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CHAPTER NINE Study Chapter Summary ·
Bureaucracies are everywhere today, in the
private as well as the public sphere. They create a special problem for
democratic politics because the desire for democratic accountability often
conflicts with the desire to take politics out of the bureaucracy. We have
moved from the spoils system of the nineteenth century to a civil service merit
system with a more professionalized bureaucracy. ·
The U.S. bureaucracy has grown from just
three cabinet departments at the founding to a gigantic apparatus of fifteen
cabinet-level departments and hundreds of independent agencies, regulatory
commissions, and government corporations. This growth has been in response to
the expansion of the nation, the politics of special economic and social
groups, and the emergence of new problems. ·
Many observers believe that the bureaucracy
should simply administer the laws the political branches have enacted. In
reality, the agencies of the bureaucracy make government policy, and they play
the roles of judge and jury in enforcing those policies. These activities are
in part an unavoidable consequence of the tremendous technical expertise of the
agencies because Congress and the president simply cannot perform many
technical tasks. ·
The culture of bureaucracy refers to how
agencies operate—their assumptions, values, and habits. The bureaucratic
culture increases employees' belief in the programs they administer, their
commitment to the survival and growth of their agencies, and the tendency to
rely on rules and procedures rather than goals. ·
Agencies work actively for their political
survival. They attempt to establish strong support outside the agency, to avoid
direct competition with other agencies, and to jealously guard their own policy
jurisdictions. Presidential powers are only modestly effective in controlling
the bureaucracy. The affected clientele groups working in close cooperation
with the agencies and the congressional committees that oversee them form
powerful iron triangles. ·
Regardless of what the public may think, the
U.S. bureaucracy is actually quite responsive and competent when compared with
the bureaucracies of other countries. Citizens can increase this responsiveness
by taking advantage of opportunities for gaining access to bureaucratic
decision making. Learning Objectives
After
reading this chapter, you should understand ·
the definition of bureaucracy ·
the evolution, organization, and roles of
the federal bureaucracy ·
politics inside the bureaucracy ·
the relationship between the federal
bureaucracy and the branches of the federal government ·
the relationship of citizens to the
bureaucracy |
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