Chapter 6

Administrative agencies operate in an environment where a host of outside influences helps to shape the agencies’ actions. Some of these outside influences include political parties, interest (pressure) groups, and the media. This relationship of influence runs in both directions, though, as agencies also try to shape the environment in which they exist. This environment as a whole is known as the agency’s constituency. Anderson notes that the constituency that an agency is in has a dynamic nature; that is, some actors will only be involved when the agency’s actions directly influence them while others are more or less continually involved (p. 218).

As one might imagine, the constituency varies across different administrative agencies depending on the scope and jurisdiction of the agency in question. Select an agency from the comprehensive list of federal agencies at the website Firstgov. From the agency’s website, determine what the agency does (for example, is it a regulatory agency?). Then, determine which Congressional committees the agency reports to. Also, thinking about the agency’s jurisdiction and policy area, think about what types of interest groups would be part of the agency’s constituency and find the website for two such groups. Finally, search some media sources to determine what kind of coverage (if any) the agency that you have chosen receives.

From what you have discovered, what types of influence do these outside groups have on the agency? What types of influence does the agency have on these groups? Do you think that the relationship that the agency has with one of its constituents affects the relationship that it has with others? Why or why not?

Firstgov
http://www.firstgov.gov/Agencies/Federal/All_Agencies/index.shtml - The website for Firstgov, the federal government’s web portal. This section of the website has an alphabetical index of all the federal agencies.

Congressional Committees Lists
http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/committees/d_three_sections_with_teasers/committees_home.htm - The website for the US Senate. This section of the website lists all of the committees, standing, special, and joint, that exist in the Senate.
http://www.house.gov/house/CommitteeWWW.shtml - The website for the US House of Representatives. This section of the website lists all of the committees of the House.

Interest Groups
http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/kfountain/index.html - A fairly comprehensive topical listing of interest groups in the United States, this website is the work of Kathi Carlisle Fountain, a librarian at Washington State University. There is also an alphabetical list of interest groups on the site as well.