Bureaucracy

What is bureaucracy?• Systems of ____________________• Large organizations in the executive

branch below the ____________________

• In charge of implementing government ____________________

• Size has increased in 20th century– Efforts to improve health, productivity,

welfare, and security– Agencies themselves seek growth– Recent movement to reduce budget &

downsize bureaucracy due to government inefficiencies

Significant Features• According to Max Weber• ____________________based on fixed & official

jurisdictions, rules, and regulations• Formal and specialized ____________________or training

requirements for each position• ____________________command structure• Decisions made on basis of ____________________

operating procedures, which include extensive written records

• Officials hold ____________________, are appointed and promoted on the basis of ___________, and have protection against political interference.

Bureaucracy in the US• 5 types of organizations• ____________________

– State, Treasury, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, Defense, Housing & Urban Development, transportation, Energy, Health & Human Services, Education, Veterans’ Affairs, Homeland Security

• ____________________– Internal Revenue Service– NASA

• ____________________– Securities & Exchange Commission– Federal Election Commission– Federal Reserve Board– Environmental Protection Agency

• ____________________– Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation– Post Office– Amtrak

• ____________________– Temporary: September 11th Commission– Permanent: Commission on Civil Rights

structure• Most important are experienced & expert personnel at the top of the

__________________• British Government Example

– Top executive positions: 100 “frontbench” members of Parliament, 20 of whom serve in the Cabinet, with remainder named ministers, junior ministers, and parliamentary secretaries

– Small group of political policymakers oversees 3,000 permanent members of the higher civil service, largely recruited directly from universities

– Below them are half a million permanent public employees, ordinary civil servants, organized into ~20 gov’t departments + other agencies

• Higher civil service not unique to Britain– Filled with powerful generalists who can bring experience & knowledge to particular tasks

• In the US, many top jobs go to presidential appointees rather than permanent civil servants– There are permanent civil servants in the IRS< FBI, CIA, NIH, and all cabinet departments

below the top positions– Tend to be specialists – military officers, diplomats, doctors, scientists, economists,

engineers, etc.• Employ large parts of the population

– In 2004, the US had 22M public employees of all kinds: federal, state, and local– Higher in European countries!

Functions• ____________________& _________________laws and regulations

– Most modern legislation is general & can be effectively enforced only if administrative officials figure out details & implementation

• ____________________ & _________________interests– Departments of agriculture, labor, defense, welfare,

or education articulate needs of interest groups• ____________________

– Example: Tax authorities routinely determine whether citizens have faithfully reported income & paid their taxes

• ____________________– Political elites make decisions based on information given by public

administration– Agencies have spokespersons to speak to the media– Becoming more difficult to keep information and intelligence confidential

Performance• Bureaucracy refers to the way of organizing agencies in public

administration too• Features of bureaucracies have desirable effects

– Promote competence, consistency, fair treatment, and freedom from political manipulation

– Without these rules, public officials would inherit jobs or obtain through political connections

• Negative connotation suggest liabilities– Rule-bound, inflexible, and insensitive to needs of clients– Bureaucrats may have few incentives to be efficient or innovative– Can be influenced by dominant political ideologies

• Ills of bureaucracy are pandemic– Unlikely to invent something to carry out large-scale social tasks without

bureaucracy’s organization & division of labor– Art of modern political leadership involves implementing policies - not just

defining or communicating goals

Controls on the Bureaucracy

• Major external government control: ____________________– Chief executive may have power to appoint or remove

subordinate officials– Actually depend on one another– Top executives usually try to persuade subordinates– Also control through centralized budgeting

• Recruitment of ____________________also a control, esp. in authoritarian systems

• ____________________ & ____________________ help control bureaucracy– Judicial investigations or legislative committee hearings bring bureaucratic performance

into line with political desires• Controls on civil servants tend to be ____________________outside advanced

industrial societies– Authoritarian systems lack these controls: elected executives, independent courts, mass

media, or interest groups– More prone to bureaucratic inefficiency– Many nonindustrial societies have features that encourage bribery, extortion, and

mismanagement

Corruption• Successful democracy requires public policies be implemented

____________________ & ____________________– Subverted by rent-seeking politicians, bribes, and cash payments to

officials• Surveys are given to study perception of corruption around the

world– Corruption Perceptions Index rates 100+ countries each year on a scale

from 0-10 (highly not corrupt)– Trend exists connecting high corruption with low GNP– Least Corrupt, in order: Denmark, New Zealand, Finland, Sweden,

Norway, Singapore, Switzerland, Netherlands, Australia, and Canada– United States Ranked #19 (of 175)

• Tied with Uruguay • Just below Japan, Hong Kong, Belgium, Barbados, and the UK

– Most Corrupt, in order: Somalia, North Korea, Afghanistan, Sudan, South Sudan, Libya, Iraq, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Syria, Yemen, Haiti

Ombudsman• Sweden invented the ____________________to prevent bureaucrats

from doing injury or injustice to individuals– Has been copied & implemented by other states and

supranational organizations• Investigate citizen claims that they have suffered injury or

damage as a result of ____________________ action• Typically have no power of their own, but report to the

legislature for remedial action• Often gov’t officials change policies as result of

embarrassing publicity• Offer a more expeditious and less costly procedure than

court action

Extension activityWrite a letter to the new (imaginary) American Ombudsman discussing an

issue you have with some government agency that you want resolved!

Not sure what to write about? See the news articles about current controversies in government.