Bureaucracy in the United States
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The Federal Bureaucracy is the unelected, administrative body in the Executive Branch and the backbone of the US Government. It is arranged into departments, agencies, and commissions and consists of 15 cabinet departments, scores of regulatory agencies, and even more independent agencies. As of 2021[update], the US bureaucracy includes more than 2.1 million civilian employees.[1]
The American bureaucracy seems to be significantly smaller and leaner than that of other democracies in the developed countries. It is made up of technocrats rather than administrative elites, and it relies more on the private sector to deliver goods and services.[2]
History[edit]
Bureaucracy in the United States dates back to the American Civil War.[3][4]
Structure[edit]
When electoral institutions provide clear goals for bureaucracies, provide them with sufficient resources, and give them the freedom to apply their expertise to a problem, bureaucracies function best and can make the most contributions to the process of making policies.
Understanding the link between bureaucracy and electoral institutions requires an understanding of bureaucracies' characteristics as permanent, goal-oriented, and open systems. Because bureaucracies are set up to achieve goals that are focused on policy, bureaucracies naturally resist jobs that do not fit inside their goals. For example, the Army Corps of Engineers rejected Congress's order to take control of coastal wetlands (a task related to the environment) before finally being compelled to do so by Congress. Similarly, the FBI and the military were able to delay getting involved in the war on drugs until the middle of the 1980s. For bureaucracies, goals are essential. They provide the foundation for organizational socialization, and define the purpose of the bureaucracy.[5]
Foreign policy[edit]
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Bureaucracy and democracy[edit]
According to Kenneth J. Meyer, the United States is facing a severe problem with the interface between its bureaucracy and its electoral institutions. American politicians understand this, so they tend to take advantage of it by running into office by campaigning against bureaucracy using the "buzzword 'reinventing government'".[5]
Independent agencies[edit]
Every American president in the modern era has expressed mistrust for Washington's government officials. They properly believe that they have a democratic mandate from voters to carry out the political program they promised those voters. Jimmy Carter anticipated that CIA personnel would reject reforms meant to put an end to decades of agency misconduct. Ronald Reagan believed that the State Department's liberals were against his efforts to combat Communism. Independent advisors were mistrusted by George H. W. Bush. Bill Clinton thought the FBI had turned against itself. The George W. Bush administration conducted a thorough investigation for the intelligence officers they believed had leaked information about the existence of their warrantless eavesdropping operation after 9/11. Barack Obama was concerned that Pentagon officials were attempting to pressure him into sending a sizable contingent of troops to Afghanistan. On June 16, 2017, Trump became the first American president to apply the term deep state to the United States government.[6]
See also[edit]
- Bureaucracy and democracy
- Deep state
- Federal government of the United States
- Public administration
- United States federal civil service
References[edit]
- ↑ The Federal Bureaucracy in the United States
- ↑ Rose, Richard (1985). Public Employment in Western Nations. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press
- ↑ Claybaugh, Amanda. "Bureaucracy in America: De Forest's Paperwork" (PDF). Harvard University.
- ↑ Postell, Joseph (2017). Bureaucracy in America: The Administrative State’s Challenge to Constitutional Government. Columbia: University of Missouri Press. ISBN 978-0-8262-2123-0. Search this book on
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Meier, Kenneth J. "Bureaucracy and Democracy: The Case for More Bureaucracy and Less Democracy." Public Administration Review, vol. 57, no. 3, 1997, pp. 193–99. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/976648. Accessed 19 Oct. 2022.
- ↑ Rohde, David. IN DEEP: THE FBI, THE CIA, AND THE TRUTH ABOUT AMERICA'S 'DEEP STATE'. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-1-324-00355-7. Search this book on
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