Lecture Notes

I.       The Federal Bureaucracy

A.     What is the Bureaucracy?

1. The bureaucracy is any large, complex administrative structure; a hierarchical organization with job specialization and complex rules. By definition, it is not privately owned. All bureaucracies are based on the principles of hierarchy, job specialization, and formal rules.

2. A bureaucracy is a way of organizing people to do work. Bureau=desk; -cracy=type of governmental structure (French)

3. A bureaucrat is a person with defined responsibilities in a bureaucracy.

4. The main purpose of the federal bureaucracy is to carry out the policy decisions of the President and Congress.

5. General Motors, the Fremont Union Hight School District, the Catholic Church, and the Department of Justice are all examples of bureaucracies.

B.      Major Elements of the Federal Bureaucracy

1. Nearly all of the bureaucracy of the Federal Government resides in the executive branch of government.

2. The bureaucracy is made up of three major groups of administrative agencies: the Executive Office of the President; the 14 cabinet departments; and the independent agencies.

3. The administration consists of the officials and agencies of the executive branch that carry out public policies.

These administrators effect public policy in the following ways:

a. through delaying the implementation of policy dictated either by the legislative or executive branches;
b. by writing rules and regulations;
c. by enforcing such rules, regulations and laws; and
d. adjudicating conflicting interests

C.      The Name Game

1. The term "department" is reserved for agencies of cabinet rank

2. The terms "administration" or "agency" are used to refer to any governmental body or, more particularly, to a major unit headed by a single administrator of near-cabinet rank. The terms agency and administration are used interchangeably.

3. The term "commission" is reserved for agencies charged with the regulation of business activities. Commissions are headed by varying numbers of top-ranking officers, or commissioners.

4. The terms "corporation" and "authority" are used for agencies that have a board and a manager and that is designed to conduct business-like activities.

D. Civil Servants

1. There are approximately three million bureaucrats (17 million if state and local public employees are included).

2. Until about 100 years ago, a person got a job with the government through the spoils system (a hiring and promotion system based on knowing the right people). Patronage: the practice of giving government jobs to the President's friends and political supporters.

3. Patronage, also known as the spoils system, was created by Andrew Jackson.

4. The Pendleton Act of 1883 created a system in which federal employees were chosen on the basis of competitive examinations, thus making merit, not patronage, the reason for hiring people to fill federal positions.

5. President Jimmy Carter improved the system when he urged Congress to pass the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978. His reforms included the creation of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which now tests and hires most federal workers

6. The Hatch Act created a non-partisan civil service (protecting government workers from the risk of being fired when a new party comes to power).

b. The Hatch Act (1939, amended 1993) prohibits civil servants from active participation in partisan politics. Under the terms of the Hatch Act, civil servants are permitted to:

1) Vote in primary elections

2) Contribute money to a political party

3) Attend a political rally, and

4) Place a bumper sticker on their personal property

5) **** PRIOR to the 1993 amendments, civil servants were prohibited from coordinating a campaign for a neighbor running for political office.

7. Salaries are likewise proposed by the Civil Service System, subject to congressional appropriations. In general, at lower and middle levels, the federal pay scale is comparable to that found in the private sector, but at higher levels, it is significantly lower.

II. Executive Departments and the Independent Agencies

A.      The Cabinet

1. The head of each department is known as the secretary, except for the Justice Department which is headed by the attorney general.

2. Department secretaries are appointed by the President with the approval of the Senate. **** Cabinet members can be fired by the President.

3. Together, the department secretaries serve as the President's cabinet. There are 14 cabinet departments.

B.     What are Independent Agencies?

1. Independent agencies are created by Congress and which operates outside the 14 executive departments in the cabinet.

2. There are three types of independent agencies: independent executive agencies, independent regulatory commissions, and government corporations. (The Office of Personnel Management, the Peace Corps and the Civil Rights Commission are examples of independent executive agencies which are "supposed" to be free from political influence). 

C.  The Independent Regulatory Commissions (Agencies)

1. These commissions are created to regulate important aspects of the nation's economy. They operate outside presidential control and their rules have the force of law.

a. The members of the commissions are appointed by the President and are approved by the Senate for long, staggered terms. **** Heads of the independent regulatory commissions CANNOT be removed by the President for political purposes.

D.      Government Corporation

1. Government corporations provide a service that can be readily handled by the private sector. These corporations are within the executive branch, and they are under the control of the President.

2. Their top officers are appointed by the President with Senate confirmation; all of their employees are public officials. The Postal Service and the Tennessee Valley Authority are examples of government corporations.

III. Understanding Bureaucracies

A. Presidents and Congress have difficulty in controlling bureaucracies due to the existence of "iron triangles."

1. When agencies, groups, and committees all depend on one another and are in close, frequent, "cozy" contact, they form "iron triangles" or sub-governments.

2. Iron triangles are composed of bureaucratic agencies, interest groups, and congressional committees. The iron triangle is characterized by mutual dependency, in which each element provides key services, information, or policy for the others.

 

With thanks to Cathedral High School, El Paso, TX