CHAPTER 9 BUREAUCRACY: WHAT NOBODY WANTS BUT EVERYBODY NEEDS

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CHAPTER 9BUREAUCRACYWHAT NOBODY WANTS BUT
EVERYBODY NEEDS

• A necessary evil

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Why should we care?

• Pervasive
• Do you exist without bureaucracy?
• All levels of government
• Knowledge of affairs of state
• Unelected officials making decisions regarding
  everyday behavior

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Why should we care? (contd)

• Evaluative purposes
• Judge efficiency of public programs
• Influence public policy

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What is public administration/bureaucracy?

• All government activity
• Management of public programs and institutions
• Develop and implement public policy
• Government agencies responding to citizen demands
  
• Who gets what, when, and how
• Allocation of societal resources

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Bureaucracy

• Concentrated government authority ensures neutral
  competency
• Departments and agencies called bureaus
• Hierarchical
• Division of labor
• Formal rules and procedures (SOPs)
• Professionalization
• Maintenance of files and records
• Career-oriented staff
• Provide expertise

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Bureaucratic politics

• Public administration concerns political decision
  making i.e. who gets what
• Bureaucratic interaction creates an inherently
  political context
• Ambiguous goals
• Value-laden environment
• Competition over autonomy and resources

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Bureaucratic politics (contd)

• Policy process is political
• Conflicting goals
• Competing values
• Differing beliefs regarding role of public
  agencies

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Bureaucracy and the policy process

• Agenda-setting
• Define alternatives
• Provide feedback
• Implementation of policy

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Policy implementation

• Agencies respond to citizen and governmental
  demands by issuing grants and contracts,
  enforcing rules and regulations, and managing
  public programs.
• The process of policy implementation is made
  difficult due to competing demands and vague
  goals.

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Policymaking

• Due to vague laws, street-level bureaucrats
  exercise an enormous amount of discretion.
• Rulemaking provides a direct means for
  influencing the shape of public policy.
• The bureaucracy also is able to wield policy
  influence by taking an active role in politics.

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Too much or too little?

• Bureaucracies reflect geographic and societal
  differences.
• A comparative approach to bureaucracy suggests
  bureaucratic expenditures and employees vary
  according to the needs of their constituencies.

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The great debate efficiency vs. responsiveness

• Efficiency (Competence)
• Optimal allocation of resources to maximize
  utility.
• Produce service/good with minimal expense
• Danger of under-responsiveness
• Responsiveness
• Public policy reflects citizen demands
• Danger of over-responsiveness

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Its not what you know, but who you know

• The merit system is a reaction to the political
  corruption and patronage of the spoils system.
• While reducing agency flexibility in the hiring
  and firing process, the merit system ensures
  neutral competence.

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Conclusion

• Public perception of the bureaucracy is generally
  misguided.
• The bureaucracy performs quite well in responding
  to citizen and governmental demands.

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Conclusion (contd)

• Beyond implementing public policy, the
  bureaucracy serves an important role in the
  shaping of public policy.
• Although the merit system attempts to ensure
  neutral competence, the bureaucracy remains a
  highly political institution.

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The Policy-Making Process

• Public policy is government action or inaction
  taken to deal with problems and concerns.

Policy Adoption
Problem Recognition
Budgeting
Agenda Setting
Policy Implementation
Policy Formulation
Policy Evaluation
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Making Agencies Accountable

• Is the bureaucracy accountable and if so to whom?

The governor has the authority to appoint and
remove agency heads reorganize the
bureaucracy make changes in budget
proposals ignore initiatives from the
bureaucracy issue executive orders reduce an
agency's budget
The legislature has the authority to pass
legislation that alters an agency's
functions abolish existing programs investigate
bureaucratic activities influence presidential
appointments write legislation to limit
bureaucratic discretion
The judiciary has the power to rule on whether
the bureaucracy has acted within the law rule on
constitutionality force respect for the rights of
individuals through hearings
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Public Administration

• People not directly involved in politics but who
  are involved in the construction and
  implementation of the policies that carry out
  those decisions.

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The Bureaucracy

• A method of organizing public administration

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Policy is what the government says and does about
perceived problems. Policy making is how the
government decides what will be done about
perceived problems. Policy making is a process
of interaction among governmental and
nongovernmental actors policy is the outcome of
that interaction.
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The Players Institutional and Noninstitutional
Actors in the Policy Process

• Institutional Actors (Legislature, Executive,
  Bureaucracy, Courts etc.)
• Noninstitutional Actors (Media, Parties, Interest
  Groups, Consultants etc.)

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The Players Institutional and Noninstitutional
Actors in the Policy Process

• Institutional Actors (Congress, Executive,
  Bureaucracy, Courts etc.)
• Noninstitutional Actors (Media, Parties, Interest
  Groups, Consultants etc.)

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Models of Policy Analysis

• Simply and clarify
• Identify important aspects of policy problems
• Help us to communicate
• Direct efforts to understand public policy better
• Suggest explanations and predict consequences

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Selected Policy Models

• Process Model
• Rational Model
• Incremental Model
• Group Model
• Elite Model
• Public Choice Model
• Institutional Model
• Each model provides a separate focus on political
  life and helps to understand different things
  about public policy.

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Institutional Model Public Policy is
Institutional Output.

• Public Policy is determined, implemented, and
  enforced by government institutions.
• The Constitution of the U.S. and state
  constitutions establish the fundamental
  institutional structure for policy making.
• Separation of powers, checks and balances, and
  federalism have effects on public policy.

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Process Model

• Political activities may be groups according to
  their relationship with public policy the
  result is a set of policy processes including
• Problem Identification/Recognition
• Agenda Setting
• Policy Formulation
• Policy Adoption
• Policy Implementation
• Policy Evaluation

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Rationalism Policy as Maximum Social Gain

• Rational policies are defined as those that
  achieve maximum social gain.
• Policy results in gains to society that exceed
  costs and that governments refrain from policies
  if costs exceed benefits.
• There are many barriers to rationality, and the
  model helps us to identify such barriers.
• Obstacles to rationality are many and varied.

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Public Choice/Public Opinion

• Debate continues as to whether public opinion
  should be an important independent influence over
  public policy
• Opinion-Policy Linkage - V.O. Key

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Incrementalism Policy as Variations on the
Past.(Charles Lindblom)

• Incrementalism occurs due to constrains of time,
  information, and costs, leading policy makers to
  make adjustments to the base policy rather than
  embarking upon a full reconsideration of
  alternatives.
• Incrementalism predicts that the legitimacy of
  previous policies will be accepted because the
  consequences of new programs cannot be predicted
• Incrementalism is politically expedient.
• Incrementalism reduces conflicts, maintains
  stability, and preserves the political system.

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Elite Theory Policy as Elite Preference

• Society is divided into the few who have power
  and the many who do not.
• The many who do not have power do not decide
  public policy.
• Public policy reflects the prevailing values of
  the elite, changes will therefore be incremental
  rather than revolutionary.
• Elites influence masses more than masses
  influence elites.

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Models How to Tell if They are Helping or Not

• Models should order and simplify reality
• Models should identify what is significant
• Models should provide meaningful communication
• Models should direct inquiry and research
• Models should suggest explanations

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The Policy Process How Policies are Made

• In the real world policymaking activities often
  occur simultaneously and political actors and
  institutions may be engaged in different
  processes at the same time, even in the same
  policy area.
• Despite the fact that policymaking is seldom as
  neat as a process model, it is useful to break
  policymaking into component units to enhance
  understanding

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Agenda Setting and Nondecisions

• Agenda setting, or defining the problems of
  society and suggesting alternative solutions, is
  the most important stage of the policy making
  process.
• Nondecision making occurs when dominant elites
  act either openly or covertly to suppress an
  issue.

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Agenda setting and mobilizing Opinion The Mass
Media

• Media effects include
• Identifying issues and setting the agenda
• Influencing attitudes and values toward policy
  issues
• Changing the behavior of voters and decision
  makers

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Formulating Policy

• The Governor
• Bureaucracy
• Interest Groups
• Legislative Staff
• Think Tanks
• Legislatures
• National Organizations (professional)

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Policy Legitimation/Adoption

• Formal lawmaking
• Party Influence
• Governor Influence
• Constitituency Influence
• Contributor Influence

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Policy Implementation The Bureaucracy

• Implementation and Policymaking
• Regulation and Policymaking
• Adjudication and Policymaking
• Bureaucratic Discretion and Policymaking
• Policy Bias of Bureaucrats

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Policy Evaluation Impressionistic Versus
Systematic

• Although the policy process model implies that
  evaluation is the final step, an evaluation of
  the current policy may identify new problems and
  set in motion the policymaking process once
  again.
• Most policy evaluations are unsystematic and
  impressionistic
• Systematic policy evaluation the careful,
  objective, scientific assessment f the current
  and long-term effects of policies on target and
  nontarget situations or groups, and the
  assessment of the ratio of current and long-term
  costs to benefits is relatively rare.