AP Government - Welles
Chapter 9 - The Executive Branch and the Bureaucracy notes
Bureaucracy

The federal government agencies and institutions that implement and administer the laws and programs passed
by Congress or the President

History
o
o
Max Weber’s characteristic model of bureaucracies

Chain of command

Division of labor

Specific authority

Goal orientation determine structure

Impersonal

productivity
1789: Foreign Affairs, War and Treasury were in the Articles of Confederation and Washington kept
them
o
Jackson’s spoils system

Patronage

Congress passed the Civil Service Reform Act of 1883 (Pendleton Act) which established
civil service system/test and the merit system
o
Civil War

o
War preparation caused new need for administration, era of big government began
Economic regulation

Should government regulate the economy?

Laissez-faire: leave alone

Civil War period, Creation of ICC, first independent regulatory commission

1913 Wilson forms the Dept of Commerce

FDR: New Deal Policies greatly effected economy and expanded bureaucracies (page
312)


o
CCC, NIRA, AAA, FDIC, HUD
o
GI Bill
Bank/corporation bailouts
Modern Bureaucracies
o
15 Cabinet Departments

Secretaries are responsible for establishment of departments policy and overseeing operations
(page 317)
o
2000+ Bureaus, divisions, offices and others (page 314)

Government Corporations are businesses created by Congress (ex. Postal Services, Amtrak)

Independent Executive Agencies have narrow areas of responsibilities (NASA and CIA)

Independent Regulatory Commissions regulate a specific activity or interest in the government
(OSHA)
o
Outsourcing bureaucracies

o
Blackwater
Policies of Bureaucracies

Hatch Act: Government workers can not work on campaigns during government time

Federal Employees Political Activities Act 1993 (page 321): spelled out acceptable campaign
behavior

Making Policy
o
Implementing laws
o
Iron Triangles: a form of issue network
Bureaucratic Agency
Congress

o
Administrative Discretion
o
Regulations: made by bureaucrats to govern the process
Accountability
o
o
o
Executive Control

Executive Orders

Budget proposals
Legislative Control

Budgets

Oversight functions

Approval of appointments
Judicial Control

Judicial review
Interest Groups