Ch 8,10-12 Key Terms

Question 1

The administrative branch of government, consisting of all executive offices and their workers.

Answer 1

Bureaucracy

Question 2

A decision-making approach in the budgetary process in which the previous year’s expenditures are used as a base for the current year’s budget figures.

Answer 2

Incrementalism

Question 3

A budget that lists detailed expenditure items such as personal computers and paper, with no attention to the goals or objectives of spending.

Answer 3

Line Item Budget

Question 4

Budgeting that takes into account the outcomes of government programs.

Answer 4

Performance Budgeting

Question 5

A budget that plans large expenditures for long-term investments, such as buildings and bridges.

Answer 5

Capital Budget

Question 6

The organization of government personnel to provide for hiring and promotion on the basis of knowledge, skills, and abilities rather than patronage or other influences.

Answer 6

Merit System

Question 7

The concept that public employees should perform their duties competently and without regard for political considerations.

Answer 7

Neutral Competence

Question 8

The concept that all major groups in society should participate proportionately in government work.

Answer 8

Representative Bureaucracy

Question 9

Special efforts to recruit, hire, and promote members of disadvantaged groups to eliminate the effects of past discrimination.

Answer 9

Affirmative Action

Question 10

A formal arrangement in which representatives of labor and management negotiate wages, benefits, and working conditions.

Answer 10

Collective Bargaining

Question 11

The ability of public employees to make decisions interpreting law and administrative regulations.

Answer 11

Bureaucratic Discretion

Question 12

Groups that benefit from a specific government program, such as contractors and construction firms in state highway department spending programs.

Answer 12

Clientele Groups

Question 13

An administrative reform movement that argues government should manage for results, through entrepreneurial activity, privatization, and improvements in efficiency and effectiveness.

Answer 13

New Public Management

Question 14

Involves service delivery through combined efforts of government, citizens, nonprofits, and/or businesses.

Answer 14

Coproduction

Question 15

The use of information technology to simplify and improve interactions between governments and citizens , firms, public employees, and other entities.

Answer 15

E-Government

Question 16

A local government that performs a wide range of functions.

Answer 16

General-Purpose Local Government

Question 17

A local government, such as a school district, that performs a specific functions.

Answer 17

Single-Purpose Local Government

Question 18

A central city of at least 50,000 people and its surrounding county (or countries); often called an urban area.

Answer 18

Metropolitan Area

Question 19

An urban cluster with a population between 10,000 and 49,999.

Answer 19

Micropolitan Statistical Area

Question 20

A broad grant of power from the state to a local government.

Answer 20

Home Rule

Question 21

The existence of multiple local governments in the same territory.

Answer 21

Jurisdictional Overlap

Question 22

The creation of a municipality through the granting of a charter from the state.

Answer 22

Incorporation

Question 23

A document that sets out a city’s structure, authority, and functions.

Answer 23

Charter

Question 24

The mayor is empowered to perform the executive functions of government and has a veto over city council actions.

Answer 24

Strong-Mayor-Council Structure

Question 25

The mayor lacks formal executive power; the city council (of which the mayor is a member) is the source of executive and legislative power.

Answer 25

Weak-Mayor-Council Structure

Question 26

A professional administrator hired by a city council to handle the day-to-day operation of the city.

Answer 26

City Manager

Question 27

Enacted by the governing body, it is the local government equivalent of a statute.

Answer 27

Ordinance

Question 28

The addition of unincorporated adjacent territory to a municipality.

Answer 28

Annexation

Question 29

The ability of a city government to control certain practices in an adjacent, unincorporated area.

Answer 29

Extraterritorial Jurisdiction (ETJ)

Question 30

Citywide (or countywide) contests to determine the members of a city council (or county commission).

Answer 30

At-Large Elections

Question 31

Elections in which the voters in one district or ward of a jurisdiction (city, county, school district) vote for a candidate to represent that district.

Answer 31

District (Ward) Elections

Question 32

Candidates compete at large and voters can cast as many votes as there are seats to be filled, either as a bloc for one candidate or spread out among several candidates.

Answer 32

Cumulative Voting

Question 33

An annual event at which a town's residents enact ordinances, elect officials, levy taxes, and adopt a budget.

Answer 33

Town Meeting

Question 34

A type of special district funded by non-tax revenue and governed by an appointed board.

Answer 34

Public Authority

Question 35

A means of distributing funds (primarily to school districts) to reduce financial disparities among districts.

Answer 35

Equalization Formula

Question 36

A theory of government that asserts that a small group possesses power and rules society.

Answer 36

Elite Theory

Question 37

A theory of government that asserts that multiple, open, competing groups possess power and rule society.

Answer 37

Pluralist Theory

Question 38

A method for studying community power in which researchers ask informants to name and rank influential individuals.

Answer 38

Reputational Approach

Question 39

A method for studying community power in which researchers identify key issues and the individuals who are active in the decision-making process.

Answer 39

Decisional Method

Question 40

The informal arrangements that surround and complement the formal workings of governmental authority.

Answer 40

Regime

Question 41

Private sector groups that carry out charitable, educational, religious, literary, service, or scientific functions.

Answer 41

Nonprofit Organizations

Question 42

A condition characterized by a large number of groups and interests.

Answer 42

Hyperpluralism

Question 43

A government action assuming ownership of real property by eminent domain.

Answer 43

Taking

Question 44

The de-emphasis of race in politics, especially in campaigns, so that there is less racial bloc voting.

Answer 44

Deracialization

Question 45

A period in the early twentieth century that focused on reforming or cleaning up government.

Answer 45

Progressive Era

Question 46

A label used in some communities for members of a local legislative body, such as a city council.

Answer 46

Aldermen

Question 47

A rule that limits the powers of local government to those expressly granted by the state or those powers closely linked to the express powers.

Answer 47

Dillon's Rule

Question 48

A shift in power from state government to local government.

Answer 48

Second-Order Devolution

Question 49

Measures that take the financial sting out of state mandates.

Answer 49

Mandate-Reimbursement Requirements

Question 50

New boom towns featuring retail shops and malls, restaurants, office buildings, and housing developments, far from the central city.

Answer 50

Edge Cities

Question 51

Development characterized by low population density, rapid land consumption, and dependence on the automobile.

Answer 51

Urban Sprawl

Question 52

A charge levied on new development to offset some of the costs of providing services.

Answer 52

Impact Fee

Question 53

Government efforts to limit urban sprawl by managing growth.

Answer 53

Smart Growth

Question 54

Entities, especially unofficial ones, that functions like governments.

Answer 54

Shadow Governments

Question 55

An area-wide structure for local governance, designed to replace multiple jurisdictions.

Answer 55

Regional Governments

Question 56

The merger of city and county governments into a single jurisdictions.

Answer 56

City-County Consolidation

Question 57

The theory that individuals shop around to find a local government whose taxes and services are in line with their own preferences.

Answer 57

Public Choice Theory

Question 58

Formal organizations of general-purpose governments in an area, intended to improve regional coordination.

Answer 58

Councils of Government

Question 59

The replacement of lower-value housing and businesses with higher-value residential and commercial development. Property values increase and longtime residents are often displaced.

Answer 59

Gentrification

Question 60

An anti-suburban, pro-small-town version of city planning.

Answer 60

New Urbanism