Magruder’s American
Government
C H A P T E R 15
Government at Work: The Bureaucracy
Copyright, 2000 © Prentice Hall
C H A P T E R 15
Government at Work: The Bureaucracy
SECTION 1
The Federal Bureaucracy
SECTION 2
The Executive Departments and the Independent Agencies
SECTION 3
The Civil Service
Chapter 15
SECTION 1
The Federal Bureaucracy
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The Federal Government is a bureaucracy—an organization that
includes hierarchical authority, job specialization, and formalized rules.
The bureaucracy consists of numerous administrative agencies that fall
into one of three groups:
(1) the Executive Office of the President
(2) the 14 cabinet departments
(3) a large number of independent agencies
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The lack of a uniform system for naming agencies creates confusion.
Chapter 15, Section 1
SECTION 2
The Executive Departments and the Independent Agencies
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Cabinet departments are the traditional units of federal administration.
There are currently 14 cabinet departments.
Cabinet secretaries direct the efforts of their departments in keeping with
the policies of the President and also promote its programs with
Congress, the public, the bureaucracy, and the President.
Each department has a number of staff and line units, and most
departments have regional offices outside of Washington.
Congress has created many independent agencies to perform a variety of
administrative functions.
Each independent agency falls into one of three categories:
(1) the independent executive agencies
(2) the independent regulatory commissions
(3) the government corporations
Chapter 15, Section 2
SECTION 3
The Civil Service
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The federal bureaucracy includes about three million employees, yet
the Constitution says little about how these jobs are filled.
In 1883, the Pendleton Act laid the foundation for the civil service, the
system by which much of federal bureaucracy is staffed today.
The civil service system is administered by the Office of Personnel
Management and the Merit Systems Protection Agency, which polices
the merit principle in the federal bureaucracy.
Federal employees cannot strike, and although they can belong to and
support political parties, they cannot take an activist role in party
politics.
Chapter 15, Section 3