Chapter 13 The Bureaucracy

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Chapter 13The Bureaucracy
Instructor Kevin Sexton Course U.S. Political
Systems Southeast Missouri State University
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What is a Bureaucracy and where do we find them?

• Bureaucracy A hierarchical organization
  designed to perform a
• particular set of tasks.
  
• Where do we find bureaucracies?
• Public Setting -- most, if not all,
  governments are
• 
  based on the BUREAUCRATIC
• 
  model.
• Private Setting --- many large companies
  operate using
• 
  the BUREAUCRATIC model.
• ie. --- IBM, Microsoft, Ford Motor Company

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Characteristics of Bureaucracies
According to Max Weber, Father of modern
sociology, all bureaucracies whether Public
(government) or Private (for profit corporations)
have these basic characteristics In common

• Operates under a hierarchical structure.
• Division of labor.
• High Level of specialization.
• Operates according to a set of very formal
  written rules.
• Employment and promotion decisions based on
  merit.

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Operates under a hierarchical structure.(The
Department of Health and Human Services)
President of the United States
Authority Flows From The Top Down
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Division of labor.

• The Presidents Cabinet is made up of fifteen
  (15) Departments. Each Department is responsible
  for implementing a specific set of laws, rules,
  or policies.

1) State 2) Treasury 3) Defense 4) Justice
5) Interior 6) Agriculture 7) Commerce 8)
Labor  9) Health Human Services  10) Housing
Urban Development 11)
Transportation 12) Energy 13) Education 14)
Veterans Affairs  15) Homeland Security 
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High Level of specialization.
Each of the 15 Cabinet Departments are broken
down into organizations That specialize in
dealing with specific programs. As can be seen by
looking At the organizational chart for the U.S.
Department of Justice.
Each office focuses on one, or just a very few
issues.
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Operates according to a set of very formal
written rules.
The Table of Contents/Index for the Code of
Federal Regulations is 107 Pages Long.
The Federal Register is the official daily
publication for rules, proposed rules, and
notices of Federal agencies and organizations,
as well as executive orders and other
presidential documents. In 2004, the Federal
Register published 250 Volumes With a total of
78,851 pages.
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Employment and promotion decisions based on
merit.
Of the nearly 2.5 million federal employees
(bureaucrats) today, approximately 3000 of them
are political appointees of the president.
Spoils System

• Also known as the Patronage System.
• People get jobs based on appointments by
  political leaders.
• As political leaders changed, so could the people
  holding the patronage jobs.

Merit System

• Also known as the Civil Service System.
• People get jobs based on ability to do the job.
• As political leaders most of those holding civil
  service jobs do not change.

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How is the U.S. Bureaucracy Organized.

• The President executes the laws passed by
  Congress through three primary types of
  bureaucratic orgainzations.

• 15 Departments
• These make up the Presidents Cabinet
• 63 Independent Agencies
• E.P.A.
• N.A.S.A.
• 27 Government Organizations
• US Postal System
• Amtrak

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Presidents Cabinet

• 15 Members.
• Political Appointees of the President.
• Must be confirmed by the Senate.
• Serve at the pleasure of the president. (Can be
  fired at any time)

Since these individuals are confirmed by the
Senate, and they are Charged with implementing
the laws passed by Congress, they Report to both
the President and the Congress. For this reason
They are not the Presidents closest advisors.
WHO ARE THE PRESIDENTS CLOSES ADVISORS?
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Presidential Aides

• Most time the Aides that the President selects to
  be around him are the people the president
  depends on most for many of the decisions that
  need to be made.
• This is because Aides are not confirmed by the
  Senate. They get and lose their job by the
  service they provide to the president.
• They can provide the president with unbiased
  opinions because they do not have to worry about
  Congressional politics.
• In fact, they do not have to report to Congress
  on their dealings with the president (usually).

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Independent Agencies

• Two Basic Types
• Independent Executive Agencies
• Independent Regulatory Agencies

• Independent Executive Agencies
• Have CEO type director.
• Deals with specific Program
• i.e. N.A.S.A.
• Designed to put distance between president and
  the issue the
• agency is designed to oversee.
• i.e. Space Shuttle Disasters
• President appoints and removes.

• Independent Regulatory Agencies
• President Appoint member of a Commission, with
  Senate Confirmation.
• Fixed term of office, designed to insolate the
  group from political pressures.
• Have Regulatory Authority (some rules have same
  impact as a law).
• Examples include E.P.A. and the Federal Reserve.

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Government Corporations

• Government run entities that provide a PUBLIC
  SERVICE.
• Government provides these services because
• They are vital to continued operation of the
  country.
• There is little or no PROFIT in providing the
  service
• Examples of Government Corporations include
• US Postal Service.
• AmTrak
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
• They collect fees for their service but do not
  make enough money to keep themselves operating
  without government subsidies.
• i.e. 37 cents to mail a letter is not enough to
  keep USPS operating. For this reason the federal
  government gives them money to operate each year.

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How Does Congress Check the Power of the
President and the Bureaucracy?
Two powers of Congress to check the power of the
president and bureaucracy.
1. Budgetary Control The federal budget is
passed by Congress each year just as a piece of
legislation is. For that reason the amount of
money that each federal department, agency and
organization has each year is greatly controlled
by Congress. If Congress doesnt appropriate you
any money you cant operate.
2. Legislative Oversight The ability of
Congress to hold hearings to review the
administrative operations of an agency. This is
done to be sure that the agency is implementing
the LAWS as Congress has intended them to. If
Congress finds a problem in how a law is being
implemented they can hold a hearing or even just
the threat of a hearing can cause an agency to
modify its activities.
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Iron Triangles
Iron Triangles Close, stable relationship among
agencies, interest groups, and congressional
committees. All three groups brought something
valuable to the relationship so they continued
to work together over a long period of time.
Had great impact on policy and laws in this
country. Provided a power base for certain
interest groups, federal agencies and
congressional committees.
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Iron Triangles (continued)
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Issue Networks
Issue Networks operate on the same principle as
the Iron Triangle. With each group bring
something of importance to the discussion. The
major difference being that the two governmental
entities (congressional committees and the
agencies are being provided information and
pressure from competeing interest groups, not
just one, or a small number of interest groups
as in the Iron Triangle Model. The picture that
is used to describe this arrangement looks more
like a web than a triangle.
A diagram of an Issue Network can be seen on page
389 of your textbook.