Bureaucracy

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Bureaucracy

Complex structure of offices, tasks, rules and principles of organization.

Rely on division of labor

Hierarchical

Preferences in bureaucratic arrangements

Congress Prefers decentralized,

insulated bureaucracy

Preference guided by INSTITUTIONAL constraint of re-election pressure

Because social fear of state, Congress goes along with their preferenc.

Presidency Prefers centralized, unified,

coordinated bureaucracy that they control from the top.

Preference guided by the blame they receive.

“Presidents are held responsible by the public for virtually every aspect of national performance…”

Administration/ Implementation Service Provision Regulation/ Rule-making Licensing Information gathering Policymaking

Adjudication Discretionary Implementation Advisory Role

Bureaucracies are able to make regulations because…

1. The president has ceded power to make executive orders.

2. Congress has delegated the power to agencies.3. No case has yet asked the Supreme Court to

exercise judicial review to this unconstitutional activity

4. Article III of the Constitution gives them this power.

Bureaucracies are able to make regulations because…

Congress has delegated the power to agencies.

Sources of Bureaucratic Power (Rourke)

Internal Sources– Expertise of staff – Leadership– Organizational Esprit– Cohesion

External Sources– Public opinion of

agency– Support of clientele– Public opinion of

clientele

The Cabinet

Symbolic Importance

Representing Clienteles (labor, transportation, farmers)

Representing constituencies through appointments

“Marrying the natives” or “Locked in the Cabinet”

Department of Homeland Security

Created in response to 9-11 terrorist attack.

Decisions questioned in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.– Assessment of DHS coordination– Interview with former FEMA Chief Michael Brown

Non-Cabinet Agencies

Independent Agencies– NASA, EPA, NSA

Government Corporations– Post Office, Amtrak

Independent Regulatory Commissions– FCC, Federal Reserve Board

Federal Reserve System

Responsibilities– Facilitates exchanges of cash,

checks, and credit

– Regulates member banks

– Uses monetary policy to fight inflation and deflation

Need for political insulation

What we want from Bureaucracy

Accountability (for actions) Flexible Fair Expert Effective Efficient Inexpensive

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS LIST?

Principle Agent Relationships

Principles: Individual with the authority to make a decision.

Agent: Someone who makes and implements decisions on behalf of someone else.

Agency Loss: The difference between what principles want, and what agents do.

Principle Agent Problem – Bureaucratic Drift: bureaucratic implementation of a

policy more to the liking of the bureaucracy than original legislative intent

– Shirking and Sabotage

Collective Action Problem– Coalitional Drift: prospect that enacted policy will

change because the composition of the enacting coalition is temporary and provisional.

Can Principles Control Their Agents?

President

Congress– Oversight– Appropriations

Courts

Congressional Oversight

Police Patrolsvs.

Fire Alarms

Which type is strategic for Congress?

Will bureaucrats shirk or sabotage?

Constraints– Conflicting organizational goals– Civil service laws

Influences– Individual bureaucrat’s preferences– Peers and organizational culture– Contact with clientele

Trump, continued

I discovered that the city’s incompetence had extended to every imaginable detail, large and small. One week after I’d made my deal to take over rebuilding the rink, a city report was released on mistakes made over the past six years. The report provided an astounding chronology of sloppiness, indecision, incompetence, and stupidity, but it came to absolutely no conclusions about who was responsible for the fiasco and what could be done to avoid such failures in the future. If it weren’t so pathetic, it would have been almost comical.

The Art of the Deal, 1987

Trump’s success and the government’s “failure”

Economic goals are not the government’s only goals.

Social Goals

Is the bureaucracy doing a good job?