The Dynamics of Bureaucracy in the US Government: How Congress and Federal Agencies Process Information and Solve Problems

210 Pages·2015·1.27 MB·English

by  Samuel Workman

TheDynamicsofBureaucracyintheU.S.Government
HowCongressandFederalAgenciesProcess
InformationandSolveProblems
This book develops a new theoretical perspective on bureaucratic
influence and congressional agenda setting based on limited attention
and government information processing. Using a comprehensive new
dataset on regulatory policy making across the entire federal bureau-
cracy, Samuel Workman develops the theory of the dual dynamics of
congressionalagendasettingandbureaucraticproblemsolvingasaway
to understand how the U.S. government generates information about
and addresses important policy problems. Key to the perspective is a
communicationsframeworkforunderstandingthenatureofinforma-
tion and signaling between the bureaucracy and Congress concerning
thenatureofpolicyproblems.Workmanfindsthatcongressionalinflu-
ence is innate to the processes of issue shuffling, issue bundling, and
the fostering of bureaucratic competition. In turn, bureaucracy influ-
encesthecongressionalagendathroughproblemmonitoring,problem
definition, and the provision of information that serves as important
feedbackinthedevelopmentofanagenda.
Samuel Workman is an assistant professor of political science at the
University of Oklahoma. He has held the positions of J. J. “Jake”
Pickle Research Fellow and assistant professor at the University of
Texas at Austin. He is affiliated with the Center for Intelligence and
NationalSecurityandtheCenterforRiskandCrisisManagement,both
attheUniversityofOklahoma.Healsoservesasthebureaucracyand
regulatorypolicyexpertatthePolicyAgendasProjectattheUniversity
of Texas. His work has appeared in Policy Studies Journal and the
JournalofPublicAdministrationResearchandTheory.

The Dynamics of Bureaucracy in
the U.S. Government
How Congress and Federal Agencies Process
Information and Solve Problems
SAMUEL WORKMAN
UniversityofOklahoma
32AvenueoftheAmericas,NewYork,ny10013-2473,usa
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©SamuelWorkman2015
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Firstpublished2015
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
AcatalogrecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Workman,Samuel,1979–
ThedynamicsofbureaucracyintheU.S.government:howCongressandfederalagenciesprocess
informationandsolveproblems/SamuelWorkman.
pages cm
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn978-1-107-06110-1(hardback)
1.UnitedStates.Congress–History. 2.Bureaucracy–UnitedStates–History. I.Title.
jk1021.w67 2015
352.3(cid:2)80973–dc23 2014043079
isbn978-1-107-06110-1Hardback
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Contents
ListofIllustrations pagevii
ListofTables ix
Acknowledgments xi
1 BureaucracyandProblemSolving 1
1.1 WhatIsThisBookAbout? 1
1.2 WhyThisBook?WhyNow? 4
1.3 DualDynamics,or“Elmore’sProblem” 6
1.4 MyApproach 10
1.5 PlanoftheBook 12
2 TheDualDynamicsoftheAdministrativeState 16
2.1 DuelingTraditionsofBureaucracy 20
2.2 FindingTailsandForgettingBureaucracy 25
2.3 DualDynamics 26
2.4 LogicofDualDynamics 48
2.5 TheNewHistoryofthe“Public”Bureaucracy 60
3 TheRegulatoryProcessasanAttentionMechanism 62
3.1 LegislativeDevelopment 63
3.2 CongressionalBureaucracyandInstitutionalDevelopment 65
3.3 TheProcessofRulemaking 67
3.4 RegulatoryPolicyMakingandSystemAdaptability 69
3.5 RegulationasInformation 71
3.6 PresidentialPrioritiesandRegulatoryPolicyMaking 73
4 ProblemMonitoringintheAdministrativeState 75
4.1 RiseoftheCongress–BureaucracyNexus 76
4.2 DualDynamicsasSignaling 79
4.3 BureaucraticPolicyMaking 86
v
vi Contents
4.4 BureaucraticProblemMonitoring 93
4.5 SignalingandInformation 105
5 ProblemPrioritizationandDemandforInformation 107
5.1 IssueShuffling 108
5.2 IssueBundlingandthe“Tuning”oftheInformation
Supply 116
5.3 CompetitionandtheMarketforProvisionofInformation 123
5.4 CongressionalPrioritization 127
6 ProblemSolvingandtheSupplyofInformation 130
6.1 ProblemMonitoring 131
6.2 ProblemDefinition 138
6.3 InformationSupplyandFeedback 146
6.4 TheDynamicsofProblemSolvingintheBureaucracy 150
7 Information,Bureaucracy,andGovernment
ProblemSolving 151
7.1 FoundationsoftheArgument 152
7.2 CongressionalPrioritization 153
7.3 BureaucraticProblemSolving 154
7.4 TheEvidence 155
7.5 WhatDoWeLearn? 158
7.6 ImplicationsforGovernanceandReform 159
AppendixA ConceptualizationandMeasurement 163
A.1 ExamplesofRules 163
A.2 TheUnifiedAgendaasanIndicator 166
A.3 IterativeExpert-MachineTopicCodingofRegulations 167
A.4 CommunicationsMeasuresandInformationProcessing 168
AppendixB StatisticalModels 171
B.1 CongressionalProblemPrioritization 171
B.2 BureaucraticProblemSolving 173
References 179
AuthorIndex 189
SubjectIndex 192
List of Illustrations
4.1 BureaucraciesandIssuesontheCongressionalAgenda page78
4.2 ProblemMonitoringandSignaling 83
4.3 IssueTrendsinRegulation 96
4.4 DeviationsfromtheMeanLevelofRegulations 100
4.5 RealChangeinRegulations 101
4.6 SignalNoiseandAmplitude 104
5.1 PartyControlinCongressandChangeinIssueSignaling
bytheBureaucracy 110
5.2 PartyControlinCongressandChangeinSignalingby
Bureaucracies 114
5.3 IssueBundlingunderDemocraticControlofCongress 121
5.4 IssueBundlingunderRepublicanControlofCongress 122
5.5 FederalAgencyCompetitionwithinEachIssue 124
5.6 CongressionalPrioritizationandtheInformationMarket
forBureaucracy 126
6.1 TheInfluenceofProblemMonitoringonCongressional
AgendaConcentration 135
6.2 TheInfluenceofInformationandItsDeclineoverTime 137
6.3 ProblemDefinitioninPublicLandsandWater 142
6.4 ProblemDefinitioninEnergy 144
6.5 FeedbackandAdjustmentwithinIssues 147
6.6 DynamicsofFeedbackinAgriculture 149
vii