Instructor Resource Kettl, Politics of the Administrative Process, 8e SAGE Publishing, 2021
Instructor‟s Solution Manual Politics of the Administrative Process, 8th Edition by Kettl Donald
Chapter 1: Accountability Chapter Objectives
Understand the three intertwined themes of the book: politics, performance, and accountability.
Explore the history of the administrative process.
Examine the central role of accountability in the administrative process.
Chapter Summary Chapter 1 begins with detailing President Trump‟s concern over the “deep state” and his criticisms over bureaucracy. Top politicians have criticized bureaucracy, highlighting issues of waste, fraud, and abuse. Bureaucracies exercise vast power, and the issue of vast power being kept under the control of elected officials is a big problem of accountability. The American people have the expectation that government will solve problems. In order to do so, government must coordinate with partners through complex systems. Deciding what to do and how to do it invites politics as different values and priorities come into play. Yet, throughout the process, there is the expectation by the people that government will be effective, efficient, and accountable. The chapter provides one example, that of the Flint, MI water crisis, which had origins in running government more like a business. Americans are suspicious about the exercise of political power, yet they expect efficiency, effectiveness, and equity from their government, but as this case illustrates, sometimes this has devastating results. Accountability is firmly rooted in American history. The Founding Fathers were necessarily ambiguous about the details of public administration, leaving big administrative questions for later leaders to work out due to the politics of the time. The Progressives, in the late nineteenth century, grappled again with these questions and helped to further develop American ideas around executive power. Woodrow Wilson, among them, helped to outline a central difficulty in public administration referred to as the “policy-administration dichotomy,” where elected officials, accountable to citizens, make laws, but administrators, who are accountable to these elected officials, are the ones who actually carry out the laws. His ideas were challenged by political scientist John Gaus who pointed out that laws are not always clear and are further
Instructor Resource Kettl, Politics of the Administrative Process, 8e SAGE Publishing, 2021 impossible to translate into administrative action that is transparent and predictable. Gaus‟ solution was to rely on administrators‟ professional norms. This led to a famous debate between Carl Friedrich (who was aligned with Gaus) and Herman Finer in 1940 about whether it was possible to rely on these professional norms or if external controls were necessary to keep administrators accountable. The chapter goes on to question both Wilson and Gaus saying that as policy problems have evolved first they are no longer easily traceable down a hierarchy of command as many partners are involved, making the rule of law approach untenable. Also, there is no longer just one set of professional norms for administrators as each agency has their own culture with a different set of norms. The chapter also focuses on a defining bureaucratic responsibility and its relationship to accountability and ethical behavior. One element of bureaucratic responsibility is accountability: faithful obedience to the law, to higher officials‟ direction, and to standards of efficiency and economy. This accountability depends on systems of control made more complicated by the fact that elected officials tend not to desire clear chains of responsibility, which create a “gotcha” effect. Different ways to measure performance come from these elements of accountability: fiscal, process, and programmatic accountability. The other element of bureaucratic accountability is ethical behavior: adherence to moral standards and avoidance of even the appearance of unethical action (standards that are that are perhaps higher than those of the private sector). When faced with conflicting directions from controllers, administrators can either “voice” (remaining in their positions and fighting for what they think is right) or “exit” (resignation). These challenges specific to government service (accountability and ethical behavior) sometimes make it difficult to recruit the best people for the jobs who often go to the private sector instead.
Lecture Outline I. Introduction II. The Foundations of Public Administration a. Is Private Administration Better Than Public? b. The Problem of Trust in Government c. Solving the Public‟s Demands on Government III. Historical Roots IV. The Meaning of Accountability a. What Is Accountability? b. Approaches to Accountability
Instructor Resource Kettl, Politics of the Administrative Process, 8e SAGE Publishing, 2021 c. Elements of Accountability d. Holding Administration Accountable V. Governmental Power and Administrative Ethics VI. The Public Service
Chapter Review 1. What does the often-repeated phrase “a government of laws, not of men” mean, and how does it apply to bureaucratic accountability? What are the specific challenges of maintaining this principal in a democratic system like ours? Can you think of any modern day circumstances where this concept might be applied? 2. The balance between bureaucratic power and accountability is one unpacked throughout the chapter. How do the three approaches to accountability tackle the issue of creating a system that makes bureaucrats powerful enough to do their jobs but not so powerful that elected officials cannot hold them accountable? How do you see this at work in the real world? What solutions can you offer? (Feel free to draw upon the case studies from the chapter.)
Discussion Questions 1. The Roman satirist Juvenal asked two millennia ago: “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?” or “Who is to watch the watchers?” Who is responsible for controlling administrators and how would they do so? Which of the measures of performance accountability—fiscal, process, or program accountability—do you think best keeps administrators honest? Do you think that any particular one has primacy over another? 2. The text outlines several scenarios where politics interfered with public administration. Outline just one of these cases and discuss why public administration will always be political in that it often forces a choice among competing values. Why do you think this is so? Do you think public administration has to be political? 3. Why are ethical standards maintained more rigorously in the public sector than in the private sector? Do you think this should be so—even with the potential hiring cost (sacrificing the very best people for the job who may be drawn to the less stringent and perhaps more lucrative private sector)? 4. Peter Self, British scholar, said “The tensions between the requirements of responsibility or „accountability‟ and those of effective executive action can reasonably be described as the classic dilemma of public administration.” Respond to this insight. Do you agree? Are there other more insidious dilemmas within the realm of public administration? 5. Recent whistleblowing activities in the United States have come under scrutiny because the whistleblower‟s activities posed a threat to national security. Do you believe that controllers always have a duty to report wrongdoing? Does whistleblowing have multiple standards? Is one type better or more acceptable than another? 6. Read the following excerpt from the text and respond to the questions that follow.
Instructor Resource Kettl, Politics of the Administrative Process, 8e SAGE Publishing, 2021 “The story of both the Flint water crisis and the BP spill captures the essence of modern government: We the people identify problems that we expect the government will solve, to promote the general welfare. How does it do so? Government, on behalf of us all, sets goals, and then it creates complex organizations to meet those goals. And these tales also capture a fundamental challenge: Does government have what it takes to do what its citizens expect?” This paragraph describes the “essence of modern government.” How does it strike you? Do you think it is possible for government to fashion organizations capable of addressing problems that are identified? Are tradeoffs inevitable? 7. Describe the differences between the three elements of accountability discussed in the text: process, procedural, and fiscal? Which of them do you think is the most difficult to enforce or to measure? Why do you think this is so? 8. In the 1940s two political theorists, Carl J. Friedrich and Herman Finer, debated a critical question of accountability in American public administration: whether professional norms or external controls were necessary to keep administrators accountable. In other words, how much can we rely on the laws to keep administrators in check and how much can we rely on the uniform training of our administrators? Reenact this historic debate. Which do you think is a better accountability measure, external or internal controls and/or the personal character of the administrator? How do you support your choice? As you know, the text deconstructs both of these ideas, saying that in the current policy environment neither is effective. Why is it so? What do you think is the solution to keeping administrators accountable in the twenty-first century? 9. Do you believe that most citizens today view public service as George H.W. Bush called it, “the highest and noblest calling?” Why? If not, what would need to change for this to be the case? In 2008, President Obama said his goal was “to make government and public service cool again.” Has he been effective in reaching that goal? If you think yes, what has he done right? If you think no, what would have to happen for “government . . . to be cool again?”
Instructor‟s Manual Chapter 2: What Government Does—And How It Does It Chapter Objectives Understand where government has grown in recent years—and where it hasn’t Examine the variations in government’s programs and tools Explore how these variations affect the study and practice of public administration
Instructor Resource Kettl, Politics of the Administrative Process, 8e SAGE Publishing, 2021
Chapter Summary Chapter 2 examines the scope and function of government, paying special attention to the different layers of government. Many of the public’s fears about government are based on profound misunderstandings about the nature of governmental activity. Different levels of government concentrate on different kinds of services, although administrators at all levels are charged with the task of effectively, efficiently, and responsively implementing public programs with accountability. During the last four decades, the federal government has doubled spending on entitlements while cutting defense spending by more than half. On the other hand, state governments have remained consistent in financing welfare, higher education, and highways in addition to receiving and administering federal grants. Local governments of all shapes and sizes concentrate far more on the direct delivery of services than the other levels of government. Government has grown fastest at the state and local levels. Public Administration scholar, Christopher C. Hood, uses the metaphor of “administrative tools” to describe the way government works. The basic tools of government include direct tools and indirect tools. Direct tools involve the provision of goods and services, such as police and fire protection. Indirect tools, which are being used more frequently include contracts with nongovernmental partners to implement government programs; grants to encourage other levels of government to take on tasks and services they might not otherwise; regulations to expand government’s power while expending relatively little money; tax expenditures to give taxpayers special advantages in paying their taxes; and loan programs to enhance the ability of individuals and private organizations to borrow private money to pursue projects in the public’s interest. The implications for the field of public administration include the following: the job of government varies by level, the job of government varies by function, and the job of government varies in who finally provides the goods and services.
Lecture Outline I. Introduction II. The Size of Government a. Five Myths about “Big Government” b. Number of Governments c. Government Employment and Spending III. What Government Does IV. How Government Does It a. Contracts b. Grants c. Regulations d. Tax Expenditures