Chapter 13

1. Chapter 13 THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH

2. The Federal Bureaucracy Under Siege • The opening vignette in Chapter 13 describes the terrorist bombing of the Federal Center in Oklahoma City (April 1995) in the context of a wave of anti-federal government emotions. • Anti-federal-government anger has a long history in the United States. • Some scholars believe that one result of the anti-federal-government mood is that the executive branch is becoming increasingly damaged in its ability to carry out its duties.

3. A Comparative View of the American Bureaucracy • The American bureaucracy is different from bureaucracies in other democratic nations. • Structural influences such as the American political culture and the constitutional rules of the game have a great deal to do with these differences. • Hostile political culture — Americans do not trust government and they do not think it can accomplish most tasks that are assigned to it. • Civil Servants have so little prestige and many of the most talented tend to stay away.

4. Incoherent organization — the American bureaucracy has few clear lines of control, responsibility, and accountability • Divided control — bureaucratic agencies have two bosses, the president and Congress, who are constantly battling for control • Accessibility — individuals and groups can get a hearing and a response from bureaucrats without necessarily starting at the top

5. Transformation of the Executive Branch: The Structural Context • Executive departments and officers are referred to only indirectly in the Constitution. • Administrative history — expansion in the size and responsibilities of the executive branch • Political linkage sector pressures on government decision makers • Changes in structural factors • Nineteenth-century changes • The corporation and the progressives • The Great Depression • World War II and its aftermath • The regulatory state • Devolution and rollback

6. Bureaucracy • Bureaucracy has always been an unsavory word to the American public — it implies red tape, inefficiency, and nonresponsiveness. • To social scientists, bureaucracy and bureaucrat are neutral terms that describe a type of social organization and the people who work in it.

7. The ideal bureaucracy: a model • Large organizations in which people with specialized knowledge are organized into a clearly defined hierarchy of bureaus or offices • A clear chain of command in which each person has only one boss or supervisor and a set of formal rules to guide behavior • Appointment and advancement based on merit rather than on inheritance, power, or election

8. Advantages of bureaucracies • Ability to organize large tasks • Concentration of specialized talent

9. How the Executive Branch Is Organized • The executive branch is made up several different kinds of administrative units. • Departments are headed by cabinet-level secretaries appointed by the president and approved by the Senate. • Bureaus and agencies are subdivisions within cabinet departments. • Independent executive agencies are federal agencies that are not included in any of the departments and are not corporations or regulatory commissions.

10. Government corporations are agencies that operate in a market setting and are organized much like a business enterprise. • Quasi-governmental organizations are hybrids of public and private organizations • Independent regulatory commissions are responsible for regulating aspects of the economy where it is judged that the free market does not work properly to protect the public interest. • Foundations are units that are separated from the rest of government to protect them from political interference with science and the arts.

11. What Do Bureaucrats Do? • Executing the law • Regulating (rule making) • Adjudicating

12. Who Are The Bureaucrats? • Personnel systems in the executive branch • Career civil service • Separate merit services in specific agencies • Political appointees

13. Staffing the Executive Branch • The executive branch was staffed through a spoils system from the election of Andrew Jackson (1828) until the late nineteenth century. • Corruption and favoritism during the years after the Civil War gave emphasis to the reform effort. • The final catalyst for change was the assassination of President James Garfield, who was shot by a disappointed office-seeker.

14. Civil Service Act of 1883 (Pendleton Act) • Created a bipartisan Civil Service Commission to oversee a system of appointments to certain executive branch posts on the basis of merit • Competitive exams were to be used to determine merit. • Congress abolished the Civil Service Commission in 1978 and replaced it with two separate agencies. • Office of Personnel Management (OPM) • Merit Systems Protection Board

15. Overview • The career civil service covers about 60 percent of all federal employees at the present time. • Declining status of the civil service • The recent increase in anti-federal-government feelings has made the lives of civil servants even less enviable than before. • Characteristics of civil servants

16. Common Criticisms of the Federal Bureaucracy • The authors of The Struggle for Democracy look at common criticisms of the bureaucracy and offer evaluations of these criticisms. • “The federal bureaucracy is always expanding.” • “The federal bureaucracy is ineffective.” • “The federal bureaucracy is wasteful and inefficient.” • “The bureaucracy is mired in red tape.”

17. Reforming the Federal Bureaucracy • A number of suggestions have been made to fix what is wrong with the bureaucracy. • Scaling back the size of the bureaucracy: cutting the fat • “Reinventing government” • Protecting against bureaucratic abuses of power • Increasing popular participation • Enhancing democracy: for the people to rule, popular sovereignty, political equality, and political liberty must flourish.