Question

Discuss specific impacts of social change on the scope and activities of administrative agencies.

Answer 1

Public administration has become a powerful and dominant force in government and society across the Americas. Most of us are familiar with bureaucracy, and many of our current many important political issues relate to administrative agencies and acts. Public administration is the collection of procedures, agencies, and individuals associated with governments, officials, and courts administering laws and other regulations. Many of these laws are being formulated and implemented by administrative agencies. At the same time, public administration is an academic field of study and an active area of training

Citizen engagement methods and activities are varied, ranging from counseling agencies to holding meetings to actually taking decisions. In addition to making comments at administrative agency meetings, individuals can participate in budget and other legislative hearings, as well as in initiatives and referendums; serve on advisory committees; participate in focus groups and respond to citizen surveys; and, in some cases, sit on operating boards funded by government agencies

Like most other institutions of government, administrative agencies operate within a dynamic system of widely dispersed legal and political control. A lack of centralization in the political system represents both the formal structure of governmental power and the real struggle for power. Competition for power includes conflicts between and within the branches of government (especially within Congress), factional conflict within the two major political parties, and continuous jockeying among interest groups for position and influence

Broad dispersal of political power both limits and creates opportunities for actors— diverse parties, organizations, and institutions— to try and gain leverage in a policy environment. The main problem facing any group or agency is that competition for power is typically intense in a particular subject area since, at the same time, many other groups and agencies often try to have their interests implemented as public policy.