Final answer:
Devolution has reshaped the federal bureaucracy by transferring power and responsibilities to state governments. This shift has affected policy implementation, leading to varying state policies and changing the focus of lobbying efforts from federal to state levels.
Step-by-step explanation:
Devolution has significantly altered the dynamics within the federal bureaucracy of the United States. The primary change brought about by devolution is the shift of power and responsibility from the federal level to state governments. During the 1980s and subsequent years, especially under the administrations of Presidents Nixon and Reagan, a 'devolution revolution' aspired to restore states' prominence in policy areas which had been increasingly controlled by the federal government. Known as New Federalism, this ideology endorsed states and local governments as 'laboratories of democracy' and aimed to return power, authority, and responsibility to these levels.
The impact on the federal bureaucracy has been notable in several ways. Functions like welfare administration, previously directed at the national level, moved to states leading to varied policy outcomes based on differing state approaches. Interest groups, recognizing these shifts, started to direct their efforts towards influencing state rather than federal policy, realizing that states were gaining more active roles in policy areas. This change has not only redefined intergovernmental relationships but has also led to a reevaluation of strategies among those vying to shape public policy.