Bureaucracy and Democracy: Accountability and Performance

by William T. Gormley Jr.

How should your students understand the role of bureaucracy in American democracy? Making many of the policy decisions that most directly affect our lives--from the criteria used to rate the effectiveness of our schools to the rules that govern our retirement savings--bureaucracies and their performance merit our close study. With a focus on accountability, Gormley and Balla examine the factors that ultimately lead to bureaucratic successes and shortcomings. How should your students systematically evaluate policymaking in government agencies? Since one theory or approach cannot adequately cover the complexity of bureaucracy, the authors work through four key perspectives to give students more analytic power in answering crucial questions about governance. Each perspective--whether its focus is top-down, bottom-up, lateral, or on an individual player--gives students more complete and real insight into the give and take between decision makers, managers, elected officials, organized interests, and citizens. Features worth

Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was important to me while writing my dissertation - while I didn't pull heavily from this, it felt like one of the few resources that was using a slant common to mine, in my dissertation.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fairly easy read for a textbook.

I don't like that the page numbers make absolutely no sense on the Kindle version. But easy to read and understand

[Kayte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Primary Text for Intro into MPA program. I appreciated the numerous examples used throughout to explain theories and principles.