Iron Triangle Model Of Bureaucracy

Part I: Instructions: Use Short Answer Essays, Graphic Organizers/Diagrams, or Bullet Outlines to demonstrate your understanding of the following:

1. The Nature of Bureaucracy
2. The Size of the Bureaucracy
3. The Organization of the Federal Bureaucracy
4. Staffing the Bureaucracy
5. Modern Attempts at Bureaucratic Reform
6. Bureaucrats as Politicians and Policymakers
7. Congressional Control of the Bureaucracy

Part II: Investigating: The Bureaucracy --Give a brief description of the each cabinet department (15)

Part III: The Bureaucracy --Give a brief description of 10 independent executive agencies

Bureaucracy Assignment

Part I: Instructions: Use Short Answer Essays, Graphic Organizers/Diagrams, or Bullet
• Identify the recent reforms within the federal civil service. o Sunshine laws o Sunset laws o Whistle-blowers • Explain the iron triangle model of the bureaucracy and the role of executive agencies, subcommittees and interest groups.

TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION
How necessary is bureaucracy? If we can agree that individuals need rules and regulations to live together, then there must also be a bureaucracy. Rules and regulations are meaningless unless they are administered; the bureaucracy is necessary for the administration.
An example of a bureaucracy that students should be able to identify with is the one at your college or university. Each professor is a specialist who is a part of a division or department (chain of command). Most professors use a syllabus (formal rules) and administer grades on an objective basis (decision-making based on neutrality). (Of course, we are more used to thinking of the university bureaucracy as including only non-teaching
Political Appointees. The president appoints individuals in the first category. The most important factor in this selection process is political party. The overwhelming majority of presidential appointees are of the same party of the president. These “political plums” are bestowed to qualified individuals who typically helped the president get elected. Among the biggest “plums” are ambassadorships. These may be reserved for large contributors to the president’s campaign. One of the most dubious political appointments in recent years was George W. Bush’s appointment of Mike Brown as head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Brown’s lack of expertise was revealed in the aftermath of Hurricane