AP Civics
Chapter 13 Notes
The Federal Bureaucracy: Administering the Government
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Introduction
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II.
Federal Administration: Form, Personnel, and Activities
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The National Performance Review (NPR) led by Vice President Al Gore recommended 384 ways of
improving government administration
The NPR suggested improvements in reducing red tape, putting customers first, empowering
administrators, and cutting government back to basic services
Modern government would be impossible without a bureaucracy, yet the bureaucracy is also a problem
For many, bureaucracy is an image of waste, mindless rules, and rigidity
Bureaucracy is also an efficient and effective method of organization
Bureaucracy is a system of organization and control that is based on three principles
Hierarchical Authority
Chain of command, whereby the
officials and units have control
over those below them
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Job Specialization
The responsibilities of each job
position are explicitly defined,
and there is a precise division of
labor within the organization
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Formalized Rules
Standardized procedures and
established regulations by which
a bureaucracy conducts its
operation
A. The Federal Bureaucracy in Americans’ Daily Lives
1. The U.S. federal bureaucracy has more than 2.5 million employees who have responsibility for
thousands of program
B. Types of Administrative Organizations
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Cabinet
Departments
15 Cabinet
(executive)
departments,
each of which is
served by a
cabinet secretary
who has
responsibility for
setting general
department
policy and
overseeing
operations
Vary in
visibility, size,
and importance
State: most
prestigious (only
25,000
employees)
Defense: largest,
750,000
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Independent
Agencies
Similar to
cabinet
departments but
usually have a
narrower area of
responsibility
Headed by a
presidential
appointee who is
not a cabinet
member
CIA, NASA
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Regulatory
Agencies
Are responsible
for regulation of
economic
activity
designated by
Congress,
particularly
public safety,
welfare, and
competition
EPA
(environment)
SEC (stock
market)
Some are
independent
from political
control
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Government
Corporations
Similar to
private
corporations
Charge clients
for services and
are governed by
a Board of
Directors
Receive federal
funding to
defray operating
expenses
Directors
appointed by the
president with
Senate approval
Post Office/
FDIC
Presidential
Commissions
• Some are
permanent
commissions
that provide
recommendation
s to the president
in particular
areas of
responsibilities
• Commission on
Civil Rights
• Others are
temporary
disbanded after
usefulness
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civilians, more
than 1.5 million
military
Health and
Human Services:
largest budget
Each department
has a number of
semiautonomous
operating units
(Bureau,
Agency,
Division,
Service
C. Federal Employment
1. More than 90 percent of federal employees are hired by merit criteria
a. educational attainment, employment experience, and performance on competitive tests
b. merit hiring protects government workers from being fired for partisan reasons
c. Supreme Court Ruling (1990) prohibits patronage in all personnel operations
d. Salaries competitive
e. Drawbacks
(1) few rights of collected action
(2) strikes prohibited
(3) limits on partisan activity
D. The Federal Bureaucracy’s Policy Responsibilities
1. The federal bureaucracy’s primary function is policy implementation
a. carry out the authoritative decisions of Congress, the president, and the courts
2. Many policy ideas originate in the bureaucracy, and the initiation of policy is an important
bureaucratic role
3. Bureaucratic agencies also develop public policy, building on the decisions of the other
branches of government
4. Delivery of services, such as mail delivery, is another bureaucratic role
a. activities govern by rules
b. some services allow agency employees enough discretion that laws end up being
applied arbitrarily
(1) “street-level” bureaucracy
5. The bureaucracy is charged with regulation of economic activity
6. The bureaucracy does not simply administer policy, it also makes policy
III.
Development of the Federal Bureaucracy: Politics and Administration
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Each agency confronts two simultaneous but incompatible demands: that it administer programs fairly
and competently and that it respond to partisan claims
A. Small Government and the Patronage System
1. Originally small (3,000 employees in 1800), the federal bureaucracy has grown larger
a. evolved from Jackson’s patronage or spoils system to a merit system
(1) people are appointed to important government positions as a reward for
political services they have rendered and because of their partisan loyalty
b. the merit systems administrative objective has been “neutral competence”
(1) employees are hired for their expertise and are to operate by objective rather
than partisan standards
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B. Growth in Government and the Merit System
1. Bureaucratic growth has been a response to political demands arising from socio-economic
change and crisis
a. Industrialization (Industrial Revolution) created an increasingly national and
interdependent economy
b. Created economic pressure groups
(1) farmers – Department of Agriculture (1889)
(2) Business and Labor: Department of Commerce and Labor (1903)
2. Increased need for continuous administration of government enlarged bureaucracy
3. Pendleton Act 1883
a. merit or civil service system created
(1) certain federal employees hired through competitive examinations or special
qualifications
b. transition to career civil service is gradual
4. Merit Protection Service Board 1978
a. handles appeals of personnel actions
5. Office of Personal Management 1978
a. supervises the hiring and classification of federal employees
C. Big Government and the Executive Leadership System
1. Executive Leadership System
a. provides the president with management tools to facilitate fuller control of the
bureaucracy
(1) Office of Management and Budget 1939
(a) gives president the authority to coordinate the annual budgetary
process
(2) president empowered to reorganize the bureaucracy, subject to congressional
approval
(3) Executive Office of the President
(a) agency oversight and policy development
2. Problems
a. can threaten balance between executive and legislative power
b. make president’s priorities, not fairness, the criterion by which provision of service is
determined
3. Senior Executive Service (SES)
a. 8,000 top level, highly paid career civil servants
b. members can be assigned, dismissed, or transferred by presidential order
c. SES bureaucrats cannot be fired by the president
4. Drawback of SES
(1) some cannot transfer loyalty from agency to president
IV.
The Bureaucracy’s Power Imperative
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The president as chief-executive does not have sole claim on bureaucracy’s loyalty
President claims proprietorship as chief executive
Congress claims proprietorship as authorization and funding of bureaucracy’s programs
For the successful implementation of programs, agencies must fight for power. Failure to do so will
result in losing out to other agencies in the competition for attention and resources
Bureaucrats seek support where they can find it, which requires the ability to play politics
A. The Agency Point of View
1. Agency point of view
a. the tendency of bureaucrats to place the interest of their agency ahead of other interests
and ahead of the priorities sought by the president or Congress
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(1) they seek to procure funding, attention, and support for their particular agency
b. agency professionalism and careerism tend to cement agency loyalties
B. Sources of Bureaucratic Power
Power of Expertise
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Elected officials are generalists,
not specialists
Bureaucrats more likely to be
the source of policy ideas and
solutions
Agencies with highly
specialized, professional staffs,
have a great amount of leverage
Infighting can break down the
cohesiveness of the agency
The Power of Clientele Groups
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Special interest groups that
benefit directly from an agencies
activities or programs
Become strong advocates of the
agency
Agencies lead and are led by
clientele groups that depend on
the programs they administer
Department of Agriculture
career bureaucrats and strong
allies of farm interests
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V.
The Power of Friends in High
Places
President and Congress need the
bureaucracy as much as it needs
them
Program, expertise, and group
support of agencies can assist
elected officials in achieving
their goals
Congressional support is vital
because agencies’ funding and
programs are established
through legislation
Iron triangles and issue
networks are relevant
Bureaucratic Accountability
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Accountability is the capacity of the public to hold government officials responsible for their actions
Bureaucracies are held accountable through the President, Congress, and the courts
A. Accountability Through the President
1. The president can only broadly influence, not directly control the bureaucracy
a. presidents’ cannot unilaterally eliminate an agency or its funding and programs nor can
the president be indifferent to career civil servants without losing their support
President’s Management Tools
Reorganization
Presidential Appointments
Executive Budget
• Agencies pursue
• Presidents rely on political
• OMB has influence on
independent, even
appointees in the agencies to
funding, programs, and
contradictory paths,
ensure that directives are
regulations of every agency
resulting in an undetermined
followed
• Greatest influence over
amount of waste and
• Change of leadership can
agencies is its budgetary
duplication of effort
have impact on agency
role
• Most recent presidents have
• Career bureaucrats often
tried to streamline the
pursue policies they prefer
bureaucracy and make it
• High turnover rate reduces
more accountable
presidential
• Presidents can often reduce
accomplishments through
autonomy or number of
appointees
employees of particular
agencies
B. Accountability Through Congress
1. All agencies depend on Congress for their existence, authority, programs, and funding
a. without authorization or funding, a program simply does not exist, regardless of the
priority an agency claims it deserves
b. Congress can also void actions through legislation
2. Correcting administration error: legislative oversight
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a. involves monitoring the bureaucracy’s work to ensure compliance with legislative intent
b. EPA policy and the agency itself was dramatically affected when news reports revealed
that the agency had privately arranged lenient settlements for firms that had committed
serious violations of toxic waste disposal regulations
(1) congressional investigation resulted in resignations, dismissals, and convictions
c. Legislative veto
(1) used to void bureaucratic decisions
(2) Congress still uses legislative veto despite its doubtful constitutionality
(3) 1983, the Supreme Court, voided the use of a legislative veto as interference with
the president’s constitutional authority to execute the laws but limited its ruling to
the law in question
3. Restricting the bureaucracy in advance
a. draft laws that contain very specific provisions that limit bureaucrats’ options when they
implement policy
b. “sunset law”
(1) date of laws expiration unless reenacted by Congress
C. Accountability Through the Courts
1. Ensure bureaucrats abide by certain legal standards
a. protects the public from severe bureaucratic abuses
b. courts have tended to support the bureaucracy if its actions seem at all reasonable
D. Accountability Within the Bureaucracy Itself
1. The bureaucracy also has internal mechanisms of accountability
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VI.
Whistle Blowing
Reporting instances of bureaucratic corruption
or mismanagement by one’s fellow bureaucrat
Not highly successful for fear of reprisals
Whistle Blower Protection Act: protection from
retaliation often with a financial reward
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Demographic Representative ness
Bureaucracy will be more responsive to the
public if its employees at all levels are
demographically representative of the
population as a whole
Not representative at the top levels
Reinventing Government
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A recent trend is to reduce the size, cost, and lines of authority of the bureaucracy
This downsizing of the federal bureaucracy, driven by political forces and public criticism, is based on the
idea that the bureaucracy would be more effective and responsive if make smaller
Argument is that the information age requires a more flexible, less hierarchical administrative structure –
lower level bureaucrats would make decisions rather than top officials
Critics argue that the linkage between elected and administrative officials would be weakened
Another question is how to identify “customers” in a market oriented administration – less powerful
customers might lose out to more powerful
Government may be “hollowed out” – lack of financial and human resources to perform its mission
Long standing questions about the bureaucracy remain:
How can it be made more responsive, and yet act fairly?
How can it be made more efficient, and yet accomplish what Americans want?
How can it be made more creative, and yet be held accountable?
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