grounds that it has failed to carry out a law properly. Nevertheless, the courts tend to support administrators if their actions are at least somewhat consistent with the law they are administering.
Due to the difficulty of ensuring adequate accountability of the bureaucracy through the presidency, Congress, and the courts, four methods of accountability within the bureaucracy - Senior Executive Service, administrative law judges, whistleblowing, and demographic representativeness - have came about. The Senior Executive Service, established in 1978, was intended to be the intermediaries between regular presidential appointees at the top of federal agencies and the regular civil servants who work in these areas. the administrative law judges are empowered to administer oaths, seek evidence. take testimony, make factual and legal determinations, and render decisions. Whistleblowing is the act of reporting instances of official mismanagement. To encourage whistleblowers to come forward with their information, Congress enacted the Whistleblower Protection Act. Demographic representativeness is only a partial answer to the problem of bureaucratic accountability. The concept is that if civil servants were a demographic microcosm of the general public, they would treat the various groups and interests in society more responsibly.
The U.S. federal bureaucracy is organised along policy lines. Most of them take one of five norms: cabinet department, independent agency, regulatory agency, government corporation, or presidential commission. The leading administrative units are fifteen cabinet (executive) departments. Except the Department of Justice which is led by the attorney general, the head of each department is its secretary, who also serve as a member of the president’s cabinet. Each cabinet department has responsibility for a general policy area, and the responsibility is carried out within each department by semiautonomous operating units.
Independent agencies resemble the cabinet departments but typically have a narrower area of responsibility. The heads of these agencies are appointed by and report to the president but are not members of the cabinet. Regulatory agencies are created when Congress recognises the need for ongoing regulation of a particular economic activity. They develop lowlife regulations and then judge whether individuals or organisations are complying with them. Government corporations are similar to private corporations in that they charge clients for their services and are governed by a board of directors.Government corporations’ directors are appointed by the president with Senate approval. Presidential commissions provide advice to the president.
Most civil servants are hired through the government’s merit system, whereby they have to score high on a competitive exam. The merit system is an alternative to the patronage system that governed federal employment during much of the nineteenth century. Patronage was the post election practice of filling administrative offices with people who had supported the winning party. However, because the patronage system was later extended to all levels of administration without much regard for its impact on the quality of administration, it is labeled as the spoils system - a device for the awarding of government jobs to friends and party hacks. The administrative objective of the merit system is neutral competence. It is “competent” in the sense that employees are hired and retained on the basis of their skills and it is “neutral” in the sense that employees are not partisan appointees and are expected to be of service to everyone.
The Constitution mentions executive agencies but does not grant them authority. Of special importance to executive agencies is the budgetary process - the process through which annual federal spending and revenue decisions are made. The budgetary process begins when the president and the Office of Management and Budget established general budget guidelines. The agencies receive their guidelines in the spring and then work through the summer to create a detailed agency budget. Agency budgets are then submitted to OMB in September for a full review, then they are finalised and combined into the president’s budget proposal. The president will then work on the margins of the budget and propose a modest spending increase or decrease. The president’s budget is submitted to the Congress in January. The budget proposal goes to the House and Senate budget committees. Once approved by the full House and Senate, the House and Senate appropriations committees will take over. Then they submit their recommendations to the full chambers for a vote. If approved in Senate and House, the differences of the two versions will be reconciled inc conference committee. Then if approved, it will be sent to the president to sign or veto.
Administrative agencies’ main task is policy implementation - the carrying out of decisions made by the Congress, the president, and the courts. In implementing decisions, the bureaucracy is constrained by the budget, meaning it cannot spend money on an activity unless Congress has appropriated the necessary funds.
Although bureaucrats are responsive to both the perspective of the Congress and the President, they are even more responsive to the needs of the agency in which they work, a perspective known as the agency point of view. Although the agency point of view distorts government priorities, bureaucrats have little choice but to look out for agency’s interests. In order to get support, agencies are forced to get support from the President or the Congress, the Democrats or the Republicans.
In promoting their agency’s interests, bureaucrats rely on their specialised knowledge, the support of interests that benefit from their programs, and the backing of the president and Congress. Bureaucrats spend their careers working in a particular policy area, and so all agencies acquire some influence over policy through their careerists’ expertise. Most federal agencies were created for the purpose of promoting, protecting, or regulating a particular interest. In most case, these interests are clientele groups in the sense that they benefit directly from the agency’s programs. Although the goals of the president or Congress can conflict with those of the bureaucracy. they need it as much as it needs them. An agency’s resources can help elected officials achieve their policy goals. Agencies with programs that benefit important key voting blocs are particularly likely to have congressional support.
Because the bureaucrats are not elected and yet exercise a significant degree of power, their influence raises the question of bureaucratic accountability - the degree to which bureaucrats are held accountable for the power they exercise. For the most part, bureaucratic accountability occurs largely through the president, Congress, and the courts.
Presidents have launched broad initiative aimed at making the bureaucracy more responsive. Presidents can also intervene more directly through executive orders to force agencies to pursue particular administrative actions. Nevertheless, presidents do not have the time or knowledge to exercise personal oversight of the federal bureaucracy. Presidents must rely on management tools that include reorganization, presidential appointees, and the executive budget.
The most substantial control that the Congress exerts over the bureaucracy is through its power of the purse. Congress has constitutional authority over spending. Congress can also void and administrative decision through legislation that instructs the agency to follow a different course of action. The Congress can also monitor the bureaucracy’s work to ensure its compliance with legislative intent.
The bureaucracy is also overseen by the judiciary. A party can bring suit against an agency on the grounds that it has failed to carry out a law properly. Nevertheless, the courts tend to support administrators if their actions are at least somewhat consistent with the law they are administering.
Due to the difficulty of ensuring adequate accountability of the bureaucracy through the presidency, Congress, and the courts, four methods of accountability within the bureaucracy - Senior Executive Service, administrative law judges, whistleblowing, and demographic representativeness - have came about. The Senior Executive Service, established in 1978, was intended to be the intermediaries between regular presidential appointees at the top of federal agencies and the regular civil servants who work in these areas. the administrative law judges are empowered to administer oaths, seek evidence. take testimony, make factual and legal determinations, and render decisions. Whistleblowing is the act of reporting instances of official mismanagement. To encourage whistleblowers to come forward with their information, Congress enacted the Whistleblower Protection Act. Demographic representativeness is only a partial answer to the problem of bureaucratic accountability. The concept is that if civil servants were a demographic microcosm of the general public, they would treat the various groups and interests in society more responsibly.