Chapter 9 The Executive Branch and the Federal Bureaucracy

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Chapter 9The Executive Branch and the Federal
Bureaucracy
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To Accompany Comprehensive, Alternate, and Texas
Editions American Government Roots and Reform,
10th edition Karen OConnor and Larry J. Sabato ?
Pearson Education, 2009
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The Roots of Bureaucracy

• Foreign Affairs, War, Treasury first
  departments.
• Growth in early 1800s with Post Office.
• Patronage and the spoils system become common.
• Civil War spawns another expansion.
• Pendleton Act is beginning of civil service
  system.
• Also known as merit system.
• Creation of independent regulatory commissions.

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Twentieth-Century Bureaucracy

• Growing number of cabinet departments.
• Need for a larger government to support wars.
• New Deal and Great Society.

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Modern Bureaucracy

• More than 2.7 million employees.
• Most are selected based on merit.
• Also have high-level appointees.
• Wide variety of skills represented.
• Less diverse than America.
• Scattered throughout D.C. and regional offices.
• Growth of outside contractors.

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Formal Organization

• Cabinet departments handle broad, lasting
  issues.
• Headed by secretaries.
• Government corporations act like businesses.
• Independent executive agencies handle services.
• Narrower than Cabinet department, independent.
• Independent regulatory commissions watch
  industry.
• Designed to be free from partisan pressure.

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Government Workers and Politics

• Hatch Act sets first boundaries.
• Federal Employees Political Act is current
  standard.

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Characteristics of Bureaucracy

• Chain of command from top to bottom.
• Division of labor.
• Clear lines of authority.
• Goal orientation.
• Merit system.
• Productivity.

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How the Bureaucracy Works

• Congress creates agencies.
• Main job is implementation of laws.
• Policy made in iron triangles or issue networks.
• Increasing use of interagency councils.

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Making Policy

• Administrative discretion allows a lot of
  latitude.
• Rule-making is a quasi-legislative process.
• Formal procedure for making regulations.
• Administrative adjudication is quasi-judicial
  process.
• Used to settle disputes between two parties.

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Agency Accountability

• Unclear who agencies should be accountable to.
• Presidents try to make the right appointments.
• Can also shape policy through executive orders.
• Congress can use oversight powers and funding.
• Police patrol v. fire alarm oversight.
• Judiciary can review regulations.

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AV- Growth of Government
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Figure 9.1- Civilian Employment
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Figure 9.2- Employee Characteristics
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Figure 9.3- Agency Regions
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Figure 9.4- The Executive Branch
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Figure 9.5- An Iron Triangle
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Figure 9.6- Rulemaking
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Table 9.1- FEPA
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Table 9.2- Agency Accountability
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