In the beginning of class we watched a video. It was about
- Federal agencies
- How they assist during natural disasters
- Roles of federal agents (counseling and handling crisis)
- Federal employees increased from 1000’s to 3million in 2002
- Government evolved as society evolves
- EPA gained power during Nixon’s year
- 4 original executive departments expanded to dozens
- Redison vs. regulation
- Whether or not little league bb should be able to hire an umpire of the age of 12-13 w/out being restricted by child labor laws

Then we took some notes
4) Agencies are checked by the president
a) Appointment
b) Executive orders
c) Budget building
d) Reorganization
Administration and policy making (in formal politics)
1) “The science of mudding theory”- Charles Lindblom
a. The ideal rational comprehensive model holds that administrators rank values, clarify objectives, etc.
b. Real world decision making does not meet these criteria. Though bureaucrats are often criticized for “going by the book” they are required to enforce the book by law.
c. Rules do not make sense all the time bureaucrats interpret laws as the please
2) Agency policy makers encounter a number of constraints
a) Difficult to precisely define goals
b) Cannot always select most effective means for desired goals
c) Problems are often too pressing to complete study
d) Policy making tends to be characterized by incriminations with policies and programs changing bit by bit rather than dramatically
3) Behavior of bureaucrats tend to irritating and “going by the book”
a) Bureaucrats are effected by normal rules of their agencies

Problems in policy interpretation
1) Implementation: process of putting policies into implement. Bureaucrats must convert policies from words to actions
2) Factors can influence an implementation
a. if it is vague it is difficult to get it right
b. however if it is complex it is also difficult
c. sometimes lower level bureaucrats do not have enough discretion to effectively administer policies according to local circumstances
3) Implementation is the incremental process in which trial and error may lead to other policies that work
4) Bureaucratic pathology: characteristic criticized in a number of ways:
a. red tape: the maze of government rules, regulations and paper work that makes government hard to deal with
b. conflict agencies working at cross purposes with one another
c. duplication
d. unchecked growth
e. waste spending more on products than necessary
f. lack of accountability, difficulty firing or demoting an incompetent bureaucrat
The bureaucracy and interest groups
1) Informal ties may give interest groups influence in important policies
a) Iron triangles
b) Interest networks
Reforming the bureaucracy
1) President and agency administration always seek to improve the performance of the bureaucracy. These initiatives tend to alternate between two dominant themes:
a) Making government smaller and less intrusive
b) Fighting waste in government
2) The most recent wave of government responsiveness
a) Total quality managements: techniques applied to bureaucracy focuses on treating citizens like customers
3) Deregulation was an approach