Executive Governance: Presidential Administrations and Policy Change in the Federal Bureaucracy

by Cornell G. Hooton

Overview

This study explores the difficulties of translating presidential policy initiatives into ground-level policy implementation by the permanent government. Drawing on organization theory, it focuses on the ways that bureaucratic behaviours shape an agency's responsiveness to directives.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780765600486
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	04/30/1997
Series:	Bureaucracies, Public Administration, and Public Policy Series
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Lexile:	1540L (what's this?)

Table of Contents

List of Tables and Figure vii
List of Titles and Acronyms ix
Foreword by Kenneth J. Meier xi
Preface and Acknowledgments xiii
Chapter
I. Introduction 3
2. Changing Direction 19
3. Legalism and Authority 47
4. Programmatic Context 66
5. Political Direction 82
6. Processes of Policy Change: Institutionalization 101
7. Processes of Policy Change: Defmition 115
8. Directing Federal Bureaus 140
Appendix A The Generic Bureau-Chain of Command 163
Appendix B Research Methods 164
Appendix C Bureaus in Continuous Existence from January 1977 to
January 1981 172
vi Executive Governance
Appendix D The Carter Administration's Preferences for Transit
Notes
General Bibliography
Transportation Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

Examines relationships between bureaucracy and political executives from a behavioral perspective on organizations. An extended case study of the Urban Mass Transportation Administration and shorter cases on the Federal Highway Administration and the Food and Nutrition Service offer evidence that the legal authority of political executives is a key factor in their ability to change the policy direction bureaucrats, challenging principal-agent models of bureaucracy. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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