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An essay about bureaucracy
An essay about bureaucracy
The relevance of bureaucracy
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The bureaucracy's policymaking role has often been demonstrated as what is now known as the "iron triangle". An iron triangle is a term used to describe the three way alliance among legislators, bureaucrats and interest groups to create, and uphold policies that benefit their corresponding interests; often referred to as "sub-governments", The policies that are established as well as the laws that are created and then passed, if functioning as it should, should benefit all three corners of the triangle.
In one corner, we have interests groups, which are organizations of citizens who share a common interest, and together they work to protect and to bring awareness to that specific interest by influencing the government. Interest groups have
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Members of congress serve in committees and subcommittees, in which they make rulings in specific fields. Congress determines the budget and funding, and they also have the ability to establish jurisdiction of the executive agencies and regulatory commissions that work in that field.
In a third corner, we have the bureaucracy. The bureaucratic department has the ability and power to set regulations and awarded contracts in the specified field. The bureaucrats are often pressured and swayed by the same powerful interest groups. The bureaucracy also receives its funding and political assistance from the Congress members who rely on an interest groups election support. Because of the pressure that is put on to them, the bureaucracy often upholds regulations that are favorable to the industry's interests.
This "Iron Triangle" works both ways. Due to Congress's desires of having the political support of the interest groups, we most often find them passing legislation which is favorable to the interest groups. Congress also grants "oversight" to the federal agencies that are associated with the interest group(s). Interest groups receive the support of congress for programs, as well as budget requests via lobbyists, which are people who try to persuade legislation on behalf of an interest group. The bureaucracy create policy choices that will win the favor of Congress's constituency within the interest
Political Interest Groups take to activities such as political action, provision of materials, exchange of information, and Cooperation. Any form of political action is the most direct method, they can force from voting and campaign to influence of the selection and action of political authorities. Provisioning of material resources provide greats to political actors, this way is illegal depending on the greats and services offered to the political personnel for a desired outcome. Information exchange is also used by private groups for those in the political system helping obtain special information they probably couldn’t receive on their own. Cooperation plays a major role with interest groups and the political system. Policies are more acceptable to the affected group if they ap...
Interest groups, lobbyists, large corporations, and PACs try to influence the congressional committees' bills so they can have a say in the legislative process. When an interest group hears about a bill that is being debated on in a committee, they try to influence a members vote and they try to get a part of the bill changed. For example, a lobbyist came to me on a bill I proposed on making health care plans have no minimum requirement on benefits the company gives to its patients. He told me about how he did not get the right treatments and tests done on diseases he has and now is suffering badly from them. It was because the health plan did not have to give him anything extra. He changed my mind on the bill, and I changed the bill to setting a minimum standard on benefits given to patients.
Twyman, D., & Whitney, C. (2009, September 1). Interest Groups in American Politics. Retrieved from The American Citizen: http://www.twyman- whitney.com/americancitizen/links/lobbies.htm
Political systems within the United States work together to establish laws and create boundaries for their people. Government officials work with the Senate in Congress to help establish regulations not only for the American people but also for corporations in order to not become monopolies in today’s market. This all corresponds to a legislative process in order for Congress to have a clear idea of passing effective laws that help reinforce results within our society. Members of Congress and political affiliations are impacted by representatives from large business corporations through the process of bribing these government officials into supporting the ideas and desires of these corporations. In order for this to occur, these companies engage in lobbying. Lobbying is the attempt to influence government officials in decision making processes or swaying the government by employing tactics through various agreements in the form of verbal or written statements to public officials in Congress. This usually occurs through donations of large amounts of money to members of Congress as a way of bribing them to support the representatives of these corporations. Therefore, corporations have widely influenced Congress, making it difficult to pass laws and bills that are not in favor of these corporations. Thus, lobbying is influenced by money and promotes the interests of these specific corporations.
In the iron triangle model there are three roles interacting with one another in relation to one or more specific types of policy. The three roles are congressional committees, bureaucratic agencies, and interest groups. The primary role of a congressional committee is to control the federal budget and legislation. The primary role of a bureaucratic agency is to carry out or act on legislation and use funds allocated through the budget to do so. The primary role of an interest group is to influence the congressional committee in order to obtain some benefit that is then carried out by the bureaucratic agency. These roles are mutually bene...
Legislative Branch – Made up of the House and Senate. Known as congress. This branch makes the laws, declares wars, and regulates interstate and foreign commerce. Controls taxing and spending. Within the Legislative are the following organizations: Architect of the Capitol (AOC), Center for Legislative Archives, National Archives and Records Admin, Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Government Accountability Office (GAO), Government Printing Office (GPO), Library of Congress (LOC), Office of Compliance and the U.S. Senate.
Do they play an important role in our democracy since they claim that they represent many people? There has been a continuing debate over the proper role of interest groups in the United States democracy. Interest groups are organized group of individuals who share the same ideas and their main goal is to influence media, lawmakers, and people with their ideas. On one hand, interest groups members and their leaders assert that they offer crucial information and services to the lawmakers and that lawmakers aren’t experts regarding every bill proposed
Citizens of the United States are traditionally given unlimited freedom of speech, press, and assembly. These American privileges allow interest groups to express their perspectives by using the media and other sources that are accessible to the public. In definition, an interest group is a group of individuals who organize to influence the government’s programs and policies. The main goal of these groups is to have the government both listen and respond to their interests (Shin 243). Historically interest groups have and continue to play a crucial role in American politics; especially since it is an effective form for citizens to interfere with government decision making. Two current interest groups in the United States are the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda and the National Council of La Raza. These particular interest groups demonstrate how interest groups directly and indirectly influence public opinion and the political process.
The “advocacy explosion” in the United States in the 20th century has been caused by the extreme increase in the number of interest groups in the United States. The general public views the increase and the groups themselves as a cancer that has come to the body of American politics and is spreading. The explosion in the number of interest groups and interest group members and finances has had an effect on the decline of the American political party and partisanship, the effect on democracy and the public interest, and the bias that has come with interest group competition.
Interest groups have a big influence on public opinion and campaign advertising. Basically, if your interest group is happy you will have public interest and influence. It is in the best interest of the interest group and Congressional committee happy because, they
Their power can go a long way in policy making or changing. To change a policy that an interest group feels as bad, they begin pending with information to present to the Congress on how to change the policy and why, and they also advocate for larger budgets to the agencies. The agencies, therefore, provides the interest groups with contracts and services for the members of congress. The committees, or Congress, support the interest groups ideas and accept a budget from the agencies requests. And that is how an iron triangle coincides with the policy making or changing process.
These pluralistic interest groups are free to operate and lobby in the political arena, fighting against the majority and other competing factions for voice in Congress. With the influence of multiple factions operating throughout the political system, a balance of power is created (Kernell 2000, 429). This is much like the international theory of sovereign states balancing each other’s power to create a political system that focuses on stability, yet is always in a constant flux of power. With this in mind, special interest groups are constantly contending for power by raising money, campaigning, and lobbying in Congress. When a special interest group is threatened by a competing policy, the group will organize efforts to balance, or transcend the power of the competing group.
This is what makes the special interest groups either beneficial or detrimental and when the group is not showing anything that people would like to support that would not give any power to the interest group and if the mass liked what the interest group was doing or supporting then they will support it and when many people all want something made as a law the special interest group supports a candidate that is running for president and pays for his/her campaign and when they win the election they ask for a favor and approve something that the masses wanted and when the request of the masses is approved the special interest group starts gaining more and more people that want to do something for a certain
In our countries government, Congress plays a major role in decision making. They’re primary role is to pass laws. These laws start off as bills. Bills can only be introduced by members of Congress. Although these bills only come from Congressman, there are many people who influence these bills. Such as the president, regular citizens, offices in the executive branch, and many others. The bills right off the bat do not have a very good chance of passage. Only one out of every ten bills even gets any attention at all. This is because they must go through many tests and hearings before they even have a chance of landing on the president’s desk. These steps in a bill becoming a law are very important, and make sure that all bills passed into law are the best of the best.