1. The 4th Branch
APGOPO
ChAPTER 15

2. When have you had interactions with the government
When have you had interactions with the government? What was your experience like? How often is your life affected directly or indirectly by government services?

3. BUREAUCRACY
The U.S. government provides a wide range of services that we take for granted
The bureaucracy involves thousands of government agencies and institutions that implement and administer laws and programs established by Congress and the executive branch

4. Definition of Bureaucracy (youthleadership.net)
A professional corps of unelected officials organized in a pyramid hierarchy, functioning under impersonal uniform rules and procedures

5. Sociologist Max Weber:
Bureaucracy is rational for organizing the business of a large society
Hierarchical authority structure
Task specialization
Extensive rules
Merit principle
Impersonality

6. Functions of the Federal Bureaucracy
Implementation – carry out laws of Congress; executive orders of POTUS
Administration – routine; provide services
Regulation – issues rules and regulations that impact the public

7. The Bureaucrats
Americans dislike bureaucracy, but like individual bureaucrats
Federal employment – about 4 million
State and local employment – many more
Most bureaucrats do not work in D.C.
Bureaucracies can be ineffective and dehumanizing
Federal government employment lowest since 1966

8. Conservative viewpoint
unnecessary meddling in our lives
too much power
too large
too unaccountable

9. Liberal viewpoint too slow
too unimaginative to solve America’s problems
too zealous a guardian of the status quo

10. Ron Swanson v.
Leslie Knope

11. Ron Swanson from Parks and Rec

12. Influences on the Bureaucracy
How can the President influence the bureaucracy?
How can Congress influence the bureaucracy?

13. Patronage v. Civil service
Patronage: hiring for political reasons; favors
Civil Service: system of hiring and promoting based on the merit principle
Based on exams, talent, skill, promotion ratings
Desire to create nonpartisan government service

14. What did the Pendleton Civil Service Act & the Hatch Act accomplish?

15. Pendleton Civil Service Act
1883
Created civil service so that hiring and promotion would be based on merit
How did this come about?

16. Hatch Act
Federal law prohibiting government employees from active participation in partisan politics [while on duty]
What else are they prohibited from?
Running for elective office
Soliciting contributions from the public

17. Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
What is their major function?
What is a GS rating?
Senior executive service?
Plum book?

18. Regulation
Use of governmental authority to control or change some practice in the private sector
Regulations pervade the daily lives of people and institutions
What are some consequences of regulation?

20. Deregulation
The lifting of restrictions on business, industry, and professional activities for which government rules had been established and that bureaucracies had been created to administer

21. Red Tape
Complex rules and procedures that must be followed to get something done
“Red tape” results from a need to satisfy legal/political requirements and to ensure that rules are obeyed and proper forms are filled out
Citizens find this frustrating!

22. Waste Spending more than is necessary to buy some product or service
Huge criticism people have of bureaucracy
Businesses must eliminate waste to maximize profits
In government agencies, only weak incentives for keeping costs down
No reward for saving the agency money

24. Iron triangles or issue networks?
Who are the three key decision makers in an iron triangle?
Interest group
Bureaucratic agency
Congressional committee or subcommittee
Issue network: not as strong or as permanent as a subgovernment and not as concerned about material interests

25. Who should control the bureaucracy?
Should the bureaucracy be free from political pressures or should partisan politics influence the bureaucracy?
Should they respond to the wishes of our elected officials?
Are the bureaucracies politically neutral?

26. Four General Types of Agencies
Cabinet Departments
Independent Regulatory Agencies
Independent Executive Agencies
Government Corporations

27. Cabinet Departments
15 departments headed by secretaries (except DOJ is headed by the Attorney General)
Major administrative units that have responsibility for conducting a broad area of government operations
Cabinet departments account for about 60% of the federal workforce

28. Independent regulatory agencies
Agencies created by Congress to exist outside of the major departments to regulate a specific economic activity or interest
All are headed by boards with 5 to 7 members
Boards are appointed by the president with Senate approval
Terms are staggered for bipartisan panels
They cannot be easily removed by the president
Supreme Court has affirmed their independent status
Federal Reserve Board – regulates supply of money and interest rates
Federal Communications Commission – licenses radio and tv stations, cable and the internet

29. Independent executive agency
Government not accounted for by the cabinet departments
Perform a service or administrative function (as opposed to a regulatory function)
Tied to the President – serve as do the cabinet secretaries
Examples:
NASA
National Science Foundation

30. Government Corporations
Corporations are formed when the government chooses to engage in activities that are
primarily commercial in nature
produce revenue
require greater flexibility
Examples: U.S. Postal Service, Amtrak, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
They charge for their services