(1) is
the term preferred by most political scientists to describe the bureaucratic
process-the business of making government work.
For three decades, much of the criticism of the bureaucracy came from
members of the (2) party
and from conservatives opposed to the welfare state and the concentration
of power in Washington.
In the late 1960s, however, Democratic (3) began
to voice similar thoughts.
The classic concept of bureaucracy was developed by the pioneering German
sociologist , (4) who
saw it as a strict hierarchy, with authority flowing from the top down
within a fixed framework of rigid rules and regulations.
In the view of this German sociologist, the bureaucracy draws its power
from its (5) .
Selection of bureaucrats on the basis of (6) rather
than politics was the goal of the civil-service reform movement of the
late nineteenth century.
A central problem is how to make bureaucracy accountable to popular
control; in short, how to reconcile bureaucracy and (7) .
Public administration in the United States is fragmented by the system
of (8) .
Bureaucrats have great (9) powers;
what they decide to do, or not to do, constitutes a policy output of the
political system.
Government agencies, like members of Congress, have (10)
; these are interest groups,
or client groups, either directly regulated by the bureaucracy or vitally
affected by its decisions.
The cabinet departments employ hundreds of people known as (11)
officers, who watch over
legislation concerning their agencies and field requests made by members
of Congress.
The bureaucracy, interest groups, and congressional committees interact.
In some areas, the relationship among the three actors is so close that
it is often referred to as an iron (12) or
.
Instead of competing with one another, some analysts argue, (13)
groups merely capture
a segment of the bureaucracy and call it their own.
However, this may not tell the whole story; Hugh Heclo has suggested
that (14) ,
shared-knowledge groups made up of policy activists, also play an important
role in shaping public policy.
The bureaucracy draws support from three areas — the (15)
, Congress, and the executive
branch.
Postwar efforts toward administrative reform led in 1947 to the creation
of the first of two commissions headed by former president (16)
.
The commission first reported in 1949; most of its proposals emphasized
(17) of
authority and the need to the
organization of government.
Under the Reorganization Act of 1949, reorganization plans prepared
by the executive branch took effect in sixty days unless (18)
by Congress.
The creation in 1970 of the Office of (19) was
designed to shift to the president and his budget officials tighter control
over management of the federal bureaucracy.
As Aaron Wildavsky has observed, "the (20)
lies at the heart of
the political process."
