PS 385 - BUREAUCRATIC POLITICS

College of Arts and Sciences

Credit(s): 3

This course is designed to make students think about the role of public bureaucracy, both as a policy making and implementing institution, as well as a potentially representative form. There will be four major foci for the course. First, the course considers bureaucracy in a historical context, regarding the culture and values that have shaped modern bureaucracy and administration. Second, it considers the nature of modern bureaucracy from both a micro and macro perspective: who are individual bureaucrats and what are their institutions like. Third, it considers the design of bureaucracies by Congress, particularly in relation to rational incentives stemming from Congress, the president, and interest groups. Finally, the course considers the issue of bureaucratic control and its implications for U.S. democracy.

Approved for Distance Learning.