Chapter 13, POSC 101 at Lake Michigan College.

1. U.S. Government
Bureaucracy
POSC 101, Fall 2011 - Professor Wallace

2. The Nature of Bureaucracy
• Bureaucracy - A large
organization that is structured
hierarchically to carry out
specific functions (public and
private).
• Any large corporation or
public institution can be
considered a bureaucracy
• Private corporations have a
single set of leaders.
• Public bureaucracies do not
have a single set of leaders.

3. The Nature of Bureaucracy
• Weberian Model - Developed
by German sociologist Max
Weber, who viewed
bureaucracies as
rational, hierarchical
organizations in which
decisions are based on logical
reasoning.
• Organized hierarchically and
governed by formal procedures
• Power flows from the top
downward

4. The Nature of Bureaucracy
• Acquisitive Model - Views
top-level bureaucrats as seeking
to expand the size of their
budgets and staffs to gain greater
power.
– Top-level leaders always try to
expand and to avoid any
reductions in their budgets
– Public bureaucrats, on the other
hand, want to maximize the
size of their budgets and staff
because they are powerful
symbols to the public sector

5. The Nature of Bureaucracy
• Monopolistic Model -
Lack of competition in either
circumstance leads to
inefficient and costly
operations.
• Federal bureaucracies have
no competitors and act
accordingly; inefficient
• There is no incentive to
adopt cost-cutting
measures or to produce
more, because there is no
competition

6. The Nature of Bureaucracy
MODEL MAIN TRAITS PROBLEMS
Hierarchal
Specialization
Weber Division of Labor Lethargy
Standard Operating
Procedure
Expansion
Acquisitive Competition
Turf Wars
Monopolistic Lack of Competition Inefficiency
- In the United States, national bureaucracies provide
financial assistance for their state counterparts.
- Some bureaucracies are administrative agencies that are
responsible for regulating private companies (FCC,
FAA, SEC, etc.).

7. The Nature of Bureaucracy
• Bureaucracies in the United
States enjoy a greater deal of
autonomy than do federal or
national bureaucracies in many
other nations.
• The annual federal budget for
bureaucracies in the United
States is $3.7 trillion dollars.
• Administrative Agencies -
federal, state, or local
government unit created and
authorized by legislative bodies
to administer and enforce
specific laws.

8. The Nature of Bureaucracy

9. The Size of Bureaucracy
• The national bureaucracy began with
three departments in 1789:
– The Department of State, the Department of
War, and the Department of Treasury plus
the Office of the Attorney General
– Today there are approx. 2.8 million
employees in the federal bureaucracy. The
government is responsible for 16 percent of
civilian employment in local, state, and
national governments. Spending by all levels
of government was equal to 11% of the
nation’s gross domestic product in 1929. For
fiscal year 2010, it exceeds 44 percent.

10. The Size off Bureaucracy

11. The Size off Bureaucracy

12. Federal Organization
• Cabinet Depts. – 15 within
the executive branch (directly
• Each department is headed
accountable to the President). by a secretary (except for
• Line Organizations - An the Justice
administrative unit that is Department, which is
directly accountable to the headed by the attorney
president. general) who is confirmed
• Cabinet Departments are created by the Senate
by Congress when the need • Each department has
arose. The most recent several levels of
department is Homeland undersecretaries, assist
Security ant secretaries, and
other personnel.

13. Federal Organization

14. Federal Organization
• Independent Executive
Agency - Not part of a
Cabinet department but
reports directly to the
president who appoints
chief officials.
– Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), Central
Intelligence Agency
(CIA), National Science
Foundation (NSF), and
General Service
Administration (GSA)

15. Federal Organization

16. Federal Organization
• Independent Regulatory
Agencies - Outside the major
executive departments charged with
making & implementing rules &
regulations.
– Nuclear Regulatory Commission
(NRC), Federal Communication
Commission (FCC), Federal Reserve
(Fed), & the Federal Trade
Commission (FTC)
– Captured – An industry regulated by
a government agency gains direct or
indirect control over agency
personnel and decision makers.

17. Federal Organization
• Government Corporation
– Quasi-business enterprise, used
when activities are primarily
commercial.
• Have a board of directors, but
no shareholders & all profits
are put back into the
corporation.
• Tennessee Valley Authority
(TVA), United States Postal
Service (USPS), Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation
(FDIC), American Track
(AMTRAK

18. Federal Organization
• Nationalization - Takeover of
a business enterprise by the
national government. Recently,
the word has been used to
describe temporary takeovers that
are similar to bankruptcy
proceedings.
– Nationalization
• Amtrak (1971); Savings &
Loans (1980’s); Airport
Security (2001); Fannie
Mae/Freddie Mac (2008);
General Motors (2009).
– Preferred Stock

19. Staffing the Bureaucracy
• Two categories
• Political Appointees: The
president must take into
consideration an individual’s
work experience,
intelligence, political party
affiliation, and personal
characteristics.
• Civil Servants: stay in office
regardless of who is elected
president. This ensures that
the bureaucracy is a self-
maintained, long-term
element within government.

20. Staffing the Bureaucracy
• Political appointees face heavy
scrutiny:
– Tom Daschle (Health and Human
Services) withdrew because he failed to
pay taxes on a car and driver assigned to
him when he was a lobbyist.
– Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner
was confirmed despite failing to pay
years of previously owed taxes.
– New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson
(Commerce) withdrew when he was the
subject of a grand jury investigation for
peddling. He was later cleared.

21. Staffing the Bureaucracy
• Political Appointees:
• Presidential appointments are
prestigious, but don’t
accomplish much.
• The average appointee term
of service is less than two
years.
• Most appointees are not
qualified for the position they
hold and serve as mere
Former OMB Director Peter Orszag
figureheads.
• Subordinates are difficult to
fire.

22. Staffing the Bureaucracy
• Civil Servants – formerly a Spoils
System: the awarding of government
jobs to political supporters and
friends.
• As the size of the bureaucracy
expanded by 300 percent between
1851 and 1881, reformers demanded
a merit system for job appointments.
• In 1883, the Pendleton Act or Civil
Service Reform Act was passed.
• Created the Civil Service
Commission

23. Staffing the Bureaucracy
• Merit System - the selection,
retention, and promotion of
government employees on the
basis of competitive
examinations.
• The Pendleton Act (Civil
Service Reform Act)
established the principle of
employment on the bass of
merit
• Civil Service Commission -
Personnel agency created in
1883.

24. Staffing the Bureaucracy
• The Civil Service
Reform Act of 1978
– Abolished the Civil
Service Reform Act of
1883 and created two new
federal agencies
– OPM (Office of Personnel
Management)
– MSPB (Merit Systems
Protection Board)
– Federal Labor Relations
Authority

25. Staffing the Bureaucracy
• The Political Activities Act
of 1939 (the Hatch Act)
– Prohibited federal employees
from actively participating in the
political management of
campaigns.
– Forbade the use of federal
authority to influence
nominations and elections and
outlawed the use of bureaucratic
rank to pressure federal
employees to make political
contributions.

26. Staffing the Bureaucracy
• Congress lessened the Hatch
Act in 1993, when it passed
the Federal Employees
Political Activities Act of
1993.
– This act allowed federal
employees to run for office in
nonpartisan elections,
participate in voter-registration
drives, make campaign
contributions to political
organizations, and campaign for
candidates in partisan elections.
www.osc.gov/documents/hatchact/haflyer.pdf

27. Reform Attempts
• Government in the Sunshine Act –
Law requires all committee-directed
federal agencies to conduct their
business regularly in public session.
• Information Disclosure
• Curbs on Information Disclosure
• Sunset Legislation - Laws requiring
that existing programs be reviewed
regularly for their effectiveness and
be terminated unless specifically
extended as a result of these reviews
(Bush tax cuts).

28. Reform Attempts
• Privatization
• Government services are
replaced by services form the
private sector.
• The problem is the lack of
oversight with government
contractors.
• The government is trying to
reduce costs by not relying on
government contractors and
providing in-house services.
http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/privatization

29. Bureaucrats as Politicians
• Congress delegates the daily
operations of its powers to
administrative agencies
through enabling legislation.
– Enabling Legislation: A statue
enacted by Congress that
authorizes the creation of an
administrative agency and
specifics the
name, purpose, composition, functi
ons, and powers of the agency
being created.
– This makes bureaucrats unelected
policymakers.

30. Bureaucrats as Politicians
• When a bill is signed into law, it is
given to the agency and published in
the Federal Register, for all who are
interested to read and comment.
• Comments are reviewed by the
agency when it drafts the final
version of the law. 60 day waiting
period for enforcement after
publication in The Federal Register.
• Iron Triangle: The three-way
alliance among legislators,
bureaucrats, and interest groups to
make or preserve policies that benefit
their respective interests

31. Congressional Controls
• Refusal to appropriate or
authorize funds.
• Oversight by congressional
committees.
• Request for Government
Accountability Office (GAO)
or Congressional Budget Office
(CBO) to conduct studies on
the agency.
• Implement the Congressional
Review Act.

32. Congressional Controls
108 Committees (sub) Oversee DHS