POLS206 7 25 LECTURE 12 Bureaucracy 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 organizations o But particular present in and associated with govt o In govt bureaucracies are generally unelected WHAT IS BUREAUCRACY AND WHAT DOES IT DO In govt Bureaucracies are often restraint to change o Which has both advantages less policy uncertainty and Disadvantages hard to get rid of bad policies and employees Bureaucracies are generally unelected o President often appoints top positions in bureaucracies so partisanship matters here o 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 jobs o Except top level positions appointed by presidents o Partisanship is a major consideration for those NEED THESE NOTES IN BETWEEN THE SPOILS SYSTEM A patronage system of appointing bureaucracies in which political parties reward their supporters by giving them govt jobs o Comes 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 hired The spoils system often happened at a local level too especially in big city party machines BAD ASPECTS OF SPOILS SYSTEM o Unqualified people too much turnover non ideology focused GOVT Spoils system is gone today o Only very limited kinds of spoils still available o Like easy fun Ambassador jobs Ambassador to Jamaica o Or giving GOVT contracts grants and bailouts to companies owned by party friends donors Spoils system is gone because of Civil Service Reform in later 19th Early 20th Century Changed federal AND LATER STATE LOCAL GOVT Bureaucratic appointments to a merit based system o Where people are mostly hired for their intelligence and skill Bureaucracies are often part of the executive branch o So directly or indirectly under the president o EX The cabinet departments agriculture housing and urban development defense BUT NOT ALWAYS Independent regulatory commissions are NOT under direct or indirect control of the President o Run by officials from both parties and appointed in staggered terms over more than one president term o EX Federal Reserve Board of Governors What do these bureaucracies do Carry out laws passed by congress and with direction of President o Laws they carry out may be general or high specific Political actors with preferences like other people BUT act within usually very constraining EXAMPLES OF BUREAUCRACY o Department of Transportation under president o Enviornmental Protection Agency not under another department but under president o Department of Justice Under President The constitution and Bureaucracy o Article 1 Section 9 implicitly authorizes congress to create departments o Article 2 Also recognized importance of executive Bureaucracies get re organized and created or destroyed over time o EX Creation of Department of Homeland Security in 2002 Though its generally politically harder to cut bureaucracy than add more Presidents 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 americans Bureaucracies are generally unpopular with the public o Though some at least are necessary to carry out laws Bureaucracy is unpopular in part b c it s o SLOW o NOT VERY EFFICIENT o CAN INHIBIT INNOVATION IN TEXTBOOK HOW COULD BUREAUCRACY BE IMPROVED o 1 Decentralization Basically devolution giving power back to states with bureaucracy o 2 Privatization Ofer contracts to perform duties of agencies to lowbidding private companies o 3 Allowing GOVT Greater flexibility in hiring firing compensation and monitoring of bureaucrats How do congress SOMETIMES THE PRES monitor the Bureaucracy o 2 Basic kinds of congressional oversight 1 Police Patrol Regularly but randomly select agencies to investigate you cant monitor all of them so sample randomly and regularly to give bureaucrats incentives to do what theyre supposed to be doing like what the police might do in a high crime area 2 Fire Alarm MC s stand ready to act but wait for people outside congress to tell them when Bureaucrats are not doing their jobs ALL OF THESE HAVE INCENTIVES TO WATCH OVER BUREAUCRATS Constituents of MEMBERS OF CONGRESS Clients of Bureaucracies Interest Groups When bureaucrats really screw up they ll sound the fire alarm and let congress know MC s Prefer FIRE ALARMS o BC police patrol monitoring is costly in time and money o Also the probability of any given Interest groups These are organizations outside of govt that attempt to influence govt behavior decision making and policies Often 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 positions EX the national rifle association Interest groups care about bureaucracies bc of IRON TRIANGLE o The shared relationship of power over a policy issues b t Interest groups MC s and their staf concerned with a particular issue the Bureaucrats responsible for implementing policies associated with that issues how do those 3 groups relate to each other in the iron triangle the mcs create legislation and sponsor or block bills interest groups lobby mcs give money donations to them and rally their members for or against the bills created by mcs 5 important functions of interest groups 1 Represent their members constituents in govt 2 Encourage political participation of members 3 Educate MCS through lobbying testifying before congress the public through PR campaigns 4 Build issue agendas by promoting less known policy issues as important 5 Serve as fire alarm govt watchdogs 07 25 2013 07 25 2013