Chapter 9

 

The Executive Branch

and the Federal Bureaucracy

 

 

The Federal Bureaucracy

= Civil Service

= bureaucrats

 

According to

Sociologist Max Weber:

 

Hierarchical authority structure

Power flows from the top down and responsibility flows from the bottom up       

 

Task specialization

Experts instead of amateurs perform technical jobs                                             

 

Develop extensive rules

Allows cases to be handled similarly instead of capriciously

 

Merit Principle

Entrance and promotion are based on demonstrated ability to eliminate nepotism

 

Impersonality

An attempt to be impartial

 

 

The Executive Branch’s

federal bureaucracy is huge -----> 4 million People

 

Presidential Appointments

“Plum Book”

 

 

Bureaucracies tend to mushroom once established

Parkinson's Law - "Work expands so as to fill the available time for its completion"

 

 

Hannah Arendt - "rule by no one"

a system where very few or no one can held accountable

 

 

 

School Board Politics

 

The People - Voters

 

President

Members

Superintendent

Asst Superintendents

Principals

Asst Principals

 

Teachers         -  Union

Aids             -   Union

Custodians       -  Union

Cafeteria        -  Union

 

 

 

Problem faced

by the US Government (elections)

 

Can government be decreased or streamlined effectively/fairly?

 

Many US Government Agencies deal directly with problems

 

 

Department of Agriculture

sensitive to farmers

 

subsidies

purchases----> effect the price                          of grain

 

 

senators and congressmen from the "Heartland" States are sensitive to the needs of their constituencies

(farmers and harvest companies)

 

 

they sponsor legislation beneficial to their states

 

they are supported by special interest groups

(farmers, harvest co.) 

 

 

Morris P. Fiorina

*Congress is the alpha and omega

(they will denounce and approve)

-full circle-

 

the creation of the bureaucratic

"Iron Triangle"

 

                     a subgovernment

 

A powerful alliance of mutual benefit among an agency or unit of government, an interest group and or a subcommittee of Congress

 

 

*   Interest groups

(farmers, harvest co. lobbyists)

 

*   Congress

Senate and the House Agricultural     Committees

    Sub Committees

 

*   Bureaucracy

(Department of Agriculture)

         Grain Division, etc…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Military Complex and

the Iron Triangle

 

*   Department    (Bureaucratic)

  of Defense              Agency

 

 

*   Military         (Interest Group)

Contractors           Lobbyist

 

 

*   Congress (Committees, Staff)

                          Subcommittees

 

 

*The New Deal -

defined bureaucracy

 

 

*The Great Society

illuminated them

 

 

 

Today    an Independent Prosecutor

             and his staff

The Budget

OMB - an Executive Branch Office

created in 1970

designed to shift to the President tighter control over management of the bureaucracy

 

Federal Government fiscal year

 

*starts October 1 and ends                                                September 30

 

Congressional Budget Office

House Budget Committee

Senate Budget Committee

***

 

Issue Networks

The loose and informal relationship across the broad range of agencies

 

Hugh Heclo

Argues they have overlapped. 

 

Eg.

Kid’s issues are linked to both education and welfare

 

 

 

 

Iron Triangles have become rusty

1)problems are complex

2)issues cut across policy areas

3)special interest located in DC

 

 

Administration Adjudication

When they over-lap,

A bureaucratic agency will settle the dispute

*mediation or arbitration*

 

 

Clientele agencies

Executive departments directed by law to foster and promote interests of a specific segment or group.

 

Cabinet Department of Education, Agriculture, Energy….   also

Within Department of Labor

Women’s Bureau (created 1920)

 

Government Corporations

From New Deal…..TVA, FDIC

Also….US Postal Service

             Amtrak

 

 

Charles Schultze

(Carter’s Economic Adviser)

 

on the Command and Control Policy of federal bureaucracy

Existing system of regulation whereby government tells business how to reach certain goals, checks that these commands are followed, and punishes offenders.

 

Schultze favors the

incentive system

 

Independent Executive Agencies

 

*   FBI, CIA, NASA,

 

 

FBI -        J. Edgar Hoover and civil rights violations

 

CIA - assassinations

Iran -  Contra ?

 

 

NASA - John Glenn?

Space Shuttle Program

 

 

 

 

 

The Regulatory Commissions

 

*   The Federal Reserve Board

                 (1913)

 

*   The Federal Trade Commission

(1914)

 

*   Federal Communications             Commission (1934)

 

*   The Security and Exchange Commission (1934)

 

*   NLRB (National Labor Relations Board)

 

*   The Federal Energy Regulatory

(1978)

 

                 **

 

 

Social Regulation

Grew during the 1970s and 1980s

*Environmental Protection Agency

EPA

 

*Occupational Safety and Health    Administration            OSHA

 

*Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

 

Since 1995, lower budgets

 

 

 

*   Deregulation

 

Airline Industry - big carriers                 were awarded routes

 

competition - smaller companies

competed with lower rates

 

Interstate Commerce Commission

went out of business in 1995

 

                           

 

 

                           **

 

 

 

 

Interagency Councils

 

Purpose is to coordinate policy making across a host of govt agencies

 

The Office of Homeland Security

                         Became

 

Department of Homeland Security

         Secret Service/Customs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Civil Service

 

Historically

 

Thomas Jefferson  - dismissed hundreds of Federalists in favor of members of his own party

 

Andrew Jackson

- the "spoils system"