Research Catalog

Title

The new case for bureaucracy / Charles T. Goodsell, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Author

Goodsell, Charles T.

Publication

Los Angeles : SAGE/CQ Press, [2015]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

xiv, 233 pages; 23 cm

Summary

Charles Goodsell has long taken the position that U.S. bureaucracy is neither a generalized failure nor sinkhole of waste as mythologized by anti-government ideologues. Rather, it is one of the most effective and innovate sets of administrative institutions of any government in the world today. Indispensable to our democracy, it keeps government reliable and dependable to the citizens it serves. However, The New Case for Bureaucracy goes beyond empirically verifying its quality. Now an extended essay, written in a conversational tone, Goodsell expects readers to form their own judgments. At a time when Congress is locked in partisan and factional deadlock, he argues for the increased importance of bureaucrats and discusses how federal agencies must battle to keep alive in terms of resources and be strong enough to retain the integrity of their missions. While bureaucracy is not a substitute for policymaking by elected officials, it keeps the machinery of government running smoothly to meet the ever changing needs of the country, despite the challenges of federal sequester and shutdown.

Subject

• Bureaucracy > United States
• United States > Politics and government

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 217-220) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Tables, boxes, and figures -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- What, defend bureaucracy? Some preliminaries ; Bureaucracy's image ; Ways theorists condemn it ; Ways theorist commend it ; So what's our starting point? -- Bureaucracy under the microscope. Clients' impressions ; Output and outcome data ; Bureaucracy compared to business ; The magnitude of bureaucracy ; change in bureaucracy ; The microscopic view summed up -- The bureaucrats front and center. Some initial factoids ; Their status : income and education ; Their race : an enduring issue ; Their gender : the equality ideal in practice ; Are bureaucrats really that bad? ; Are bureaucrats actually principled? ; Passing in review -- Inside bureaucratic governance. Bureaucratic governance defined ; Governance as rule ; Governance as response ; Governance as acquisition ; Governance as engagement ; So what's inside there? -- Earning and retaining the public trust. A trustworthy bureaucracy? ; How bad are the scandals? ; Battling for resources ; Battling for the mission ;; Struggling in a shutdown ;; Afterword on Obamacare.

ISBN

• 9781452226309 (alk. paper)
• 145222630X (alk. paper)

LCCN

^^2013051184

OCLC

869919548

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library