American National Government - POSC 111 Resource Guide

A bureaucracy is an organization characterized by hierarchy, fixed rules, impersonal relationships, strict adherence to impartial procedures, and specialization based on function. Bureaucratic organizations can be found in the private sector as well as the public sector.

Bureaucracy: The support staff that is responsible for developing plans, collecting and processing information, operationalizing and implementing executive decisions, auditing performance, and, more generally, providing direction to the operating parts of a hierarchical enterprise.

Organization whose structure and operations are governed to a high degree by written rules and a hierarchy of offices; in its broadest sense, all forms of administration, and in its narrowest, rule by officials.

Any system whereby political authority is exercised. Modern systems of government distinguish between liberal democracies, totalitarian (one-party) states, and autocracies (authoritarian, relying on force rather than ideology).

The Department of Homeland Security has a vital mission: to secure the nation from the many threats we face.

GSA is responsible for improving the government’s workplace by managing assets, delivering maximum value in acquisitions, preserving historic property, and implementing technology solutions.

Information ranging from new developments in administrative policy to the costs of the bureaucracy, to paperwork-reduction efforts.

The core mission of Keeping America Informed, dated to 1813 when Congress determined to make information regarding the work of the three branches of Government available to all Americans.