456 Chapter 13 | The Bureaucracyrepresentatives, these representatives go to Washington and enact laws, and then
bureaucrats are given these laws to implement. The reality in our system is that the
responsibility for implementing laws conveys policy-making power. When bureaucrats
write regulations, sign contracts with private corporations, or deliver services to citizens,
they are translating often-vague statutes into concrete decisions. Moreover, because of
their training and experience, bureaucrats are often better informed than elected officials
about the details of government policy. As a result, we can’t think of bureaucrats as simply
doing what they are told. Rather, their jobs involve judgment, initiative, and creativity.
Bureaucratic expertise creates a new problem for elected officials: if they ignore
what bureaucrats tell them or force bureaucrats to implement laws and directives as
written, the result may be policy failures. However, if elected officials acknowledge
that bureaucrats are experts and allow them to make as well as implement government
policy, elected officials in effect give up all their power to the bureaucracy—something
that the Trump administration is unwilling to risk. Are bureaucrats really obstructing
the Trump agenda, or are they just doing their jobs? How do elected officials control a
bureaucracy of experts?What Is the Federal Bureaucracy?
The federal bureaucracy is the vast network of agencies that makes up the
government’s executive branch. It is composed of millions of civil servants, who work
for the government in permanent positions, and thousands of political appointees,
who hold short-term, usually senior positions and are appointed by an elected leader
such as the president. Another name for the bureaucracy is the administrative state,
which refers to the role bureaucrats play in administering government policies.^1
Most constitutional scholars agree that the president is nominally in charge of the
bureaucracy—although generally the president shares this power with members of
Congress.
In general, the job of the federal bureaucracy includes a wide range of tasks, from
regulating the behavior of individuals and corporations to buying pencils, jet fighters,
and everything in between. At one level, these actions implement policy decisions
made by others, including presidential directives or legislation enacted by Congress.
But as we will see, implementation often involves giving bureaucrats considerable
discretion over the details of policy decisions. Moreover, these activities are inherently
political and often conflictual: ordinary citizens, elected officials, and bureaucrats
themselves often disagree about aspects of these activities, and they work to influence
bureaucratic actions to suit their policy goals.What Do Bureaucrats Do?
The task of the bureaucracy is to develop and implement policies established by
congressional acts or presidential decisions. Sometimes the tasks associated with
putting these laws and resolutions into effect are very specific. For example, in the
appropriations bill for fiscal year 2019 Congress mandated that the navy purchase 150
F-35 attack jets from defense contractor Lockheed Martin. This provision required noDEFINE BUREAUCRACY AND
EXPLAIN ITS MAJOR
FUNCTIONSbureaucracy
The system of civil servants and
political appointees who implement
congressional or presidential
decisions; also known as the
administrative state.
civil servants
Employees of bureaucratic agencies
within the government.
political appointees
People selected by an elected leader,
such as the president, to hold a
government position.Full_14_APT_64431_ch13_454-487.indd 456 16/11/18 1:43 PM