9 Politics and the administration
So far we have been concerned largely with the complex manoeuvres and
manipulations related to the formulation of government policy through its
various stages, from the electoral process to the point where president and
Congress issue their authoritative decisions. All of this has been eminently
‘political’, but in this chapter we turn to an area in which the importance
of political influences is just as great but not so obvious. Administration may
suggest simply the putting into effect of decisions taken elsewhere, and some
civil servants and reformers in the past have argued that politics and admin-
istration should be kept in quite distinct compartments. According to this
view the civil service should simply be the neutral instrument of the demo-
cratically elected politicians, and should not itself have a policy-determining
role. There have been attempts in the United States to implement this view,
in particular in the case of those agencies that have been given regulatory
functions in the industrial and commercial field. The proponents of this view
argue that, once its goals have been set for it, the only function of the bu-
reaucracy is to pursue those goals with the maximum efficiency, free from
the considerations of personal gain or political advantage that would cloud
their judgement or affect their behaviour if they were involved in any way in
political intrigues. But this simple view of the nature of administration just
will not do. The executive is deeply involved in politics at many levels. Much
of the legislation that eventually is enacted into law is first formulated in
the departments and agencies of the government, and pressure groups and
members of Congress are of course well aware of this, and may attempt to
influence administration proposals at a very early stage. The exact way in
which the constitutional and statutory powers of the government are exer-
cised may make a very considerable difference to these policies in practice,
because so much discretion is inevitably left to those who implement the
law. The officials who form the administration may well be overtly involved
in politics both by attempting to influence Congress in matters relating to
their agencies, particularly appropriations, and by being influenced by Con-
gressmen in the way they carry out their administrative duties. Furthermore,
the departments of the government may battle with each other where their