AP Government - The Presidency & The Bureaucracy

AP gov test not done

prevalent myths of bureaucracy

• americans dislike bureaucrats

• bureaucracies are getting bigger every yr (→ # employees expanding not federal employees)

• most federal bureaucrats work in Washington, D.C. (< 1/2 )

• bureaucracies → ineffective, inefficient (simply a system organizing ppl to do work)

bureaucracy → civil servants

• the perm. bureaucracy → more representative of the American ppl than legislation/judges/presidential appointees

patronage

a hiring & promotion system based on political factors rather than on merit or competence (ex. large donations, connections)

(1883) Pendleton Civil Service Act

created a federal civil service → hiring & promotion based on the merit principle to foster a nonpartisan government service