Machinery of government

The machinery of government (sometimes abbreviated as MoG) is the interconnected structures and processes of government, such as the functions and accountability of departments in the executive branch of government. The term is used primarily for parliamentary democracies. In established systems of public administration, different elements of machinery are sometimes created or reorganized, but the general function of government continues.

The phrase "machinery of government" was thought to have been first used by author John Stuart Mill in Considerations on Representative Government (1861). It was notably used to a public audience by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt in a radio broadcast in 1934, commenting on the role of the National Recovery Administration (NRA) in delivering the New Deal. A number of national governments, including those of Australia, Canada, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, have adopted the term in official usage.