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0:01
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): Good afternoon, everyone, welcome to lecture 9.2 this lecture is going to finish up our discussion of the executive branch by looking at the federal bureaucracy so we're going to first kind of define the bureaucracy different ways of thinking about what the bureaucracy is.
0:17
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): And what the legacy does rather than talk about what principal the idea of a principal agent problem and how political forces shape and are shaped by bureaucracy.
0:31
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): So.
0:32
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): What is a bureaucracy.
0:36
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): Bureaucracy is an administrative Group of Non elected officials and charged with carrying functions. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): Connected to government policies and programs so some members of the bureaucracy or appointed, these are the high level.
0:49
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): Positions the Cabinet executive agencies, but most are hired for their expertise and experience most bureaucrats are like this is like they are hired in the same way that you'd be hired for any other job that they are experts in this area. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): bureaucracies are characterized by a hierarchical organization and desegregated tasks right, you have clear kind of answerable you are.
1:11
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): These are or higher according stations and that you answer to the head of the agency, you had to you know your manager who answers to their manager, which is the head of the agency, who answers to the President.
1:22
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): And breaks down the kind of tasks of administering the you know the the federal government into a series of smaller tasks. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): Now we can think of different ways of characterizing what the market bureaucracy should be. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): Debate Barry an ideal after the sociologist next fader is that bureaucracy should be a political, they should be hierarchical.
1:42
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): You should be governed by formal procedures that this is the kind of hallmark of a bureaucracy is is that one that can. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): Is it, this is a outside of kind of political competition, but these are professionals that are professional civil servants and that their decisions are governed by political expediency, but by rules and regulations.
2:03
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): However, we there's kind of contested.
2:08
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): ways of thinking about how bureaucracies actually function some argue that we should understand that your equities bureaucracy with through what's known as the acquisitive model. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): Thinking about bureaucratic agencies as themselves self interested in trying to acquire resources personnel funding power that we shouldn't think of these bureaucracies is simply a political that.
2:31
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): They are governed by the same types of political self interest, and then we can also think of the bureaucracies. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): As occupying a monopoly over particular resources and roles and decreasing competition, this is usually this argument is usually made by critics of the bureaucracy that these are squeezing our competition, which would be more effective and efficient at administrating the State needs.
2:55
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): So, how did the ever but bureaucracy bureaucracy evolved in the early days of the United States, there was. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): It was very small, the original cabinet only had three departments state war and Treasury. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): And there is also the public postal service that was pretty much it for government employees and it was, and this became in the early days, the early 19th century the bureaucracy was governed by the patronage system.
3:20
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): As political parties became more prevalent President subtle way to reward party members and voters. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): bye bye kind of ruined by giving them positions in the federal government this became known as the spoils system, especially under President Jackson and which many high ranking government jobs are distributed based on party loyalty to reinforce party loyalty.
3:40
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): And this, the brc then over when the kind of development over time, especially as the country expanded and became more industrialized increased population urbanization and expanded railroads and Telegraph lines all required more regulation and government action.
3:54
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): So we have the version of the civil service system, the merit system through the.
4:00
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): Civil Service reformat the pendleton act we'll talk about more detail about this active just a second, which turned turned the patronage system into a merit system, but this really becomes kind of realized with with President woodrow Wilson, who was known as the father of public administration.
4:19
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): He was a political scientist who were wrote the first paper about public administration in 1887 and he said he wanted to separate public administration from politics.
4:29
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): The modern bureaucracy really takes off during the New Deal and great society programs of the investments in the 30s 40s and 16th. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): Try to greatly expand the role of the federal government in both Regulations and providing social services and then in the 80s 90s and 2000s conservatives let it backlash against the administrative regulatory state.
4:50
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): Trying to slash the budgets and funding for agencies importing heads of these agencies from the regulated. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): industries themselves, so what we're going to talk a little bit more about the idea of American based civil service, and this was created by the pendleton act of 1883.
5:06
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): This act made it illegal to fire government workers, for political reasons, and it raised the qualifications for civil service positions through examinations, the civil service exam. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): was set to identify people, based on their merit and skills and expertise, rather than their political patronage and loyalty.
5:24
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): And also created the United States civil service Commission the CSC was to be made up of three Commissioners, only two of which could be from the same political party and they were supposed to develop and apply the examinations for the civil service for civil service.
5:40
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): Miss created merit based recruitment so jobs are posted with K essays or knowledge, skills and abilities in the same way that you would see any other job ad with the kind of like desired and required qualifications to hold that job. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): There were civil service exams there used to be universal for specific positions.
6:00
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): and pay would be a twisted pay schedules will be based on level and experience, so that it couldn't be influenced by politics, all this to try to get closer to that data area, and I do have an apolitical professional bureaucracy.
6:13
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): When we're talking about the executive, the bureaucracy, we can break down executive agencies into a couple of different types. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): The most famous our cabinet departments, of which there are 15 treasury justice interior agriculture, commerce Labor Defense health and human services. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): housing and urban development, transportation, energy, education veterans affairs and Homeland Security.
6:36
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): Each of these is headed by a secretary appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate and they are directly accountable to the President and have broad authority the, especially the agency heads to kind of shape how the laws will get interpreted and enforced and executed.
6:53
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): The then there are independent and regulatory agencies, these are things like the CIA, the EPA other the state the forest service, the Bureau of land management. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): These are off to have more focused tasks focusing on every particular regulatory or administrative procedures.
7:10
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): Their heads or senate approved, but most of the staffing are by career are not Senator proofs and most of them are career bureaucrats working and the regulation these regulations regulatory agencies there for their whole careers.
7:25
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): So these are going to be the specific agencies that are in charge of. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): organ of like regulating so particularly enforcing certain laws right, so if the clean air and clean water act and power, the the EPA to do certain things and then.
7:38
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): that's how that's how they get enforced Finally, there are government corporations things like the postal service These provide services and a quasi enterprise, they have a board of directors and managers.
7:52
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): So, to understand kind of.
7:55
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): The politicization and the politics of the bureaucracy, we need to understand this, the idea, known as a principal agent relationship, so the principle. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): is someone who wants something done in this case it's Congress and might be the President. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): And they're going to delegate responsibility and authority to some agent some executive agency that has is going to implement enforce.
8:20
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): The law and but they're also going to give discretionary and authority as to how the law is going to be implemented and forced. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): So, why would they delegate this authority well Congress can't do everything it can literally enforce the laws rights needs other people to go and make sure that.
8:36
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): For example, that the articulate matters standards are being met by single source polluted sites or that that the funding is that the the you know.
8:47
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): interstate highway system that it is authorized is being built right, and so, but in addition to delegating this responsibility, they want to give the executive agencies certain amount of discretion. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): Because members of Congress aren't experts on everything, and so you want to create some flexibility for the executive agency on how the law or program is going to be implemented and enforced.
9:09
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): things might change over time Congress doesn't have time to kind of go through every single detail so you want to create you want to delegate that specifics to an agent.
9:21
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): So you give the agent.
9:24
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): The EPA, the Bureau of land management, the CIA, the FBI whomever this discretionary authority and the ability to implement and enforce that law. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): However, the executive agency is going to be faced with a series of. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): issues, so the executive agency, because they are experts in this regulatory agents area are going to have more information and expertise and members of Congress.
9:48
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): they're also going to have their own self interest they want to maintain their budgets and power and prestige. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): And they might have conflicting directives, the President might be a different party than the majority in Congress and direct the Agency to act in a particular way or they might appoint a head of the Agency.
10:07
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): You they might have point ahead to the EPA, who is more friendly to the fossil fuel industry or less friendly to the fossil fuel industry and so all of this meeting creates what is known as agency slack.
10:21
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): This is all of this is going to create the idea.
10:28
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): and which.
10:33
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): in which the agent is going to kind of drift away further and further away from the principles of original issues right. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): They might take this authority and go in one direction that is contrary to what the principal wanted them to do, especially if the they are headed by.
10:50
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): If, especially if there's division between the President and the Congress over how this loss function and what the scope of that regulatory agency should be. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): And so, this creates a problem in which the principal in this case Congress has to find ways to ensure that these executive agencies are doing what they want, that they are doing what.
11:14
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): What they are doing what is required of them, so let me explore this with the example so in whoops.
11:25
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): You can hear this.
11:27
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): Okay, in the clean water act of 1972 the grants the authority to the federal to the EPA to regulate the discharge into or alter the soil pollution or alterations so like changing the altering the waters of the United States.
11:45
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): The administrator Shell, after careful investigation and in coordination with other federal agencies take water pollution control agencies, etc, etc, etc. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): for preventing reducing or eliminating the pollution of the navigable waters and ground waters, improving the sanitary conditions of surface and under and waters.
12:00
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): So what are navigable waters well in section 502 of the Clean water act Nice to the term water genetic waters means waters of the United States. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): What does that mean well it according to environmental law lawyers that that doesn't actually tell you.
12:18
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): What they are like how there's lots of dispute over what count what types of bodies of water count as waters are the United States that are under the authority of the EPA to regulate pollution into. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): And this means and how we define.
12:33
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): The waters of the United States isn't neutral because it's going to determine the scope of regulatory authority if we define waters of the United States or navigable waters very narrowly like only referring to large. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): rivers and lakes that's going to limit the authority of the PA EPA.
12:49
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): But if we know if we define water navigable waters broadly to include pretty much any body of water that's going to greatly expand the power of the EPA. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): And so, these different up interpretations of the EPA have led to court challenges and they've led to presidential involvement and executive orders reinterpreting and defining what navigable waters are so the Obama Administration wanted to practice this past this rule.
13:16
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): called the clean water rule which would greatly expand the. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): The the the interpretation of unethical waters to include streams and creeks estuaries and other smaller buys water and there's a lot of pushback by this against this to that basically call argued that this would give the EPA, the ability to regulate puddles.
13:40
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): The EPA push back with public relations campaign saying that like no not regulating puddles, but we are expanding going to be regulating important.
13:50
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): Important other part and bodies of water that effect can be polluted.
13:56
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): In 2018 the the trump administration sought to reach to pass a new definition of the waters of the United States.
14:09
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): That would narrow the authority, the definition of the waters of the United States since the 2015 definition which expanded the definition of waters of the United States.
14:19
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): However, all because of the administrative procedures at all.
14:26
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): kind of administrative policy changes have to go through a period of public comment and public hearings and so they're they're. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): The during the government shutdown of 2018 2019 it actually prevented these public hearings from happening, so they couldn't go into effect.
14:41
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): But ultimately in 2020 the trump administration finalize the rule that would strip these that would rework the waters, the interpretation of the waters of the United States. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): As part of the trump administration's efforts to limit or repeal environmental rules and laws.
14:59
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): So again, this is an example of the Clean water act empowers the executive agency to do certain things, but the Agency dependent is going to be shaped by political directives, but. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): By competing political parties, but also by the owns the bureaucracy agencies and self interest and how they interpret enforce and execute this law.
15:18
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): So, given this discretionary authority and given the fact that you could have this agency slack we wanted interested in how the bureaucracy can be oversight over set of the democracy political scientists mcclellan's and shorts this in 1984 described two different models of oversight.
15:38
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): Police patrol and fire alliance police patrol model is centralized active and direct it kind of involved in kind of constantly overseeing through hearings.
15:48
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): kind of constantly looking for.
15:52
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): Looking for instances in which the bureaucracy is doing something that they would not normally authorize this relies on Congressional initiatives. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): And this is kind of analogous to the idea of police patrols and which Congress is going to have to go and check in on what the executive agencies are doing it's going to have to surveil them have.
16:11
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): read their documents call them in for testimony it's going to require a lot of work on by Congress and contrast is the idea of fire alarms which is decentralized indirect it's it's the idea here is that there's a system of rules that empower.
16:26
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): People to report misconduct, so you would go and pull the fire alarm and then Congress would come in and swoop in and save the day. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): So these are rules, procedures and practices that allow citizens or interest groups or members of the Executive Agency to kind of signal to Congress that the Agency is doing something.
16:42
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): Different than what Congress has already authorized, or that they are failing to do their job and the way that conferences authorize that they can, and then, following that that Congress can then. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): call in hearings and try to make changes Congress has an incentive to favor the fire alarm model.
16:59
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): Because it is.
17:02
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): More efficient and easier for Congress there it's theirs it's Congress is not going to have the same level of expertise or information or institutional capacity to kind of do this police patrol model, but this does. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): So there, they are reliant on other people kind of alert it's always going to be more reactive than proactive they're reliant on other people to kind of pull the fire alarm.
17:28
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): So what is Congressional oversight look like well the Government Accountability Office creates nonpartisan reports on government actions for Congress. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): there's the House committee on oversight and government reform that they co hearings for investigations as questions review budget often these arcane, but they can become.
17:47
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): A political spectrum spectacle, such as when I hate when the EPA hadn't discussed the head of the EPA was called in to discuss the flint water crisis and. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): Pollution of the flint water supply, they also can refuse to authorize appointments to the head executive head of executive agencies, they can prevent certain people from heading these agencies.
18:09
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): The President has like kind of most power over the bureaucracy and that the bureaucracy serves at the pleasure of the President. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): They control the appointments to heads at agencies day and these appointments can really shape the direction because Congress gives these agencies have.
18:24
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): Broad discretion, whoever is that the head of the Agency can really shape how the type of actions that agency is going to do right we saw this in the 2020 2020 with the appointments. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): From the industry appointee to be the head of the post office and that led to various policy changes that made the post office less effective right, these are all functions of the kind of political appointment process.
18:48
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): The office of management and budget the omb produces annual budgets for these different agencies and overseas agency. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): performance but there's also assistant oversight, the Freedom of Information Act provides the ability for citizens to requesting documents about agency actions.
19:07
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): documents produced by these executive agencies, so that individual citizens can be the ones who pull that fire alarm and trigger greater kind of regular.
19:16
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): Political action and regulatory reform here.
19:20
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): So that's it for the bureaucracy we'll talk a little bit more in discussion section, but. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): Next week we're going to talk about the third branch of government in the Constitution, the judiciary. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): Looking at both the structure and procedure of the federal judiciary, but also this kind of question about how the Constitution should be interpreted through different judicial philosophies with this debate conversation between.
19:43
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): For me, justice scalia and proceed and justice prior.
19:47
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): that's going to be the shift the focus for a next. Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): Next week, and the minute paper question describe the principal agent problem in your own words and try to think of an illustrative example it doesn't have to be a empirical example from politics, it can be an example and and any other kind of example, you can think of here that.
20:07
Prof. Sardo (he/him/his): illustrates the principal agent problem so that's it for week nine on the executive branch, I will see you all and discussion section take care.
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