Define the term public interest and explain its role in the bureaucratic process.

What will be an ideal response?

Responses should explain that public interest, although a constant presence in America, can be very difficult to define. It means different things to different groups of people. The authors suggest that by increasing the number of people who have input into deciding what public interest is the better we may be able to define it. Generally speaking, public interest is used to refer to those interests expressed by the unorganized, poorer components of society. As to the role of public interest in the bureaucratic process, Congress has increasingly made the participation of citizens a key feature of policymaking in many agencies. In a concerted push for transparency Congress has opened up media channels and created citizen advisory councils. Responses should briefly explain what these councils do and under what guidelines they are created. Other attempts at reform and making bureaucracy more accessible to the public include the passage of sunshine laws that open meetings of policymakers to the public. In addition, the Administrative Procedure Act requires that notices of all hearings, rule proposals, and new regulations be published in advance. The Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act of 1974 were also created as a means of increasing citizen access to the bureaucracy and should be defined. Despite such efforts few Americans try to access the bureaucracy and they typically do not think well of bureaucracy or the government. Political scientist Kenneth Meier suggests, nonetheless, that American bureaucracy is among the best in the world and it is up to the citizens to maintain it.