Bureaucracy Flashcards
What are the three aspects of our constitutional system and political traditions that give bureaucracy a distinctive character
Political authority over beer can see is not in one set of hands but is shared among several institutions
Most of the agencies of the federal government share their functions with related agencies in state and local government
The institutions and traditions of American life have contributed to the growth of what some writers have described as an adversary culture in which the definition and expansion of personal rights and the defense of rights in claims do lawsuits as well as political action are given central importance
What did Madison say about the presidents right to fire and a point officeholders
Without the sole right to remove officials from office as well as a point them, he would not be able to discharge his constitutional obligation to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. He won
What is patronage
Appointments made by Congress on the basis of political considerations
What was the one thing that all of the new agencies brought up in 1901 had in common
Their primary purpose was to serve, not to regulate.
What is laissez-faire
Really competitive economy
What were some limits of the Buick or sees in the early 1900s
Agencies could not exercise such regulatory powers unless Congress first set down clear standards that would govern the agencies decisions. As late as 1935 the Supreme Court held that a regulatory agency could not make rules on its own and it could only enact and apply the standards and acted by Congress
Why did the number of employees significant increase during wartime
During wartime almost every government agency argues that it’s activities have some relation to the war effort and few legislators want to be called voting against something that may help that effort hence in 1944 the reindeer service in Alaska and agency of the interior department asked for more employees because reindeer are a valuable asset in military planning
Today’s bureaucracy is a large product of which two events
The depression of the 1930s (And the common common didn’t new deal program of President Roosevelt) and World War II. Because the basic features of the bureaucracy were set me as a result of changes in public attitudes and an constitutional interpretation that occurred during these periods
What is discretionary authority
The power of the bureaucracy depends on the extent to which appointed officials have discretionary authority that is the ability to choose courses of action and to make policies that are not spelled out in advance bylaws.
What are the three areas by which Congress has delegated substantial authority to administrative agencies
One. Paying subsidies to particular groups and organizations and society (farmers veteran scientist schools)
2) transferring money from the federal government to state and local government’s (the grant in aid programs)
3) devising and enforcing regulations for various sectors of society and the economy
What are four factors that may explain the behavior of officials in a bureaucracy
The manner in which they are recruited and rewarded, their personal attributes such as socioeconomical backgrounds and political attitude, the nature of their jobs, the constraints that outside forces such as political superiors impose on their agencies
What is the competitive service
This means that they are pointed only after they have passed a written examination administered by the office of personnel management or met certain selection criteria such as training educational attainment or prior experience devised by the hiring agency and approved by the OPM.
What is the Pendleton act
Slow but steady transfer a federal jobs from the patronage to the merit system
Are the two factors that made it possible for the Republicans to pass the Pendleton act
Public outrage over the abuses of the spoils system, highlighted by the assassination of President James Garfield by a man always described in the history books as a disappointed office keeper and two, the fear that if the Democrats came to power on a wave of anti-spoiled sentiment, existing republican officeholders will be fired
What is the merit system
Process of promoting and hiring government employees based on their ability to do their work rather then their political connections
What is a name request job
It is one that is filled by a person whom and agency has already identified. In this respect the federal government is not so different from private businesses. A person learns from a job from somebody who already has one, or they had of a bureau decide to Vancouver he or she wishes to hire.
What is the buddy system
A job description by a agency which is tailor-made for a specific person so that the person name is the only one who can qualify for it
Why is it difficult to fire a civil servant
And executive must go through elaborate steps to fire demote or suspend a civil servant so realistically this means that no one is fired or demoted unless his or her superiors prepared to invest a great deal of time and effort in the attempt. It would take a year to fire anyone
How are federal executives devised solutions to cope with the difficulty in firing unwanted employees
Denying them promotions, transferring them to undesirable locations, or assigning them to meeting this work
What is the SES
Senior executive services, about 8000 top that all managers who can in theory be hired fired and transferred more easily than ordinary civil servants although it was not as successful as was hoped because the cash bonuses were not an important incentive and hardly any members of the SES were actually fired
What are the advantages of the agency point of view
It means that most top-tier bureaucrats are experts in the procedures and policies of their agencies and that there will be a substantial degree of continua T in agency behavior no matter which political party happens to be in power
What are the disadvantages of the agency point of view
A political executive entering an agency with the responsibility for shipping of direction will discover that he or she must carefully when the support of career subordinates but that’s subordinate has an infinite capacity for discreet sabotage and can make life miserable for political superior by delaying action withholding information following the rulebook with literal exactness or making an end run around to superior to mobilize members of Congress or sympathetic to the bureaucratic point of you
What does the typical civil servant look like
A middle-aged white male with a college degree whose father was somewhat more advantaged than the average citizen
What is a Bureaucracy
A large complex organization composed of appointment officials. By complex we mean that authorities divided among several managers so no one person is able to make all the decisions
What is a bureaucracy
And administrative system, especially in government, that divides work into specific categories carried out by special department of nonelected officials
What are four characteristics of a bureaucracy
Administration of government through departments
Consist of unelected often highly trained professionals
Task specialization
Hierarchal authority
What is red tape
An idiom that refers to excessive regulation or rigid conformity to formal rules and that it’s considered redundant and bureaucratic and Henderes or prevent action or decision making.
How many civil servants does the president appoint and through what
President only points 14,000 out of patronage or political appointments
The Federal Bureau Chrissy has how many cabinet level departments
15
What is the biggest federal bureaucracy’s
Department of defense, US Postal Service, veterans administration
What are the three functions of the federal bureaucracy
Implementation administration and regulation
What is implementation
Carry out laws of Congress and the executive orders of the president
What is administration
Routine administrative work: provide services for example SSA send Social Security checks to beneficiaries)
Regulation
Issue rules and regulations that impact the public for example EPA sets clean air standards. How are we going to meet that?
The federal Barriger see consists of four different parts
Cabinet departments
independent executive agencies independent regulatory commissions
government corporations
Which area of federal beer Chrissy does the president have sole power over
Executive office of the president
What are the cabinet departments
15 Cabinet departments headed by a cabinet secretary appointed by the president and approved by the Senate
Each department expert in specific policy area
Each department has its own budget
Department of homeland security, created in 2002 is the newest department
What is the independent executive agencies
Established by Congress of separate status outside the executive branch
Given a specific mandate and generally perform a service function, not a regulatory one.
Example includes of the Social Security Administration, CiA, NASA, EPA
Solve specific problems
Independent regulatory commissions
Mostly economic issues
They exist to regulate a specific economic activity or interest such as the federal communications commission or federal or reserve board
Operate independently from Congress and the president
Once appointed and seated, members cannot be removed without cause
Government corporations
Government owned businesses created by Congress
Or may not be profitable but serve a public need an example is US Postal Service for Corporation for Public Broadcasting
Are intended to make their own money
