Structures of Government

As urban areas increased in economic and social complexity, various forms of government structures were developed to adopt programs to deal with the problems that arose. Americans want government to function democratically and leaders to be accountable, but they also want to maximize government efficiency and effectiveness. These goals are not always complementary and trade-offs often must be made. Herbert Kaufman has argued that current governmental structures reflect a search for ways to meld three fundamental values: (1) representativeness, that is, elections; (2) technical, nonpartisan competence, that is, staffing based on skills rather than political connections; and (3) leadership, that is, coordinated direction that results in consistent policy. ¹