Influencing the Bureaucracy: The Irony of Congressional Oversight
By: Researcher
Disclaimer: The provided code links for this paper are external links. Science Nest has no responsibility for the accuracy, legality or content of these links. Also, by downloading this code(s), you agree to comply with the terms of use as set out by the author(s) of the code(s).
| Authors | Joshua D. Clinton, David Lewis, Jennifer L. Selin |
| Journal/Conference Name | AMERICAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE |
| Paper Category | Social Sciences |
| Paper Abstract | Does the president or Congress have more influence over policymaking by the bureaucracy? Despite a wealth of theoretical guidance, progress on this important question has proven elusive due to competing theoretical predictions and severe difficulties in measuring agency influence and oversight. We use a survey of federal executives to assess political influence, congressional oversight, and the policy preferences of agencies, committees, and the president on a comparable scale. Analyzing variation in political influence across and within agencies reveals that Congress is less influential relative to the White House when more committees are involved. While increasing the number of involved committees may maximize the electoral benefits for members, it may also undercut the ability of Congress as an institution to collectively respond to the actions of the presidency or the bureaucracy. |
| Date of publication | 2012 |
| Code Programming Language | R |
| Comment |
Copyright Researcher 2022