The US Government Bureaucracy

The US Government Bureaucracy

The US government currently runs through the monopolistic model. A monopolistic model emerges from the lack of competition to provide a given public good. The different departments and agencies under the American government operate without competition. For instance, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the only institution in the US government responsible for tax collection (Krutz 526-527). Also, regional power providers operate in a competition-free environment. Since these government agencies do not face competition, they have no pressure to operate efficiently or be responsive. Another federal bureaucracy that exhibits the characteristics associated with a monopolistic model is the Bureau of Consular Affairs (BCA) (Krutz 526-527). Citizens must wait ten to twelve weeks to receive passports unless they pay an expedition fee. Monopolistic bureaucracies are unresponsive and inefficient because they do not face competition.

The patronage system gives the president the power to share spoils after the conclusion of an election process. Through the system, the president appoints party loyalists to influential positions after the conclusion of an election process (Peters and Bianchi 217). The reasoning behind the patronage system is that tying the livelihoods of presidential appointees with a party’s success is likely to motivate them to perform. However, the system has failed since appointees are not pressured to perform.

One of the ways to improve the patronage system is by making appointments based on merit. Even if the candidates are drawn from the president’s party loyalists, they should be subjected to a competitive merit-based selection process (Krutz 518). Another way to improve the patronage system is by separating public administration and politics. This will allow the appointees to perform without political influence while paying attention to public opinion.

Works Cited

Krutz, Glen S. American Government 3e. Houston, Tx: Openstax, Rice University, 2021.

Peters, B. Guy, and Carmine Bianchi. “Patronage and the Public Service: A Dynamic Performance Governance Perspective.” System Dynamics for Performance Management & Governance, 2020, pp. 215–236, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42970-6_10.

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Which model of bureaucracy best explains the way the government currently operates? Why? In what ways might the patronage system be made more efficient? Do not cut and paste anything from the Internet without quotations or proper citations – this is plagiarism. Everything not quoted or cited must be in your own words. Make sure to write a 250-300-word post and to reply to at least two other students with 100-word responses.