Executive Bureaucracy Chapter 15

A.Introduction 1.What is the Bureaucracy? a.Definition: any large, complex administrative structure; a hierarchical organization with job specialization and complex rules. 2.Major Elements of the Federal Bureaucracy a.Constitution gives almost NO guidance b.Three major groups: Executive Office of the President 15 cabinet departments Independent agencies. c.Carry out public policies. Can delay the implementation of policy Can write rules and regulations Can enforce such rules, regulations and laws

3.Terms a."department" agencies of cabinet rank b."Agency" unit headed by a single administrator of near cabinet rank. c."Commission” agencies charged with the regulation of business activities. Headed by top-ranking officers, or commissioners. d."Corporation" agencies that have a board and a manager and that conduct business-like activities. e.Terms are not used consistently, little uniformity, lines are blurred.

4.Staff and Line a.Staff agencies: support capacity b.Line agencies: perform tasks 5.Civil Servants (GS workers) a.Three million bureaucrats (17 million if state and local public employees are included). b.Spoils system (a hiring and promotion system based on knowing the right people) used to dominate. c.Patronage: the practice of giving government jobs to the President's friends and political supporters. d.Civil service system (assassination of President Garfield in 1881). e.The Pendleton Act of 1883: Competitive examinations, merit f.Civil Service Reform Act of 1978: improved the system g.The Hatch Act: Non-partisan civil service protected from being fired when a new party comes to power.

B.The Executive Departments and the Independent Agencies 1.The Cabinet a.The head of each department is known as the secretary (except Justice Department, attorney general). b.Department secretaries are appointed by the President with the approval of the Senate. 2.Independent Agencies a.Agencies created by Congress which operate outside the 15 executive departments. protect officials from political pressures. more responsive to interest group pressures.. 3.Executive offices of the President (EOP): Advisory

C.Understanding Bureaucracies 1.Difficult to control bureaucracies due to the existence of "iron triangles." a.Agencies, groups, and committees all depend on one another. b.Iron triangles are characterized by mutual dependency, in which each element provides key services, information, or policy for the others.