Bureaucracy:An organization with a hierarchical structure that functions according to specific rules & procedures that usually possesses lots of administrative staffDue to rules, tend to be slower to take action than other kinds of organizationsPresent in govt universities, large businesses and other organizationsBut particular present in and associated with govtIn govt bureaucracies are generally unelectedWHAT IS BUREAUCRACY AND WHAT DOES IT DO? :In govt, Bureaucracies are often restraint to changeWhich has both advantages (less policy uncertainty) and Disadvantages (hard to get rid of bad policies and employees)Bureaucracies are generally unelectedPresident often appoints top positions in bureaucracies (so partisanship matters here)Lower positions filled with career govt employees (merit is what matters here)Today, except for top positions, individual merit is a major component of what gets most employees of bureaucracies their jobsExcept top-level positions appointed by presidentsPartisanship is a major consideration for thoseNEED THESE NOTES IN BETWEENTHE SPOILS SYSTEM: A patronage system of appointing bureaucracies in which political parties reward their supporters by giving them govt jobsComes from Andrew Jackson supporter who supposedly said “to the victor go the spoils”So every time Presidency changed parties, most of the old employees would be fired and new ones of the winning party would be hiredThe spoils system often happened at a local level too, especially in big-city party machinesBAD ASPECTS OF SPOILS SYSTEMUnqualified people, too much turnover, non-ideology focused GOVTSpoils system is gone todayOnly very limited kinds of spoils still availableLike easy, fun Ambassador jobs (Ambassador to Jamaica)Or giving GOVT contracts, grants, and bailouts to companies owned by party friends/donorsSpoils system is gone because of Civil Service Reform in later 19th/Early 20th CenturyChanged federal (AND LATER STATE & LOCAL) GOVT Bureaucratic appointments to a merit-based systemWhere people are mostly hired for their intelligence and skillBureaucracies’ are often part of the executive branchSo directly or indirectly under the presidentEX: The cabinet departments (agriculture, housing and urban development, defense)BUT NOT ALWAYSIndependent regulatory commissions are NOT under direct or indirect control of the PresidentRun by officials from both parties and appointed in staggered terms over more than one president termEX: Federal Reserve Board of Governors- What do these bureaucracies do?Carry out laws passed by congress and with direction of PresidentLaws they carry out may be general or high specificPolitical actors with preferences like other peopleBUT act within (usually) very constraining……EXAMPLES OF BUREAUCRACY:Department of Transportation (under president)Enviornmental Protection Agency (not under another department, but under president)Department of Justice (Under President)The constitution and BureaucracyArticle 1, Section 9 implicitly authorizes congress to create departmentsArticle 2, Also recognized importance of executiveBureaucracies get re-organized and created or destroyed over timeEX: Creation of Department of Homeland Security in 2002Though its generally politically harder to cut bureaucracy than add morePresidents Cabinet is formed of heads of Departments plus some agencies outside of departments (EPA, OTHERS)As of 2010, the executive branch employed over 25.5 million americansBureaucracies are generally unpopular with the publicThough some at least, are necessary to carry out lawsBureaucracy is unpopular in part b/c it’sSLOWNOT VERY EFFICIENT& CAN INHIBIT INNOVATIONIN TEXTBOOK:HOW COULD BUREAUCRACY BE IMPROVED??1) DecentralizationBasically devolution (giving power back to states) with bureaucracy2) PrivatizationOffer contracts to perform duties of agencies to low-bidding private companies3) Allowing GOVT Greater flexibility in hiring, firing, compensation, and monitoring of bureaucrats- How do congress (& SOMETIMES THE PRES) monitor the Bureaucracy?2 Basic kinds of congressional oversight:1) Police Patrol: Regularly but randomly select agencies to investigateyou cant monitor all of them, so sample randomly and regularly to give bureaucrats incentives to do what theyre supposed to be doinglike what the police might do in a high crime area2) Fire Alarm: MC’s stand ready to act, but wait for people outside congress to tell them when Bureaucrats are not doing their jobsALL OF THESE HAVE INCENTIVES TO WATCH OVER BUREAUCRATSConstituents of MEMBERS OF CONGRESSClients of BureaucraciesInterest GroupsWhen bureaucrats really screw up they’ll “sound the fire alarm” and let congress knowMC’s Prefer FIRE ALARMS:BC police patrol monitoring is costly in time and moneyAlso, the probability of any givenInterest groupsThese are organizations outside of govt that attempt to influence govt behavior, decision making, and policiesOften have strong preferences on a very specific set of issues (from 1 to many)They give contributions, lobby, and rally their members on behalf of their issue positionsEX: the national rifle association-Interest groups care about bureaucracies bc of:IRON TRIANGLE:The shared relationship of power over a policy issues b/tInterest groupsMC’s and their staff concerned with a particular issue& the Bureaucrats responsible for implementing policies associated with that issueshow do those 3 groups relate to each other in the iron trianglethe mcs create legislation and sponsor or block billsinterest groups lobby mcs, give money donations to them, and rally their members for or against the bills created by mcs5 important functions of interest groups:1. Represent their members/constituents in govt2. Encourage political participation of members3. Educate MCS (through lobbying, testifying before congress) & the public (through PR campaigns)4. Build issue agendas by promoting less-known policy issues as important5. Serve as fire-alarm govt watchdogsPOLS206: 7.25 LECTURE 12Bureaucracy:-An organization with a hierarchical structure that functions according to specific rules & procedures that usually possesses lots of administrative staf-Due to rules, tend to be slower to take action than other kinds of organizations-Present in govt universities, large businesses and other organizationsoBut particular present in and associated with govtoIn govt bureaucracies are generally unelectedWHAT IS BUREAUCRACY AND WHAT DOES IT DO? : -In govt,