Bureaucracy : What Government Agencies Do and Why They Do It

by Wilson, James Q.

• ISBN13: 9780465007851
• ISBN10: 0465007856
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1991-01-30
• Publisher: Basic Books

Summary

Bureaucracy is the classic study of the way American government agencies work and how they can be made to work better. Examining a wide range of bureaucracies, including the Army, the FBI, the FCC, and the Social Security Administration, James Q. Wilson provides the first comprehensive, in-depth analysis of what government agencies do, why they function as they do, and how they might become more responsible and effective. With a new introduction by the author.

Author Biography

James Q. Wilson is James Collins professor of management and public policy at UCLA. Winner of the 1990, James Madison Award of the American Political Science Association, he is also the author of Moral Sense and Moral Judgement.

Table of Contents

Preface to the New Edition	p. ix
Notes	p. xvi
Preface	p. xvii
Acknowledgments	p. xxi
Organizations	p. 1
Armies, Prisons, Schools	p. 3
Organization Matters	p. 14
Operators	p. 29
Circumstances	p. 31
Conclusions	p. 48
Beliefs	p. 50
Conclusions	p. 70
Interests	p. 72
Conclusions	p. 88
Culture	p. 90
Managers	p. 111
Constraints	p. 113
People	p. 137
Conclusions	p. 153
Compliance	p. 154
Summary: Achieving Compliance	p. 174
Executives	p. 177
Turf	p. 179
Conclusions	p. 195
Strategies	p. 196
Conclusions	p. 217
Innovation	p. 218
Context	p. 233
Congress	p. 235
Appendix: Congressional Dominance: a Closer Look	p. 254
Presidents	p. 257
Courts	p. 277
National Differences	p. 295
Change	p. 313
Problems	p. 315
Conclusions	p. 331
Rules	p. 333
Markets	p. 346
Conclusions	p. 363
Bureaucracy and the Public Interest	p. 365
Notes	p. 379
Index	p. 409
Subject Index	p. 418
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