U.S. Federal Bureaucracy Essay.
U.S. Federal Bureaucracy and Public Policy Worksheet
University of Phoenix Material
U.S. Federal Bureaucracy and Public Policy Worksheet
Part 1 Matrix:
| Terms | What does this term mean? | How or why is this term important with respect to the U.S. Federal Bureaucracy and the public policy process? |
| Civil Service | It is a government sector that encompasses career bureaucrats hired based mainly on professional merit (Repucci, 2014). | The term is important in public policy process and in the U.S. federal bureaucracy. The civil servants usually take part in policy formulation for the government. These policies affect the operations of the government. |
| The “Spoils System” | This is a practice in which the newly elected party gives the civil service jobs to its supporters, relatives, and friends (Repucci, 2014). Usually, they are being given the jobs to show appreciation for working towards the triumph of the party in the elections. | The spoils system is important because, through it, public policy process was initiated to ensure that people are given civil service jobs based on merit and not political affiliation. This deters runaway corruption in government offices. |
| The “Merit System” | This is a practice in which people are given civil service jobs based on their academic and professional qualifications. | The system is important as it enables people to be rewarded job positions in the civil service based on their professional qualifications. Therefore, it allows fairness adoption as a public policy. |
| The Hatch Act | An act meant to inhibit federal government employees who do not possess political roles from politicking. | The act has importance as far as public policy and US federal bureaucracy is concerned. Its main purpose is to help in enforcing political impartiality amongst the civil servants. |
| Administrative Discretion | This is the ability of the public administrators to flexibility exercise decision making as well as judgment in their administrative duties (Ahmad, 2016). | Administrative discretion is pivotal since it prevents the unreasonable and arbitrary use of such discretions. It, therefore, safeguards the fundamental principles applied in administrative law. |
| Policy Implementation | This is the process that involves the interaction between goals set and the actions aimed at achieving the goals. | Policy implementation induces individuals into adopting new behaviors. Furthermore, it is applicable to enforcement. Lastly, it gives positive incentives to individuals who adopt the desired new directions. |
| Oversight Controls | It refers to the approach in which the Congress exercises watchful care on the activities performed by the executive. | It ensures that the executive is legally compliant. In addition, it protects individual rights and civil liberties. It, therefore, finds applications in cabinet departments, regulatory commissions, executive agencies, and the presidency. |
| Interest Groups | These are people who have a mutual interest and they work together in order to promote and defend their interest through influencing the government. | They send representatives to put pressure on the policymakers. Therefore, they directly influence public policy to be tailored in a specific direction. |
| Economic Policy | Government economic policy encompasses the systems that are meant to offer economic intervention. They include setting taxation levels, labor markets, interest rates, money supply, and national ownership among other interventions. | Economic policy is a pivotal public policy. It enables regulation of the economic activities to prevent inflation. |
| The “New Deal” | This was a set of the US federal programs that were launched by the then President of the US, Franklin Roosevelt in response to the Great Depression. | The “New Deal” finds importance in public policy. It provided a framework for economic recovery. It was tailored towards job creation, civic uplift, public works investment, and economic recovery. Since the New Deal had overall efficiency in averting the Great Depression, it can form the basis to be used by policymakers. |
| The “Great Society” | This was a set of federal domestic programs in the US that was launched by the then president of the US, Lyndon Johnson. The “Great Society” was aimed at stemming out racial injustices as well as poverty. | The “Great Society” finds its relevance in the US federal bureaucracy. It has facilitated public policy process in institutions such as schools and hospitals by policymakers. |
| Social Policy | Social Policy entails ways in which societies across the globe meet human wants and needs of health, security, work, and education. It addresses how societies and states respond to challenges of globalization, poverty, demographic change, and so on. | The social policy is paramount to U.S. Federal Bureaucracy. In the process of meeting the human needs, the bureaucracies use social policies. The social policies, therefore, are part of the public policy process. |
| Foreign and Defense Policy | This policy focuses on the relationship that the United States of America has with other nations. It includes initiatives for national security initiatives as well as defense-related tactics for individual countries (Archuleta, 2016). | The public policy process enables Congress, one of US federal bureaucracies, to oversee the executive on Foreign and Defense Policy matters. |
References
Ahmad, M. R. (2016). Reinventing Higher Civil Services: Necessities of Administrative Reforms in India. International Journal of Multidisciplinary Approach & Studies, 3(4), 119-131.
Archuleta, B. J. (2016). Rediscovering Defense Policy: A Public Policy Call to Arms. Policy Studies Journal, 44S50-S69.
Repucci, S. (2014). Designing effective civil service reform lessons from past experience. Public Administration & Development, 34(3), 206-217.
Part 2 Essay:
How does the U.S. Federal bureaucracy influence, operate, and function with respect to implementing economic, social, and foreign policy?
Usually, the Presidency or the Congress makes decisions. These decisions are carried out by the federal bureaucracy. However, the power that the federal bureaucracy has is dependent on discretionary authority it is granted. According to Elias (2013), federal bureaucracy has a diversified composition. They include departments, agencies, and commissions that work so as to ensure that the US government abides by its set goals. In particular, the US categorizes the federal bureaucracy into government corporations, independent agencies, the cabinet department, and regulators. The federal bureaucracies that influence the foreign policy of the US are chiefly the State Department, the CIA, and the Defense Department. The oversight body, the Congress, usually delegates authority to the administrative agency. The areas of the delegation include payment of subsidies, enforcing and devising regulations, transfer of funds to local and state governments. The regulations include those who qualify to own television stations, the scientific research that is permitted, and the safety features that automobiles need to have.
Normally, the presidency and the Congress are at the center stage of policy setting. They make the foreign policies that are implemented by various departments. Principally, foreign policy formulation is based on intelligence, security, diplomacy, and economic affairs that exist between countries. These issues typically have players that are at loggerheads. It is prudent to understand that foreign policy bureaucracy in the United States is highly decentralized and fragmented. Importantly, the state Department, a member of the bureaucracy is responsible for the protection of the US citizens in the diaspora. Additionally, the department extends its function to include helping the American who is traveling. Moreover, the department is useful with regards to facilitating international trade between the US and the rest of the world. The next bureaucracy is the department of defense. This is the executive department of the federal government of US that deals with the issues of national security as well as the armed forces. The CIA, Central Intelligence Agency, is an autonomous civilian agency that intelligently offers national security to the senior policymakers of the United States (Jeffreys-Jones, 2016).
Regarding social policy implementation, the following components are involved: the critical actors, service delivery systems, policy making instruments, driving force, and policy output. The outcome of the policy, policy output, is measured using correspondence index analytic. Correspondence index refers to the services and needs that are delivered. The analysis function of the social policy is articulated and assigned to various agents, bureaucracy, in the United States.
Despite the numerous roles that federal bureaucracy plays, it is faced with numerous challenges and problems. For instance, it is exceedingly hard for the US Congress to set up policies that are meant to eliminate social issues such as duplication and conflicts. Duplication means that two or more agencies appear to have the same roles. Imperatively, the federal bureaucracy sets goals that are aided in offering a healthy economy that benefits all the Americans. They bureaucracy, therefore, regulate inflation through the application of economic policies. In a bid to achieve this, the federal government usually seeks to be in compliance with the three goals of the economic policy of economic growth, stable prices, and full employment (Elias, 2013).
Generally, the Congress controls the bureaucracy through authorization as well as the appropriation of funds. Additionally, it does the control job through oversight hearings and investigations. This mechanism reduces the inherent problems associated with bureaucracy but does not necessarily avert all the problems.
References
Elias, N. R. (2013). Shifting diversity perspectives and new avenues for representative bureaucracy. Public Administration Quarterly, 37(3), 331-373.
Jeffreys-Jones, R. (2016). Antecedents and Memory as Factors in the Creation of the CIA. Diplomatic History, 40(1), 140-154.