1
Chapter
Fourteen:
The
Bureaucracy
Learning Objectives
2
 Explain the differences between private and
public bureaucracies.
 Identify the models of bureaucracy.
 Explain how the bureaucracy has developed
throughout our history.
Learning Objectives
3
 Identify the types of governmental
organizations in the federal bureaucracy and
distinguish between functions and
responsibilities (including Cabinet departments,
independent executive agencies, independent
regulatory commissions and government
corporations).
 Identify the legislation controlling political
activity by the bureaucracy (the Civil Service
Reform Act of 1883 and the Hatch Act).
Learning Objectives
4
 Explain Congressional control of
bureaucracies, including enabling legislations
and budgetary authorization.
 Identify the recent reforms within the federal
civil service.
 Sunshine
laws
 Sunset laws
 Whistleblowers
Learning Objectives
5
 Explain the iron triangle model of the
bureaucracy and the role of executive
agencies, subcommittees and interest groups
and compare it with the issue networks model.
The Nature of Bureaucracy
6
 A bureaucracy is the name given to a large
organization that is structured hierarchically to
carry out specific functions.
The Nature of Bureaucracy
7
 Public bureaucracies:
 Do
not have a single set of leaders.
 Supposedly serve the citizenry.
 Not organized to make a profit.
 Private bureaucracies:
 Have
single leaders.
 Organized to make a profit.
The Nature of Bureaucracy
8
Models of Bureaucracy
 Weberian model:
Hierarchy
 Specialization
 Rules and regulations
 Neutrality

 Acquisitive model
 Monopolistic model
The Size of the Bureaucracy
9
 Excluding the military, the federal bureaucracy
includes approximately 2.7 million government
employees.
 Since 1970, most growth in government is at
the state and local levels.
The Size of the Bureaucracy
10
The Size of the Bureaucracy
11
The Organization of the Federal Bureaucracy
12
 Cabinet departments: major service
organizations of the federal government.
 Independent executive agencies: organizations
that report directly to the president.
The Organization of the Federal Bureaucracy
13
The Organization of the Federal Bureaucracy
14
 Independent regulatory agencies: develops
rules and regulation in a particular sphere of
action to protect public interest.
 Agency
Capture
 Deregulation and Re-regulation
 Government corporations: businesses created
by Congress to perform functions.
The Organization of the Federal
Bureaucracy
15
Challenges to the Bureaucracy
16
 Reorganizing to Stop Terrorism: Department of
Homeland Security
 Dealing with Natural Disasters: Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
Staffing the Bureaucracy
17
 Political Appointees: The Aristocracy of the
Federal Government
 Civil Servants: Difficult to Fire
Staffing the Bureaucracy
18
 History of the Federal Civil Service
 Spoils
System: Whenever a new president was
elected from a party different from the party of the
previous president, there would be an almost
complete turnover in the staffing of the federal
government.
 Civil
Service Reform Act of 1883: Established the
principle of employment on the basis of open,
competitive examinations and created the Civil
Service Commission to administer the personnel
service.
Staffing the Bureaucracy
19
History of the Federal Civil Service (Continued)
Civil Service Reform Act of 1978:
 Created the Office of Personnel Management
(OPM), which is empowered to recruit, interview,
and test potential government workers and
determine who should be hired.
 Created the Merit Systems Protection Board
(MSPB) to oversee promotions, employees’ rights,
and other employment matters.
Staffing the Bureaucracy
20
History of the Federal Civil Service
(Continued)
 Hatch Act—or Political Activities Act—of 1939:
prohibited federal employees from actively
participating in the political management of
campaigns.
Modern Attempts at Bureaucratic Reform
21
 Sunshine Laws
 Information
Disclosure
 Curbs on Information Disclosure since
September 11, 2001
 Sunset Laws
Modern Attempts at Bureaucratic Reform
22
 Privatization
 Incentives for Efficiency and Productivity
 Helping out the Whistleblowers
 Laws
protecting whistleblowers
 Problem continues
Bureaucrats as Politicians and Policymakers
23
 Rule-making Environment:
 Waiting
Periods
 Court Challenges
 Negotiated Rule-Making
Bureaucrats as Politicians and Policymakers
24
 Iron Triangles: a three-way alliance among
legislators in Congress, bureaucrats, and
interest groups.
 Issue Networks: consists of individuals or
organizations that support a particular policy.
Bureaucrats as Politicians and Policymakers
25
Congressional Control of the Bureaucracy
26
 Passes enabling legislation
 Controls funding
 Conducts hearings and investigations
Web Links
27
 USA.gov: the U.S. government's official Web
portal that lists government information and
services, such as telephone numbers for
government agencies and personnel:
www.USA.gov .
 Federal Register: the official publication for
executive-branch documents:
www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/browse.html.
What If…The Public Graded Federal
Bureaucracies?
28
 Congress has repeatedly reformed the civil
service since 1883, yet bureaucrats are far
from accountable to their bosses in the
executive branch, to Congress, and the public.
 President George W. Bush implemented a plan
known as “performance-based budgeting” to
increase bureaucratic accountability and to
examine how well each agency met specific
performance criteria.
What If…The Public Graded Federal
Bureaucracies?
29
 Using evaluations of bureaucratic agencies is
difficult:
 It
is not always possible to cut funding of a program
that is performing poorly since it may be essential.
 It may be performing poorly because it is
underfunded—and cutting back will only make
matters worse.
 Bad publicity might be a better tool for making
bureaucrats more responsive; they might have an
incentive to improve the quality of their work.
What If…The Public Graded Federal
Bureaucracies?
30
 Many observers believe that the greatest
obstacle to making the federal bureaucracy
responsive is that it is very difficult to fire
federal bureaucrats.
 If Congress could make it easier for
bureaucrats to be fired, perhaps poor
performance on a public report card could lead
to discipline and perhaps discharge.
You Can Make a Difference: What the
Government Knows About You
31
 The federal government collects billions of pieces
of information on tens of millions of Americans
each year.
 You may want to verify the information that the
government has on you that can be important.
 Records
of two people with similar names have
become confused.
 Innocent persons have had the criminal records of
other persons erroneously inserted into their files.
 Possible identity theft.
You Can Make a Difference: What the
Government Knows About You
32
Things You Can Do:
 Freedom of Information Act of 1966 (FOIA)
requires that the federal government release, at
your request, any identifiable information it has
about you or about any other subject.
 The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has
published Your Right to Government
Information. Order it online at www.aclu.org.