Political Regimes and Agency Policymaking: Measuring Political Influence on Bureaucracy

在今天的美国，绝大多数公共政策决策都是由政治官僚机构做出的。这并不是要否认其他政府部门制定政策的重要性，然而，官僚机构制定政策的数量之大，令这些其他机构的产出相形见绌。仅举一项衡量标准，列出了官僚机构发布的所有规章制度的《联邦登记册》，每年通常有5万多页。在这项调查中，研究人员使用正式模型来推导出关于其他政治行为者对官僚机构的影响的可检验命题。他开发了一个政治影响力的空间模型，与之前对官僚和其他政治行为者之间关系的研究相比，该模型在假设和预测方面更加明确。此外，该理论突出了以前方法的实质性问题，并引入了一种更合适的估计政治影响力的方法，即承认不同的政治制度将对机构产生不同的影响。调查者通过分析食品和药物管理局的监测活动提供了对该模型的初步支持。然后，他收集其他各种机构的数据。收集数据后，他使用自己开发的方法估计了对官僚机构的影响。为了对不同类型的机构进行比较，调查了各种机构，包括环境保护局、联邦贸易委员会、食品和药物管理局、食品安全信息服务和其他机构。这项调查对理解官僚机构在代议制民主中的作用有几个重要贡献。首先，它开发了一个可以检验的严格的理论模型。其次，它指出了之前对政治影响力的经验测试存在的问题，这些测试没有考虑到不同政权的存在。第三，从理论模型出发，提出了一种方法论方法。最后，通过对模型的估计和检验，使政治学家对机构和其他政治行为者之间的关系有了更准确的了解。

In the United States today, political bureaucracies make the overwhelming majority of public policy decisions. This is not to deny the importance of policy-making by the other branches of government, yet the sheer amount of policy-making done by the bureaucracy dwarfs the output of these other institutions. To cite just one measure, the Federal Register, which lists all rules and regulations issued by the bureaucracy, usually covers more than 50,000 pages per year.In this investigation, the researcher uses a formal model to derive testable propositions about the influence of other political actors on the bureaucracy. He develops a spatial model of political influence that is more explicit in its assumptions and predictions than are previous studies of the relationship between bureaucrats and other political actors. In addition, the theory highlights substantial problems with previous methodological approaches and introduces a more appropriate approach for estimating political influence, one, which acknowledges that different political regimes will have different effects on agencies.The investigator provides preliminary support of the model by analyzing the monitoring activities of the Food and Drug Administration. He then collects data on a variety of other agencies. After collecting the data, he estimates the influence on bureaucracies by using approaches he has developed. To allow for comparison of different types of agencies, a variety of agencies are examined, including the Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Trade Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, the Food Safety Information Service, and others.The investigation makes several significant contributions to an understanding of the role of bureaucracies in a representative democracy. First, it develops a rigorous theoretical model that can be tested. Second, it points to problems with previous empirical tests of political influence that do not account for the existence of different regimes. Third, it proposes a methodological approach that follows from the theoretical model. Finally, through the estimation and testing of the model it gives political scientists a more accurate picture of the relationship between agencies and other political actors.