Bureaucracy and Democracy: Accountability and Performance / Edition 4

by Steven J. Balla, William T. Gormley

Overview

Given the influence of public bureaucracies in policymaking and implementation, Steven J. Balla and William T. Gormley assess their performance using four key perspectives—bounded rationality, principal-agent theory, interest group mobilization, and network theory—to help students develop an analytic framework for evaluating bureaucratic accountability. The new Fourth Edition of Bureaucracy and Democracy: Accountability and Performance provides a thorough review of bureaucracy during the Obama and Trump administrations, as well as new attention to state and local level examples and the role of bureaucratic values.

New to this Edition:

• Interviews with two new cabinet secretaries—Christine Todd Whitman and Tom Ridge—with insightful quotes from them throughout the book.
• Added material on the battle over regulations, a battle that will loom large during the Trump administration, including midnight regulations and the Congressional Review Act.
• New examples demonstrate the activity and influence of constituencies of different kinds including the placing of women and minorities on US currency, a vignette that features the musical Hamilton, and the political protests surrounding the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines.
• A new discussion of the privatization of roads, the pros and cons.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781506348889
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	08/29/2017
Edition description:	Fourth Edition
Pages:	360
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Steven J. Balla is associate professor of political science, public policy and public administration, and international affairs at George Washington University. He is also a research associate at the George Washington Institute of Public Policy, and a member of the International Working Group on Online Consultation and Public Policy Making.

William T. Gormley Jr. is University Professor and professor of government and public policy at Georgetown University. He is the author of several books, including Organizational Report Cards, with David Weimer and Everybody’s Children: Child Care as a Public Problem.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Bureaucracies as Policymaking Organizations
The Contours of Public Bureaucracy
Accountability and Performance in Public Bureaucracies
Accountability and Its Many Faces
The Push for Performance
Accountability and Performance: Theories and Applications
Chapter 2: Bureaucratic Reasoning
Bounded Rationality
Simplified Problem Solving
Evidence-Based Research
Implications for Policy Analysis
Motivation
Consequences of Bounded Rationality
Conclusion
Chapter 3: The Bureaucracy’s Bosses
Delegation, Adverse Selection, and Moral Hazard
Why Bureaucracy?
Managing Delegation
Principal-Agent Theory and the Bureaucracy’s Clients
Principals and Principles
Chapter 4: The Bureaucracy’s Clients
The Benefits, Costs, and Politics of Public Policy
The Rise and Fall of Iron Triangles
The Venues of Client Participation
Client Influence on Bureaucratic Policymaking
Clients and the Institutions of Government
Client Participation: Three Lessons and Beyond
Chapter 5: Bureaucratic Networks
Networks versus Hierarchies
Network Theory
The Tools Approach
Types of Bureaucratic Networks
Network Effectiveness
The Effectiveness of Policy Tools
Networks and Public Bureaucracy
Chapter 6: The Politics of Disaster Management
The Gulf of Mexico: Two Crises with Precedent
September 11, 2001: A Crisis without Precedent
Avian Influenza: A Crisis in the Making?
Evaluating Bureaucracy in Light of the Theories
Chapter 7: Why Are Some Bureaucracies Better Than Others?
Rating the Performance of Agencies
Explaining Variations in Performance
Alternative Ways of Gauging Agency Performance
Bureaucracy in the Twenty-First Century

Editorial Reviews

Bureaucracy can be a dry topic to teach and study; Balla and Gormley make it accessible and fun. The book provides a wonderful overview of the theories behind bureaucratic decision-making, as well as the political and other challenges faced by administrative agencies.”

Lydia Tiede

Bureaucracy and Democracy delivers on the longstanding promise that professors make to students each year: that theories of bureaucracy and democracies matter in very practical and applicable ways, and that to understand bureaucracy you need to understand democracy (and vice versa). Students who read this book will have that ‘a-ha’ moment about all these connections. That, to me, is worth the price of the book.”

Lonce Bailey

This is the best single overview of bureaucracy and how it fits in our democratic system available. The book elegantly weaves a nuanced understanding of bureaucracy itself with the functioning of agencies in a political system. Readers will learn a tremendous amount. Balla and Gormley know their stuff and they share it in an engaging and accessible fashion. The book includes clear frameworks and contemporary examples to help readers make sense of this complex but important topic.

David E. Lewis

Employing a series of timely and engaging illustrations, Balla and Gormley walk readers through the key theoretical approaches to modern bureaucratic governance. The result is a sophisticated but accessible treatment of the complexities of bureaucratic performance and accountability. This is a go-to resource for those interested in understanding what is at stake when it comes to the administrative state.

Rachel Augustine Potter