Bureaucracy and Democracy: Accountability and Performance

How should your students understand the role of bureaucracy in American democracy? Making many of the policy decisions that most directly affect our lives--from the criteria used to rate the effectiveness of our schools to the rules that govern our retirement savings--bureaucracies and their performance merit our close study. With a focus on accountability, Gormley and Balla examine the factors that ultimately lead to bureaucratic successes and shortcomings.

How should your students systematically evaluate policymaking in government agencies? Since one theory or approach cannot adequately cover the complexity of bureaucracy, the authors work through four key perspectives to give students more analytic power in answering crucial questions about governance. Each perspective--whether its focus is top-down, bottom-up, lateral, or on an individual player--gives students more complete and real insight into the give and take between decision makers, managers, elected officials, organized interests, and citizens.

Features worth highlighting:

• Clear and engaging explanations of four key perspectives--bounded rationality, principal-agent theory, interest group mobilization, and network theory--offer students powerful analytic handles for assessing the work of agencies.
• In-depth case studies on four important agencies--the FTC, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene--not only bring the book's four theories together for complementary study, but also show accountability standards at play in departments that vary in organization, size, and goals.
• Insight from four former cabinet secretaries--James Baker III, Donna Shalala, Dan Glickman, and Dick Thornburgh --featured in "Inside Bureaucracy" boxes seamlessly tie to the book's theoretical discussions.
• Timely examples from a range of departments and agencies--related to education, health, homeland security, environmental, consumer protection, economic, and other policy areas--ground all analysis in the real world.
• Helpful pedagogical tools such as focus questions, key words, and web resources, orient students and give them a departure point for further research and study.

William T. Gormley, Jr. is professor of government and public policy at Georgetown University. He is the author of several books, including Organizational Report Cards, with David Weimer (1999) and Everybody's Children: Child Care as a Public Problem (1995).

Steven J. Balla is associate professor of political science and international affairs and associate director of the Ph.D. program in public policy at George Washington University. His research has appeared in numerous publications, including American Political Science Review and American Journal of Political Science.