Red Tape

Its Origins, Uses, and Abuses

Herbert Kaufman

• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9780815726609
• eBook ISBN: 9780815726616
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: American Government
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Death, taxes, and red tape. The inevitable trio no one can escape. That wry sense of reality colors Herbert Kaufman's classic study of red tape, the bureaucratic phenomenon that all of us have encountered in some form—from the confounding tax form filled out annually to the maddeningly time-consuming wait at the driver's license bureau.
The complaints about red tape, Kaufman concedes, are legion. It's messy, it takes too long, it lacks local knowledge, it is out of date, it makes insane demands, it increases costs, it slows progress. It is, in short, a burden and many times there is no measurable positive outcome.
Kaufman takes us on an unblinking tour of the dismal landscape of red tape. But he also shows us another side of red tape, one we often forget. Red tape is how government protects us from tainted food, shoddy products, and unfair labor practices. It guarantees a social safety net for the elderly, the disabled, children, veterans, and victims of natural disasters. One person's red tape is another person's protection.
This reissue is a Brookings Classic, a series of republished books for readers to revisit or discover, notable works by the Brookings Institution Press.

INDEX

Abuses of power, 62

Accommodation problems, 55

Accountability, xiii

Accounting controls, 43

Adjudication section, 37

Administrative effectiveness, 38–41

Administrative law judges, 37

Administrative Procedure Act of 1946, 35, 37

Adversarial legalism, xiv

Adverse economic conditions, 29

Advertising, 2, 27

Affirmative action, 73

Agencies: administrative law judges appointed by, 37; bound by generations of obligations and restraints, 23; delays in action by, 1; responsiveness of, 23. See also specific agencies

Agency for International Development, 33

Agriculture, 2, 32

Agriculture Department, 27, 40

Air pollution, 2

Ambiguities, 9, 71

American Retail Association, 74

Animal handlers and animals, 28

Antipoverty agencies, 40

Appeals process, 37, 83

Associated General Contractors of America, 74

Attorney General, 44

Automation, 83

Autonomy, vii

Bankruptcy, 28

Banks, 28

Blindness, 32

Block grants, 61

Bribery, 42, 43

Budgetary limitations, 16

Building codes, 52

Bureaucracy, viii–ix. See also Red tape

Bureau of the Budget, 11, 66. See also Office of Management and Budget

Bureau of the Census, 5, 74

Business regulation, 12. See also Small businesses

Business Service Centers, 76

Business taxes, 46

Buyer-seller relations, 28

Casework services, 76, 80

“Categorical” grants, 61

Census Bureau, 5, 74

Central Intelligence Agency, 33

Centripetal tendencies, 64

Chamber of Commerce of the United States, 74

Charities, 29

Children, federal services for, 29

“Christmas-tree” law, 47

Civil rights and liberties, 57, 61

Civil servants: impartiality of, 15; obliged to observe laws and regulations, 22, 23; as scapegoats for red tape, x–xi, 19–24; tempted by opportunities to sell official discretion and information, 42

Civil Service Commission, 43

Civil service laws and regulations, 38

Class-action suits, 13

Coast Guard, 27

Code of Federal Regulations, 36

Collective bargaining, 38

Commerce Department, 2, 33, 40

Commercial law firms, 78

Comm...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Authors Note
• Foreword
• Exordium
• One - Object of Loathing
• Two - Of Our Own Making
• Three - Rewinding the Spools
• Notes
• Index
• About the Authors
• Back Cover