Chapter 12 Flashcards
what is the spoils system?
a system in which government jobs are given out are political favors
what is universalistic politics?
a government that is run according to transparent rules, impartially applied
what is the Pendleton Civil Service Act?
the law that shifted American government toward a merit-based public service
what are the five key forces that pushed America toward a modern democracy?
- war; bureaucracy grew after we mobilized
- morality; enforcing moral rules led to the creation of increasingly sophisticated agencies
- economics; federal govt assuming responsibility for economic performance created new government offices
- geography; the quickly growing US led to the need for a more sophisticated Post Office, transportation, distribution of public land, etc.
- race/ethnicity: slavery and civil rights made big changes
what are the 5 pillars of how a bureaucracy is SUPPOSED to work?
- hierarchy
- division of labor
- fixed routines
- equal rules for all
- technical qualifications
what are bureaucratic pathologies?
the problems that tend to develop in bureaucratic systems
what are the 5 most common bureaucratic pathologies?
- rote; slavishly following standardized routines
- imperialism; competition between bureaucracies
- turf wars; agencies often do overlapping jobs and get pissy
- lack of coordination; routines are agency-specific, which can be bad
- clientelism; agency routines may favor some constituencies over others
what is a proposed rule?
a draft of administrative regulations published in the Federal Register for the purpose of gathering comments from interested parties
what is a final rule?
the rule that specifies how a program will actually operate
what are street-level bureaucrats?
public officials who deal directly with the public
what is the Welfare State?
the role states play in protecting the economic and social well being of all of its citizens through redistributive taxing and spending programs
what is the public sector?
the government delivery of goods and services
what is the private sector?
all economic activity undertaken outside the purview of the state, by individuals or private corporations
what is progressive taxation?
tax rates go up as income goes up
what is progressive redistribution?
programs that act like Robin Hood and take from richer folks and give to poor people
what is regressive taxation?
taxes that tend to benefit
why is redistribution lower than expected?
people are r00d, they think poverty as a result of individual choices or lack of effort should not be rewarded and poor people think that they would suffer from any tax increases rather than benefit from redistribution
what is social insurance?
forms of insurance that are available to all citizens, regardless of ability to pay
what are 3 reasons why all democracies provide social insurance?
- political identity
- avoiding depopulation
- market failures
what are 2 reasons why some wealthy democracies engage in more economic redistribution than others?
- labor unions; the better the organized labor is in a country, the less likely there are to be generous welfare policies “they already have it”
- the left-right economic divide; the salience of political identity complicates the task of politicians who want to focus on taxes and spending “not hotbutton issues”
what is the soft repression thesis versus the hard repression thesis?
not repressed enough versus repressed too much
why is repression greater in the US than in Australia?
the National Guard
what 6 things must the rule of law have?
- generality; apply to broad categories of people
- prospectivity; apply to future action
- publicity; known and certain, reliably enforced
- consent; we consent through electing officials
- due process; administered impartially
- specificity; not vague
