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Chapter Eleven: Bureaucracy: Redesigning Government for the Twenty-first Century
Review
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| This chapter has detailed the nature and role of the federal bureaucracy across time in the United States. After attention was given to the contrasting notions of a patronage v. merit-based systems of bureaucratic administration, the four successive stages of the American bureaucratic state were discussed. Then we covered the structure of the bureaucracy into its Cabinet, regulatory commissions, and government corporations. Policy making was addressed according to its three-pronged process of rule making, administrative adjudication, and implementation phases. Finally, methods of presidential and congressional bureaucratic control were portrayed through devices such as appointment and oversight. The chapter ended with an exemplifying case, the creation, early development, and problems of the Bush administration's Department of Homeland Security in 2003 as a direct response to the 9/11 tragedy. |
Focus Questions
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1. What is bureaucracy, and what role does it play in government?
2. How have the size and role of the federal bureaucracy changed over the course of American political history?
3. Is the federal bureaucracy less flexible, dynamic, and innovative than most large corporate bureaucracies?
4. How do the president, Congress, and courts exercise control over the bureaucracy?
5. What problems attend the creation of a large federal bureaucracy like the Department of Homeland Security?
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