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Chapter Ten
The Bureaucracy
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 10-2
Enduring Questions
• Why did the bureaucracy become the “fourth branch” of American government?
• How many people work for the federal government?
• What can be done to improve bureaucratic performance?
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Figure 10.1: What a Bureaucracy Looks Like
Source: U.S. Government Manual, 2003-2004, p. 379.
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Distinctiveness of the U.S. Bureaucracy
• Political authority over the bureaucracy shared by president and Congress
• Federal agencies share functions with state/local agencies
• Government agencies face greater public scrutiny
• Heavily regulates private enterprise
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The Growth of the Bureaucracy
• The early controversies
• Bureaucracy before the New Deal era
• A change in role
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Figure 10.3: The Growth of the Federal Government in Money, People, and Rules, 1940–2000
Source: Outlays: Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1996, Table 517, and Historical Statistics of the United States, Series F-32 and Y-340. Civilian employment and pages in the Federal Register: Harold W. Stanley and Richard G. Niemi, Vital Statistics on American Politics (Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Press, 2001), Tables.
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The Federal Bureaucracy Today
• Direct and indirect growth
• Growth in discretionary authority more accurate measure of bureaucracy’s power
• Four factors explain how bureaucrats exercise this discretion
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The Federal Bureaucracy Today
• Recruitment and retention
• Personal attributes
• Roles and mission
• External forces
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Table 10.1: Minority Employment in the Federal Bureaucracy, by Rank, 2000
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Table 10.2: Political Attitudes of High-Level Federal Bureaucrats
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Congressional Oversight
• Forms of congressional supervision
• The Appropriations Committee and legislative committees
• The legislative veto
• Congressional investigations
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Five Major Bureaucratic “Pathologies”
• “Red tape”: Complex and sometimes conflicting rules among agencies
• Conflict: Agencies work at cross-purposes
• Duplication: Two or more agencies seem to do the same thing
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Five Major Bureaucratic “Pathologies” (Cont’d)
• Imperialism: Agencies tend to grow, regardless of their programs’ benefits and costs
• Waste: Spending more than is necessary to buy a product or service
• Bureaucratic problems usually exist due to nature of government
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Reinventing Government: The National Performance Review (NPR)
• Previous reforms suggested strengthening presidential powers or reorganizing agencies
• NPR borrowed business standards
• Government is not a business
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Reconsidering the Enduring Questions
• Why did the bureaucracy become the “fourth branch” of American government?
• How many people work for the federal government?
• What can be done to improve bureaucratic performance?
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