Determined bureaucracies a challenge to the policy process

While at a book review at the American Enterprise Institute, John Bolton spoke with his fellow panelists about the role the Bureaucracy plays in shaping policy. The forum addressed the late Peter W. Rodman’s book Presidential Command: Power, Leadership, and the Making of Foreign Policy from Richard Nixon to George W. Bush. The author and the panelists found that some of the bureaucratic practices often limited the number of options presented to those higher up, by deriving consensus and stifling dissent. Bolton said, “Secretaries of State and Presidents ought to welcome competing views, and then the higher level policy maker makes the decision.” Lack of accountability was also of concern to both author Rodman and the panel, who stressed that the the president and other elected officials are the ones who have legitimacy derived from the constitution and the democratic process. The panel met for approximately an hour and a half.

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico - Talk Radio News Service