Keeping the Republic- Chapter 8: The Bureaucracy

bureaucracy

is any organization that is structured hierarchically: those at the top—with responsibility for the organization's success—give the orders, and those on the bottom follow them

Neutral competence

represents the effort to depoliticize the bureaucracy, or to take politics out of administration, by having the work of government done expertly, according to explicit standards rather than personal preferences or party loyalties

Red tape

morass of seemingly unnecessary rules, regulations, constraints, forms, and hearings

Spoils system

A system of public employment based on rewarding party loyalists and friends.// bureaucratic organization, the president, governors, and mayors—were given wide latitude to hire their friends, family, and political supporters to work in their administrations (a practice known as patronage)

civil service

A system of hiring and promotion based on the merit principle and the desire to create a nonpartisan government service.

Pendleton Act

created the initial Civil Service Commission, under which federal employees would be hired and promoted on the basis of merit rather than patronage. It prohibited firing employees for failure to contribute to political parties or candidates

Hatch act

designed to take the pressure off civil servants to work for the election of parties and candidates. They cannot run for federal political office, head up an election campaign, or make contributions or public speeches on behalf of candidates, although they can get involved in election activities that do not focus on just one candidate or party

Departments

Major administrative units with responsibility for a broad area of government operations. Departmental status usually indicates a permanent national interest in a particular governmental function, such as defense, commerce, or agriculture.// 15 departments

independent agencies

government organizations independent of the departments but with a narrower policy focus

Head appointed by president

Independent regulatory boards and commissions

make regulations for various industries, businesses, and sectors of the economy

Regulations

are simply limitations or restrictions on the behavior of an individual or a business; they are bureaucratically determined prescriptions for how business is to take place

seek to protect the public from some industrial or economic danger or uncertainty

Set up to be independent (but not always is)

government corporation

one of the larger businesses in the nation in terms of sales and personnel

bureaucratic discretion

bureaucrats' use of their own judgment in interpreting and carrying out the laws of Congress

Cause congress can specify without expertise

Federal registrar

the publication containing all federal regulations and notifications of regulatory agency hearings

adjudication

the process of interpreting the law in specific cases for potential violations and deciding the appropriate penalties when violations are found

bureaucratic culture

the accepted values and procedures of an organization

four main elements of _____—policy commitment, adoption of bureaucratic behavior, specialization and expertise, and identification with the agency

Whistleblowers

employees who expose instances or patterns of error, corruption, or waste in their agencies

agency capture

commissions tend to become creatures of the very interests they are supposed to regulate

iron triangle

is a tight alliance between congressional committees, interest groups or representatives of regulated industries, and bureaucratic agencies, in which policy comes to be made for the benefit of the shared interests of all three, not for the benefit of the greater public

issue networks

complex systems of relationships among groups that influence policy, including elected leaders, interest groups, specialists, consultants, and research institutes

particular relationship among a fixed interest group and fixed agencies and fixed subcommittees

Congressional oversight

efforts by Congress, especially through committees, to monitor agency rule-making, enforcement, and implementation of congressional policies

citizen advisory councils

subject key policy decisions of agencies to outside consideration by members of the public

sunshine laws

require that meetings of policymakers be open to the public

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

passed in 1966 and has been amended several times since. This act provides citizens with the right to copies of most public records held by federal agencies

Privacy Act of 1974

which gives them the right to find out what information government agencies have about them. It also sets up procedures so that erroneous information can be corrected and ensures the confidentiality of Social Security, tax, and related records