4C Vocab

Question 1

Bureaucracy

Answer 1

A form of organization that operates through impersonal, uniform rules and procedures

Question 2

Bureaucrat

Answer 2

A career government employee

Question 3

Department

Answer 3

Usually the largest organization in government with the largest mission; also the highest rank in Federal hierarchy

Question 4

Independent (standalone) agency

Answer 4

A government entity that is independent of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches

Question 5

Independent regulatory commission

Answer 5

A government agency or commission with regulatory power whose independence is protected by Congress

Question 6

Government corporation

Answer 6

A government agency that is operated like a business corporation, created to secure greater freedom of action and flexibility for a particular program

Question 7

Senior Executive Service

Answer 7

Established by Congress in 1978 as a flexible, mobile corps of senior career executives who worked closely with presidential appointees to manage government

Question 8

Civil service

Answer 8

Federal employees who work for government through a competitive, not political selection process

Question 9

Spoils system

Answer 9

A system of public employment based on rewarding party loyalists and friends

Question 10

Patronage

Answer 10

The process of awarding favors to the party in power

Question 11

Merit system

Answer 11

A system of public employment in which selection and promotion depend on demonstrated performance rather than political patronage

Question 12

Office of Personal Management

Answer 12

Agency that administers civil service laws, rules, and regulations

Question 13

Hatch Act

Answer 13

Federal statute barring Federal employees from active participation in certain kinds of politics and protecting them from being fired on partisan grounds

Question 14

Implementation

Answer 14

The process of putting a law into practice through bureaucratic rules or spending

Question 15

Administrative discretion

Answer 15

Authority given by Congress to the Federal bureaucracy to use
reasonable judgement in implementing the laws

Question 16

Regulation

Answer 16

A precise statement of how a law is implemented. (The formal instructions that the government issues for implementing laws.)

Question 17

Rule-making process

Answer 17

The formal process for making regulations

Question 18

Federal Register

Answer 18

The official record of what the federal bureaucracy does

Question 19

Uncontrollable spending

Answer 19

The portion of the Federal budget that is spent on programs, such as Social Security, that the president and Congress are unwilling to cut

Question 20

Entitlement programs

Answer 20

Programs such as unemployment insurance, disability relief, or disability payments that provide benefits to all eligible citizens

Question 21

Federal Reserve Board

Answer 21

A variation of an independent regulatory agency with a chairman and board that controls the supply of money that flows through the U.S. economy

Question 22

Oversight

Answer 22

Legislative or executive review of a particular government program or organization. Can be in response to a crisis of some kind or part of routine review

Question 23

Public policy

Answer 23

A specific course of action that government takes to address a problem

Question 24

Politics

Answer 24

The interaction of the people and their government, including citizens, interest groups, political parties, and the instructions of government at all levels. Politics is concerned with who gets what, when, where, and how far from government

Question 25

Policy makers

Answer 25

Individual and groups that make the actual choices to create a public policy

Question 26

Distributive policy

Answer 26

A public policy such as Social Security that provides benefits to all groups in society

Question 27

Redistributive policy

Answer 27

A policy that provides to one group of society while taking benefits from another through policy solutions such as tax increases to pay for job training

Question 28

Policy agenda

Answer 28

The list of issues that the federal government pays attention to

Question 29

Think tank

Answer 29

A nongovernmental organization that seeks to influence public policy through research and education

Question 30

Iron triangle

Answer 30

A policy-making instrument composed of a tightly related alliance of a congressional committee, interest groups, and a federal department or agency

Question 31

Issue network

Answer 31

A policy-making instrument composed of loosely related interest groups, congressional committee, presidential aides, and other parties