War led to reduced restrictions on administrators and a slight enduring increase in personnel. Significant indirect increase in number of employees through use of private contractors, state and local government employees.
The excepted service: most are appointed by other agencies on the basis of qualifications approved by OPM. Competitive service becoming more decentralized-increasing numbers recruited by agency-specific procedures. Workers less often blue-collar; increasing diversity of white-collar occupations e. Still some presidential patronage-presidential appointments, Schedule C jobs, non-career executive assignments.
This leads to what I call "Bureaucratic Inertia. Consider the IRS. To what extent would agents of the IRS become "friendlier" just because it was policy. Likewise, if it was a Presidential order, as Commander in Chief, to accept Gays in the military, would the be accepted by Commanders and the rank and file? Harold Seidman estimates that cabinet secretaries spend about 10 percent of their time attending to departmental business and 40 percent of their time testifying before congressional committees.
Issue networks: groups that regularly debate government policy on certain issues. Congressional committees may seek committee clearance: right to pass on certain agency decisions. Weakens traditional legislative oversight but Congress continues creating such vetoes.
Means for checking agency discretion and for authorizing agency actions contrary to presidential preferences. Means for limiting presidential control-though executive may claim executive privilege. Democratic congresses respond by increasing investigations and rules legislative micromanagement. Administrative Procedure Act A law passed in requiring federal agencies to give notice, solicit comments, and sometimes hold public hearings before adopting any new rules.
This practice is a recent one and curtails the power of the appropriations committees. These appointments occur in middle- and upper-level positions in the bureaucracy. Although usually not binding, it is seldom ignored by agencies. Freedom of Information Act A law passed in giving citizens the right to inspect all government records except those containing military, intelligence, or trade secrets or material revealing private personnel actions.
This network is less common today because of the variety of interest groups that exist and the proliferation of congressional subcommittees. Such networks are replacing the iron triangles.
The veto is effected through a resolution of disapproval passed by either house or by both houses. These resolutions do not need the president's signature. In , the Supreme Court ruled such vetoes were unconstitutional, but Congress continues to enact laws containing them.
National Environmental Policy Act A law passed in requiring agencies to issue an environmental impact statement before undertaking any major action affecting the environment. Open Meeting Law A law passed in requiring agency meetings to be open to the public unless certain specified matters are being discussed. Federal legislation significantly limits such appointments today. Pendleton Act A law passed in which began the process of transferring federal jobs from patronage to the merit system.
Privacy Act A law passed in requiring government files about individuals to be kept confidential. Schedule C job A form of patronage under the excepted service for a position of confidential or policy-determining" character below the level of the cabinet and sub cabinet. Members of this service can be hired, fired, and transferred more easily than ordinary civil servants.
They are also eligible for cash bonuses and, if removed, are guaranteed jobs elsewhere in the government. The purpose of the service is to give the president more flexibility in recruiting, assigning, and paying high-level bureaucrats with policy-making responsibility. These funds are beyond the control of congressional appropriations committees. Whistleblower Protection Act A law passed in which created an Office of Special Counsel to investigate complaints from bureaucrats claiming they were punished after reporting to Congress about waste, fraud, or abuse in their agencies.
Back To Class Page. The Social Studies Help Center. There are class notes, numerous Supreme Court case summaries and information on how to write a research paper inside. The Bureaucracy Objectives 1. Compare and contrast the American and British models of government bureaucracy.
Discuss the recruitment, retention, and personal characteristics of federal bureaucrats. Review congressional measures to control the bureaucracy, and evaluate their effectiveness.
Text Outline I. Distinctiveness of the American bureaucracy A. Constitutional system and traditions make bureaucracy distinctive 1.
Supervision shared by president and Congress 2. Federal agencies share functions with state and local governments 3. Adversary culture leads to closer scrutiny; court challenges more likely B. Scope of bureaucracy 1. Little public ownership of industry in the United States 2. High degree of regulation in the United States of private industries II.
The growth of the bureaucracy A. The early controversies 1. Supporters of a strong president argue against Senate consent being required for Senate-confirmed appointees 2. President is given sole removal power but Congress funds and investigates B. The appointment of officials 1. Officials affect how laws are interpreted, tone and effectiveness of administration, party strength 2. Use of patronage in nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to reward supporters, induce congressional support, build party organizations 3.
Civil War a watershed in bureaucratic growth; showed administrative weakness of federal government and increased demands for civil service reform 4. Post-Civil War period saw industrialization, emergence of a national economy-power of national government to regulate interstate commerce became controversial C. A service role 1. Reflects desire for limited government; laissez-faire beliefs; Constitution's silence on regulatory powers for bureaucracy 3.
War led to reduced restrictions on administrators and a slight enduring increase in personnel D. Depression and World War 11 lead to government activism 1. Supreme Court upheld laws that granted discretion to administrative agencies 2. Introduction of heavy income taxes supports a large bureaucracy Ill. The federal bureaucracy today A Direct and indirect growth 1. Modest increase in number of government employees 2.
Significant indirect increase in number of employees through use of private contractors, state and local government employees B Growth in discretionary authority 1. Delegation of undefined authority by Congress greatly increased 2. Primary areas of delegation a. Subsidies to groups b. Grant-in-aid programs c. Enforcement of regulations C.
Factors explaining behavior of officials 1. Recruitment and retention a. Credit: NASA. The independent regulatory agency emerged in the late nineteenth century as a product of the push to control the benefits and costs of industrialization.
The first regulatory agency was the Interstate Commerce Commission ICC , charged with regulating that most identifiable and prominent symbol of nineteenth-century industrialism, the railroad. Agencies formed by the federal government to administer a quasi-business enterprise are called government corporation s. They exist because the services they provide are partly subject to market forces and tend to generate enough profit to be self-sustaining, but they also fulfill a vital service the government has an interest in maintaining.
Unlike a private corporation, a government corporation does not have stockholders. Instead, it has a board of directors and managers. Unlike private businesses, which pay taxes to the federal government on their profits, government corporations are exempt from taxes.
The most widely used government corporation is the U. Postal Service. Once a cabinet department, it was transformed into a government corporation in the early s. Another widely used government corporation is the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, which uses the trade name Amtrak. Recognizing the need to maintain a passenger rail service despite dwindling profits, the government consolidated the remaining lines and created Amtrak.
Had the U. Credit: Library of Congress. Bureaucrats must implement and administer a wide range of policies and programs as established by congressional acts or presidential orders. Bureaucrats are government officials subject to legislative regulations and procedural guidelines.
Because they play a vital role in modern society, they hold managerial and functional positions in government; they form the core of most administrative agencies. Although many top administrators are far removed from the masses, many interact with citizens on a regular basis. Given the power bureaucrats have to adopt and enforce public policy, they must follow several legislative regulations and procedural guidelines. A regulation is a rule that permits government to restrict or prohibit certain behaviors among individuals and corporations.
Bureaucratic rulemaking is a complex process that will be covered in more detail in the following section, but the rulemaking process typically creates procedural guidelines , or more formally, standard operating procedures. These are the rules that lower-level bureaucrats must abide by regardless of the situations they face.
Elected officials are regularly frustrated when bureaucrats seem not follow the path they intended. As a result, the bureaucratic process becomes inundated with red tape. This is the name for the procedures and rules that must be followed to get something done. Citizens frequently criticize the seemingly endless networks of red tape they must navigate in order to effectively utilize bureaucratic services, although these devices are really meant to ensure the bureaucracies function as intended.
Skip to main content. The Bureaucracy. Search for:. The Bureaucracy: How is it structure? Learning Objectives Understand the basic structure of the executive branch and the bureaucracy. Examine the various groups that assist the president in implementing laws, rules and regulations. Know the difference between the various types of bureaucratic agencies. Created in by President Franklin D. Questions to Consider Why might the executive branch create a government corporation?
Show Answer to provide an essential service to the American people. Show Answer executive agencies are mainly informational and regulatory agencies enforce rules. Schechter Poultry Corp. United States , U. Amtrak: the history and politics of a national railroad. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner. Licenses and Attributions. CC licensed content, Shared previously. Oversees the U.
Oversees the many elements of the U. Oversees promotion of public health by providing essential human services and enforcing food and drug laws. Oversees matters related to U. Oversees the services provided to U.
0コメント