Congress Oversees the Bureaucracy

Congressional supervision of the way the executive implements legislative mandates-“oversight” of the bureaucracy-is one of the most complex and least understood functions of Congress. In this book, Morris Ogul clarifies the meaning of oversight and analyzes the elements that contribute to its success or neglect.

    Ogul's work is based on case studies from nearly one hundred interviews with congressmen, committee staff members, lobbyists, and members of the executive branch., as well as an examination of relevant congressional documents. 

“Morris S. Ogul's Congress Oversees the Bureaucracy is a useful book for students of legislatures. . . . valuable in a field which has attracted relatively little academic attention.”

—Capitol Studies

“The author's analysis of the dimensions of legislative oversight marks this book as an important study.”

—Library Journal

“Morris Ogul has written a very stimulating book on the important but neglected subject of congressional oversight. . . . Ogul's sophisticated treatment of what he terms 'latent oversight,' is a useful corrective to past work.”

—American Political Science Review

Morris S. Ogul (1931-2008) was professor of political science at the University of Pittsburgh.