American Government › Section O · The bureaucracy › Topic O.4
Controlling the bureaucracy
Millions of unelected officials write rules with the force of law and spend trillions of dollars. How do voters and their representatives keep them on course? This topic follows the tools of control held by Congress, the president, the courts, citizens and the bureaucrats themselves.
In this topic
- The control problem
- How agencies make rules
- Congress: purse, people and probes
- The president: appointments and the budget
- The courts
- Worked example: one rule, many checkpoints
- Citizens: freedom of information and sunshine
- Worked example: a FOIA request
- Insiders: whistleblowers and inspectors general
- Privatisation
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Key takeaways
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