Briefly describe the meaning of “administrative responsibility.”

What will be an ideal response?

Administrators are accountable to elected officials, and by virtue of regular elections, to the people. Though the administrative state does not have the same accountability structure as perhaps a private firm (i.e., to the “bottom line”). But Kettl argues that it does have a bottom line: “In fact, government does have a bottom line: administrative responsibility, not only for administering programs efficiently but also for ensuring that both the process and its results are accountable to elected officials and, ultimately, to the people.”