William_T._Bianco,_David_T._Canon]_American_Polit

462 Chapter 13 | The Bureaucracy

working in the Department of Agriculture assist farmers by processing crop loans

and providing advice on new technologies and techniques. Members of the Park

Service operate the network of national parks and wilderness areas. And the

Transportation Security Administration staffs the security checkpoints at American

airports. These and other jobs are a reminder of how intertwined the federal

government is with the lives of ordinary Americans. We may like to think of the

federal government as something that exists only in Washington, D.C., but the reality

is that bureaucrats are spread out across the country and are deeply involved with all

elements of American society.

Bureaucratic Expertise and Its Consequences

Bureaucrats are experts. Even compared with most members of Congress or

presidential appointees, the average bureaucrat is a specialist in a certain policy

area (often holding an advanced degree), with a good grasp of his or her agency’s

mission. For example, people who hold scientific or management positions in the

FDA usually know more about the benefits and risks of new drugs than people

outside the agency do. Their decision to deny unapproved drugs to seriously

ill patients may seem cruel, but it may also ref lect a thoughtful balancing of

two incompatible goals: preventing harmful drugs from reaching the market

and allowing people who have exhausted all other treatments access to risky,

experimental products. A bureaucracy of experts is an important part of what

political scientists call state capacity—the knowledge, personnel, and institutions

needed to effectively implement policies.^7

While having an expert bureaucracy seems like an obvious good idea, it creates

a new problem for elected officials. Bureaucrats can bring expertise to their policy

choices only if elected officials stop ordering bureaucrats around and instead allow

them to act as they think best. But when elected officials allow such discretion, they

risk losing control over the policy-making process and having to live with policy

choices that serve bureaucratic interests without satisfying the elected officials or their

constituents.

The Problem of Control: Principals and Agents Political scientists refer to the

difficulty that elected officials and their staff face when they try to interpret or influence

bureaucratic actions as the problem of control.^8 A classic example is the principal–

agent game. The principal–agent game describes an interaction in which an individual

or a group (an “agent”) acts on behalf of another (the “principal”). In the federal

government, the president and Congress are principals and bureaucrats are agents. An

agent in the bureaucracy may not want to work (because they are lazy) or may prefer

outcomes that the principal does not like. Moreover, because the agent is an expert at

the task he or she has been given, he or she has additional knowledge and experience

that is inaccessible to the principal. The conundrum for the principal, then, is this:

giving the agent very specific orders prevents the agent from acting based on expertise,

but if the principal gives the agent the freedom to make decisions based on expertise,

the principal has less control over the agent’s actions.

For example, suppose Congress and the president directed the FDA to shorten its

drug-approval process. FDA officials might have mandated a lengthy process based

on their expert assessment of the best way to screen out harmful drugs. By giving

orders that superseded the FDA officials’ screening process, elected officials would be

sacrificing the valuable bureaucratic expertise behind the policy and risking the hasty

approval of unsafe drugs. On the other hand, if Congress and the president allowed

state capacity

The knowledge, personnel, and

institutions that the government

requires to effectively implement

policies.

28%

of federal bureaucrats have an

advanced degree (post-bachelor).

The corresponding percentage for

large private businesses is about

11 percent.

Source: Office of Management and

Budget

DID YOU KNOW?

problem of control

A difficulty faced by elected officials

in ensuring that when bureaucrats

implement policies they follow

these officials’ intentions but still

have enough discretion to use their

expertise.

principal–agent game

The interaction between a principal

(such as the president or Congress),

who needs something done, and an

agent (such as a bureaucrat), who

is responsible for carrying out the

principal’s orders.

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