ABSTRACT

BUREAUCRACY When we think of the federal government, we usually think of Congress and the president. Their elections, their policy battles, their triumphs and scandals are the stuff of our evening news. But there is another federal government, the permanent government of departments and agencies with their 2.7 million civilian employees that we think about less frequently. Although the permanent government, often referred to simply as “the bureaucracy,” does critical work, from national defense to medical research, it has been regarded through most of American history as big, expensive, and at least potentially oppressive.