Influence Of Elements On US Political System: Essay.

Explain each element, and discuss how it affects or influences the U.S. political system:

1. Civil servants
2. Government corporation
3. Cabinet departments
4. Independent regulatory agencies
5. Independent executive agencies
6. Merit system
7. Public administration
8. Spoils system
9. Privatization
10. Negotiated rulemaking
11. Distributive policy
12. Regulatory policy
13. Redistributive policy

Civil Servants

The administration of a country depends upon the civil servants of the respective country. Civil Servants refer to those public officials who are in charge of executing the policies formulated by the Government at the center (Graham & Jordan, 2016). In the United States, the federal civil servants have a similar work environment. They are the vital mechanism of the State without which the nation will fail to function in an effective manner (Graham & Jordan, 2016). The civil servants of the United States ensure the efficient working of the political system by implementing the various policies passed by the US Congress in a time bound and stringent manner.

A government corporation refers to that organization which is owned by the government, but it is allowed to function as a private business (Mitchell, 2015). They usually exists in that field where the monopoly of the control of the nation is imperative such as, in the field of mining of important mineral resources or an issue of public importance. An Act passed by the US Congress establishes the required government corporation. For instance, the US Postal Service is a government corporation of the US (Mitchell, 2015). This organization has the important obligation of ensuring that the letters reach the respective people on time. This helps in dissemination of knowledge, which is vital for the development of the US political system.

For the effective execution and implementation of the various policies passed by the US Congress, the Constitution of the United States allowed for the formation of a number of Cabinet Departments (Bertelli, 2016). These Cabinet Departments have the exclusive responsibility to protect the US citizens and improve their standard of living. For instance, one of the US Cabinet Department is the Department of Justice. This Department has a significant influence on the US political system as this Department executes the verdicts passed by the US Supreme Court (Bertelli, 2016).

 For the purposes of protecting the people, the federal government establishes certain independent regulatory agencies. The independent regulatory agencies are set up by the Acts of the US Congress (Scholten, 2014). However, these independent regulatory agencies function autonomously and are not accountable to the US Congress, but rather, to the US citizens. An example of one such independent regulatory agency is the Federal Election Commission. This agency has the prime duty to ensure that the elections to the US Congress is free and fair, thereby upholding the main principles of democracy on which the US political system is structured.

The independent executive agencies of the United States are those agencies, which are established by the Acts of the US Congress. However, they function independently of the executive’s control. The US President appoints the Heads of such independent executive agencies; however, the President does not have the power to remove them arbitrarily from their posts (Selin, 2015). For instance, the Central Intelligence Agency is established by an Act of the US Congress. The actions of this agency influences the US Political system as the main purpose of this organization is to provide protection to the national security of the nation.

Government Corporations

The nation of the United States is famous for its Merit system. The Merit System provides that the public officials who are working for the US Government will be promoted on the basis of their merit and not be influenced by any such political connections which might favor them (Kelley & Simmons, 2015). Moreover, this process is followed even whiling recruiting the new candidates. The merit system influences the US political system immensely as it gives a sense of certainty to the public that only real merit or capability will be rewarded.

Public Administration is a field which complements the political system of a country. The main purpose of public administration is to oversee the efficient and effective implementation of the laws and policies passed by the State Government (Waldo, 2017). Within the United States, the process of public administration is very strong. Various agencies and corporations exist, which are under the purview of the public, such as those related with the environment and healthcare, to name a few. Public administration influences the US political system positively as the obligation of the US Congress to safeguard the freedom of the US citizens is overseen by a system of checks and balances.

The Spoils System refers to a process whereby an individual working in the formal sector, is promoted, or even hired, on the basis of personal political favors. Such a system initially existed in the United States where the winning political party would use to give the coveted jobs of the national civil services to their supporters or to their families. However, in 1883, a reform movement within the field of civil service occurred, by the name of Pendleton Act, which stated that the civil service jobs of the country would be given to people of merit only, and not on the basis of political connections (Kelley & Simmons, 2015).

Privatization refers to the process by which the private players of the State concerned owns the resources of the country. There is no interference, or minimal interference by the Government within the businesses of the private players (Kamerman & Kahn, 2014). Privatization is highly encouraged within the United States and it positively affects the US political system as the competitive nature of the private businesses motivates them to offer the best standard of living to the people. Customer retention is important for every private business as the increasing sales leads to a higher generation of revenues, which is the ultimate aim of the private businesses.

Negotiated rulemaking is one of the unique features of the US political system. It refers to the process whereby the federal agencies involved in rulemaking, take the views and the opinions of the affected governmental officials and the pressure groups, before drafting the Bill. Moreover, once a skeletal draft is prepared, it is sent out to the public to garner their opinion, after which the final draft is prepared (Waldo, 2017). Negotiated rulemaking has an immense positive impact on the US political system as the laws and policies made, are tailored by the public themselves as per their convenience, within the purview of the law.

The Government of the United States has come up with the idea of distributive policy to help increase the standard of living of the people of the Stats. The Distributive Policy aims to provide certain relief measures to the people as against Regulatory Policies, which aim to impose reasonable restriction on the people (Mills, Kalaf-Hughes & MacDonald, 2016). A few examples of distributive Policy includes tax relief to the people who own houses and provision of farm subsidies to the farmers, which helps in their financial growth.

Regulatory Policy of the US seeks to protect the society by restricting certain endangering actions (Hatch & Rigby, 2015). Regulatory policy is different from Distributive and Redistributive Policy as they aim to provide certain benefits to the people, while Regulatory Policy aims to restrict the people. Examples of Restrictive Policies include prohibiting people from taking unregulated drugs and providing a formal framework on the procedures of voting to prevent unscrupulous activities.

The main objective of Redistributive Policy of the US is to promote equality in society. It means, the wealth of the society is redistributed from the rich to the poor (Hatch & Rigby, 2015). This is done by undertaking certain measures such as following a progressive tax policy, whereby the rate of tax imposed increases as the income of the people increases. Moreover, certain welfare activities are undertaken which are targeted only for a particular vulnerable group of the society. Redistributive Policy is similar to that of Distributive Policy as they both aim to provide relief to the people.

References:

Bertelli, A. M. (2016). Bureaucratic Autonomy in the US Separation of Powers: Evidence from Cabinet Departments. Public Organization Review, 16(1), 139-151.

Graham, N. A., & Jordan, R. S. (Eds.). (2016). The international civil service: changing role and concepts. Elsevier.

Hatch, M. E., & Rigby, E. (2015). Laboratories of (In) equality? Redistributive Policy and Income Inequality in the A merican S tates. Policy Studies Journal, 43(2), 163-187.

Kamerman, S. B., & Kahn, A. J. (Eds.). (2014). Privatization and the welfare state (Vol. 980). Princeton University Press.

Kelley, J. G., & Simmons, B. A. (2015). Politics by number: Indicators as social pressure in international relations. American journal of political science, 59(1), 55-70.

Mills, R. W., Kalaf-Hughes, N., & MacDonald, J. A. (2016). Agency policy preferences, congressional letter-marking and the allocation of distributive policy benefits. Journal of Public Policy, 36(4), 547-571.

Mitchell, J. (2015). The American experiment with government corporations. Routledge.

Scholten, M. (2014). The political accountability of EU and US independent regulatory agencies. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.

Selin, J. L. (2015). What makes an agency independent?. American Journal of Political Science, 59(4), 971-987.

Waldo, D. (2017). The administrative state: A study of the political theory of American public administration. Routledge.