Bureaucracies and the President’s Agenda
Bureaucracy refers to a method of organizing work and people. It is founded on the principles of formalized rules, job specialization, and hierarchical authority. Bureaucracy is good for making people work together on activities that are of great complexity and importance. Unfortunately, it may cause rigidity, confusion, complications, and it’s prone to waste. The US bureaucracy employs over 2.5 million people who are charged with the responsibility of managing thousands of programs. The major types of organizations within the bureaucracy are the Cabinet, Presidential Commissions, government corporations, regulatory agencies, and independent agencies. Bureaucracy is good because it adds an extra layer of checks on the actions of the President.
Bureaucracy supports the ability of the President to govern effectively. Bureaucrats are responsible for putting government policies into practice. For government policies to be passed, it is crucial for the Congress and the President to work with the bureaucracy (Goldgeier & Saunders, 2018). It is almost impossible for the President to control bureaucracy because there are civil service laws that protect against this and due to the fact that the expertise of bureaucrats gives them power.
Without bureaucracy, the President would have too much power in his hands. He would have the ability to make lots of unilateral decisions that are likely to chart the geopolitical path of the U.S. A series of unchecked unilateral decisions could end up having numerous adverse effects to the nation (Praça & Lopez, 2018). A strong element of bureaucracy on the executive branch would ensure that the President does not make potentially catastrophic decisions or even abuse the power vested on him by the people and the Constitution. It would slow him down and act as an obstacle to some of the potentially harmful plans that the President could have. Unelected civil servants should always be neutral (Goldgeier & Saunders, 2018). They should ensure that their conduct does not negatively affect their discharge of official duties in a professional and fair manner. Additionally, they should not allow their political beliefs or affiliations to influence the discharge of their responsibilities.
References
Goldgeier, J., & Saunders, E. N. (2018). The Unconstrained Presidency: Checks and Balances Eroded Long before Trump. Foreign Aff., 97, 144.
Praça, S., & Lopez, F. (2018). Political Appointments, Political Parties, and Bureaucracy 1. In Routledge Handbook of Brazilian Politics (pp. 358-372). Routledge.