American Politics Chapter 12 Powerpoint

8/12/2019 American Politics Chapter 12 Powerpoint

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CONFLICT AND COMPROMISE

in The Bureaucracy


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Understanding the Bureaucracy


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Success within the Bureaucracy


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Dependence on the Bureaucracy


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Bureaucratic Waste


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Bureaucratic Failures


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What Is the Federal Bureaucracy?

The federal bureaucracy is made up of:

Millions of permanent employees (civil

servants) Thousands of short-term workers (political

appointees of the president)


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What do bureaucrats do?

Implement policies established by Congress or

the president Develop programs and policies to achieve

goals of laws

When laws are very specific, bureaucrats have very

little discretion

More commonly, laws provide general guidelines


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What do bureaucrats do? (cont.)

Regulate individual and corporate behavior

Buy products ranging from erasers to airplanes

Engage in inherently political activities


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Regulations

Government rules that give government control

over individuals and corporations by restrictingbehaviors

Developed via the notice and comment procedure

Rule making is very political

Bureaucrats listen to congressional pressure;Congress can overturn statutes that give bureaucrats

power and Congress controls their budgets


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Regulations (cont.)

Federal regulations affect every aspect of

everyday life Gas mileage of cars sold in the United States

Amount doctors can charge senior citizens for

particular procedures.

Often, regulations cause trade-offs betweenincompatible goals.

FDA and experimental treatment


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Influences on Bureaucratic RuleMaking


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Procurement

Bureaucrats are in charge of government

purchases Make decisions regarding the criteria of what

they will buy

Crises often involve inflated costs.

FEMA and Hurricane Katrina


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Providing services Street-level bureaucrats provide government services

to regular Americans

Job training

Disaster assistance

Park services

Research and development Government scientists do research covering a wide

variety of areas


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Managing and directing Supervising: For example, the Department of Defense

uses civilian contractors to complete a wide variety of

services in Iraq

Bureaucratic expertise and its

consequences Bureaucrats are experts; in general, more so than

members of Congress or the president

Experts help create a state capacity


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Bureaucrats Make Mistakes


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Bureaucratic expertise and its

consequences (cont.)

Criticism of bureaucracies Too much red tape

Standard operating procedure


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Bureaucratic expertise and its consequences

(cont.)

How can experts create red tape and otherdysfunctional ways of doing business?

Expertise

Problem of control (principal-agent game)

Regulatory capture Neutral competence as an antidote?


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History of the American Bureaucracy

The beginning of Americas bureaucracy

Even as late as the 1820s, there were only

three executive departments Small size of the federal government was

indicative of Americans distrust of government

after years of British rule

President Jackson used the spoils system

People who had worked in Jacksons campaign were

given government jobs as rewards.

Useful for the party organization


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The Beginning of AmericanBureaucracy


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No inherent logic in the structure of the

bureaucracy

Developed in a piecemeal fashion duringthree major periods:

Late 1890searly 1900s

1930s 1960s


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Building a New American State: The

Progressive Era

Governments regulatory power increased from

1890 to 1920

Sherman Antitrust Act

Pure Food and Drug Act

Meat Inspection Act


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Building a New American State: The

Progressive Era (cont.)

1883 Pendleton Civil Service Act Created a bureaucracy built on expertise through

merit system

Helped to end the spoils system


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The New Deal, the Great Society, and the

Reagan Revolution

New Deal programs are those developed andimplemented during Franklin Roosevelts first

presidential term in the 1930s

Expanded governments role in the economy

Debates over this expansion have animated partisan

politics ever since


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The New Deal, the Great Society, and the

Reagan Revolution (cont.)

The Great Society: Another expansion of thesize, capacity, and behavior of the government

bureaucracy that took place during Lyndon

Johnsons presidency

Congress funded bilingual education.

Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act

Medicare and Medicaid


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The Reagan Revolution


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The Executive Branch of the FederalGovernment


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The Structure of the Department ofAgriculture


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The Modern Federal Bureaucracy

Hiring and firing rules regarding bureaucrats affect

the amount of oversight to which the bureaucrats

are subjected

Federal Reserve appointees get 14-year terms

Bureaucratic structure is often politically driven

Iraq War: Office of Special Plans uses raw intelligence

data rather than expert interpretations of that data whenmaking the case for war


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Executive Office of the President (see

Chapter 11)

Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Creates the annual budget proposal president

presents to Congress

Below the EOP are the fifteen cabinet-level

departments Each department is made up of many smaller

organizations


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The Size of the Federal Budget


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Executive Office of the President (cont.)

Below the executive departments are

independent agencies like the Federal Reserve See Chapter 15, Economic Policy.


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Federal Employment


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The Size of the Federal Government

Number of people serving in each executive

department and independent agency varies

widely

Department of Defense has over 600,000 employees;

Department of Education has 4,000.

Mission and scope of the departments

Budget maximizers: Bureaucrats who work to improve

the funding for their agency regardless of whether that

spending is useful


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Employment in Selected FederalOrganizations


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Employment in Selected FederalOrganizations (contd)


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The Size of Our GovernmentCompared to Those of Other Nations


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Public Preferences For SpendingCuts


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The Human Face of the Bureaucracy

Motivations

Majority of bureaucrats serve for the job

security, salary, and benefits Over one-third say that their main incentive in

seeking a bureaucratic position was an interest

in public service


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Motivations for Employment


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Civil Service Regulations

Education improves pay

Civil service system has a set of tests todetermine who is hired for lower-level positions


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Civil Service Regulations (cont.)

Higher-level jobs are awarded to those who

have good qualifications, experience, andeducation

Seniority helps determine promotions

After three years of satisfactory job

performance, a civil servant cannot be firedwithout cause


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Civil Service Regulations (cont.)

Many cumbersome regulations

Reason for their existence is to take politics outof the hiring process


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Limits on Political Activity

The Hatch Act prohibits federal workers from

engaging in organized political activities

Senior White House staffers are exempt from

these restrictions

However, prevented from using government

resources for political purposes


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Rules of the Bureaucracy


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Political Appointees and the Senior

Executive Service

President appoints about 7,000 politicalappointees who are not traditional civil servants

to the federal bureaucracy

Some potentially less competent campaign

staffers are awarded positions on turkey farms Ability to make political appointments helps the

president exercise some control over the

bureaucracy.


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How Americans View the FederalBureaucracy


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Controlling the Bureaucracy

Principalagent game: Lawmakers must

determine how to get the benefits of

bureaucratic expertise without givingbureaucrats complete control over their own

behavior Give direct orders

Limits their bureaucratic expertise

Agency organization and monitoring


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Agency Organization


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The Bureaucracy


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Monitoring

Oversight from Congress

Advance Warning Requires bureaucrats to disclose their proposed

actions before they take effect

Investigations

Police patrol oversight: Constant monitoring

Fire alarm oversight: Congress responds to

complaints about a bureaucratic agency


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Correcting Violations

Legislation and executive orders can correct

problems

Correcting problems is most challenging when

the Congress and the president disagree

This is when agencies often have the most discretion


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Is Political Control of theBureaucracy Beneficial?


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Explaining the Anomalies

How can the government succeed in some

areas and fail in others? Complex tasks

Example: Great Societys goal of eliminating American poverty

Standard operating procedure is red tape and

confusion

Political control problems


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Explaining the Anomalies


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Public Opinion Poll

Do you generally approve or disapprove of the way

the federal bureaucracy is handling its job?

a) Approve

b) Disapprove


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Public Opinion Poll

Which of the following do you believe is mostappropriate to address Americansdissatisfaction with the federal bureaucracy?

a) Devolution of responsibilities to lower levels ofgovernment

b) Increased use of private companies to provide

government goods and services


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Public Opinion Poll

If television content increases viewersfear and

subsequent support for security agencies, is that

good or bad for the functioning of American

democracy?

a) Good

b) Bad


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Chapter 12: The Bureaucracy

Practice quizzes

Flashcards

Outlines

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Following this slide, you will find additional

slides with photos, figures, and captions from

the textbook.


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The bureaucracy's responsiveness tocomments from business interests


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Hank Paulson


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Bureaucratic Effi ciency and theGeneral Services Administration

Documents

American Politics Chapter 12 Powerpoint