In the United States: The Federal Bureaucracy and Government by Proxy
In the United States, the federal bureaucracy has a system of operation commonly known as the government by proxy. As such, it stems from the construct of a bureaucracy where this structure comprises a large and complex organization which has employed a large number of employees. The reason why a bureaucracy features as a complex entity comes down to the fact that the authority given is divided amongst some managers thus the concept of decision making does not rest only on one person. In this case, Congress can satisfactorily fit the description of bureaucracy due to its staff size and power flow.
The Distinct Character of the American Bureaucracy
One of the aspects that have given the American bureaucracy a distinct character involves the element of shared political authority since it does not revolve around a set of hands but distributed amongst several institutions. The second element comprises the fact that most of the agencies in the federal government have a relationship of sharing functions with those in the state and local level of government. The third aspect involves the aspect of the American way of life which has led to the scrutiny of public institutions when it comes to the expansion of personal rights and privacy.
The Proxy Government in the United States Representative Form of Government
In this case, the proxy government in the United States representative form of government involves the situation where the voters go out and elect their legislators who take on the responsibility of making the laws. However, the United States takes on a somewhat unusual approach in that the bureaucrats prefer delegating such tasks to other people who in turn receive payment for their services. Such persons include private business firms, the state and local governments, non-profit organizations and charity organizations (Wilson et al., 2018).
Government Programs and Contracts
Some of the programs in the United States government that have been coordinated and run using this method include the Social Security program, environmental protection activities through the Environmental Protection Agency, Medicare, and the aspect of tax collection by deduction money from one’s paycheck through the Internal Revenue Service. Also, the sensitive docket of military procurements goes to third parties through contracts.
An example of this is seen during the Gulf War around 1991 where it became apparent that the number of American soldiers had outnumbered the number of private contractors by a ratio of almost sixty to one (Wilson et al., 2018). However, this ratio became smaller with the number of soldiers to those in the private contracting work standing at almost one to one. There exists a case where an individual company won a contract to provide food and water to ground troops during the Iraqi war worth $7.2 billion.
Another example of the use of this proxy government structure is seen during the tragedies of Hurricane Katrina and Rita which devastated the Gulf Coast. As such, the government’s response involved the employment of the government proxy bureaucracy. A crisis ensued for the federal and state bureaucracies during the floodwaters that inundated Lake Charles from the Hurricane Rita which necessitated the use of a weak group known as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). As of the time of the levees breaking, it only had two thousand six hundred employees with significant help from state and local agencies which did not have a high level of competency.
Pros and Cons of Government-by-Proxy
One of the identified cons of this proxy government structure involves the fact that the money sent to both the public and private organizations becomes harder to track (Wilson et al., 2018). Congress could change things, but it has inclined more to policy and goal definition and setting up and the executive and Congress preferring a smaller bureaucracy by giving out small jobs and paying. On the other hand, pros for government-by-proxy include the fact that it engenders some flexibility, makes use of the skills in both the private and nonprofit sector, and promotes the concept of federalism as enshrined in the United States Constitution.
References
Wilson, J. Q., DiIulio Jr, J. J., Bose, M., " Levendusky, M. S. (2018). American government: Institutions and policies. Cengage Learning.
