What Are Street-Level Bureaucrats And Why Are They So Powerful

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Who are street-level bureaucrats and why are they so powerful? What can we do to curb their excessive power?

INTRODUCTION

The process of implementation of public policy has been a main concern and highly debatable issue of public administration. For years many scholars have tried to define a clear relationship between the laws enacted by legislature and the laws administered by the executive branch in government. Street-level bureaucrats, who comprise a large portion of all public employees in governmental organization, can be seen as CONCEPT AND THEORY

Street-level bureaucracy, in general, is defined as “the subset of a public agency or government institution containing the individuals who carry out and enforce the actions required by laws and public policies”. It simply refers to …show more content…

This is because most tasks carried out by street-level bureaucrats are in the form of intangible services and enforcement activities. Hence, it is rather difficult for supervisors and those who are in charge of overseeing them to assess and monitor the quality of every single decision and action that they make. In reality, the poorer the people are, the greater the influence street-level bureaucrats tend to have over them. If people are not capable of affording services rendered by private sectors, they would turn to seek aid from the government, and when they receive help from government, they have to interact with street-level bureaucrats. As service providers, it is undeniable that street-level bureaucrats hold accountability when implementing public policies as their decisions and actions can impact individuals' lives directly. They decide who are eligible to receive benefits and services, confer the status of a person and also oversee the treatments and benefits that citizens receive. In Lipsky's (1980)

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