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Thinking About Centralization , Politicization, and Bureaucratic Control

Thinking About Centralization , Politicization, and Bureaucratic Control. Andrew Rudalevige Dept. of Political Science Dickinson College. Presidential Power -lessness. Neustadt (1990) “Presidential weakness was the underlying theme [in 1960]…. W eakness is still what I see .” Moe (1985)

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Thinking About Centralization , Politicization, and Bureaucratic Control

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  1. Thinking About Centralization, Politicization, and Bureaucratic Control Andrew Rudalevige Dept. of Political Science Dickinson College

  2. Presidential Power-lessness • Neustadt (1990) • “Presidential weakness was the underlying theme [in 1960]…. Weakness is still what I see.” • Moe (1985) • So… what can presidents do to help themselves? • Politicization • Centralization

  3. Defining Terms • Centralization • Shift of function from staff units further from the president (in departments) to those closer (in the EOP) • “centralized” are those whose only constituent is the president himself • Normally, organizationally proximate to the president

  4. Defining Terms • Politicization • putting the appointment power to “systematic use” in “infiltrating the bureaucracy as a means of promoting political responsiveness” (Moe)

  5. Politicization:Real Loyalty, Texas-style • “I want real loyalty. I want someone who will kiss my ass in Macy’s window and stand up and say, ‘Boy, wasn’t that sweet!’” • Caro 2002, 129

  6. Does President Want to Act? No: No Centralization or Politicization Yes Administrative Action Statutory Action White House Dept/Agency White House Dept/Agency Congress Interest Groups Congress Interest Groups Contextualizing Presidential Choice

  7. Centralization and Politicization: So Happy Together? • Moe’s implied logic: do everything at once, until “congruence” with presidential incentives and resources is reached. • Presidents “readily embrace politicization and centralization because they have no attractive alternatives.”

  8. Instead: Exchanging Complements? • There are costs associated with each: given fixed managerial budget, president can only afford so much of each • Centralization • The Ollie North effect (monitoring); • Political costs (especially decline of success in Congress); • Loss of EOP administrative efficiency (Krause 2004) • Politicization • Difficulty of finding appropriate appointees • Competence costs • Political costs

  9. So - if centralization and politicization are substitutes - are there conditions under which presidents will choose one strategy over the other? • And, if they occur in different policy areas, but simultaneously, could they be substitutes but look like complements? • And, could they occur sequentially? • cf. Bush II Department of Education

  10. Ramifications • Need to think about relationship and tradeoffs between policymaking choices: what does an appointment “buy” you? • The notion of “bureaucratic control” itself: brings our focus to earlier stage of bureaucratic involvement in policy

  11. Other things to think about • Is politicization necessarily prior, and exogenous, to centralization? • Use of simultaneous equation models • Control for policy areas or types of agencies?

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