POLS 1101 1st edition Lecture 25 Outline of Previous Lecture I Took quiz II Discussed test and went over questions Outline of Current Lecture Current Lecture I II III Bureaucracy in Action Bureaucracies administer policies created by laws made by Congress and signed by the president Potential for agency loss is delegated by Congress to the executive branch Civil servants are hired for their skills o They must go through a screening and selection process Bureaucrats are not like stereotypes They more mirror the population than Congress Culture and Autonomy o Long serving civil servants absorb agency culture o They become expert and are hard to monitor because they know more about their policy area and technical issues than Congress The Civil Servants become Politicians Bureaucrats as Politicians They are politicians because of necessity Their most important political relationship is with Congress o Must convince them they are faithful and loyal agents o Need appreciative constituency as well o Can develop close relationships with Congress and staf Some of the civil servants turn corrupt or are incompetent Controlling the Bureaucracy Congress and the President each have their own way of influencing agency behavior o Carrots and sticks o Budgets Congressional Control o Creates and empowers agencies with ordinary legislation and they can also take that power away o Provides funding annual budgets These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute IV Agencies know this and are very responsive to Congress Members of Congress and their staf Presidential Control o The President is at the top but has trouble controlling things directly o Most Presidents try and stay on good standing with bureaucracies o But when it comes down to it sometimes a president will use carrots and sticks Barriers to Control Iron Triangles o Alliance of bureaucrats members of congress organized interest groups o Narrowly focused sub governments controlling policy in their domainout of sight of full congress media public This is a danger of agencies getting captured by the industries they are regulating and acting against Congressional mandate and public interest
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