The democratic, republican, or whig party is the oldest political paor rty in the united states.

The oldest political party in the US is the democratic party and in some ways it's also the  oldest political party in the World. It was founded in 1828 and Andrew Jackson was the first president of the party in 1830s. It became more left-wing with time in terms of social and economical issues.

An informal structure in a bureaucracy would be something like so-called "office politics". where there's a formal structure set up for the organization, but then an informal subculture as well that has a way of organizing the bureaucracy further. this can be positive because it sets up an added degree of organization, albeit informal, within the bureaucracy.