ABSTRACT
Bureaucracy can be defined as a system of public agencies that translate the intent of democratic institutions into action. The bureaucracy is so involved in our daily lives that most people seem to notice only its absence. The job of bureaucracy is to make good on the promises of democratic governments. Bureaucracy is not simply an implementer of policy, however, but rather is a policymaker in its own right. It is not simply the main means to deliver on the promises of democracy; it also helps make those promises. Bureaucracy makes policy in few broad ways. Agencies in the federal bureaucracy are enormously diverse, and at first glance, organizations as diverse as, say, the United States Navy and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation appear to have little in common. Merit systems have replaced spoils systems as the favored method for staffing government bureaucracies at both the federal and state levels.
