Chapter 14: Bureaucracy Flashcards
The Bureaucrats/Civil Service
the government’s workforce
Merit Principle
the idea that hiring and promotion should be based on qualifications and skill to ensure competent governance
Civil servants used to be hired through the patronage system. How were they hired? What type of officials did this produce?
- hired based on connections and party they support
- incompetent and corrupted government officials
Hatch Act (1939)
prohibits civil service employees from actively participating in partisan politics
What does the Hatch Act ensure?
civil servants have no political bias - isolates workforce from politics
Who nominates political appointees? How many roles are there? Is this based on merit or patronage?
- the President, while the Senate confirms
- 500 top policymaking posts, 2,500 lesser positions
- patronage
What are the four types of bureaucratic agencies?
- Cabinet Departments
- Independent Regulatory Commissions
- Government Corporations
- Independent Executive Agencies
How many cabinet departments are there? Who do these departments work under? Who leads these departments?
- 15 departments
- the President
- a secretary (exception - attorney general heading the justice department)
What is the responsibility of the independent regulatory commissions? What are examples of these commissions?
- make and enforce rules to protect the public interest in some sector of the economy
- the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Trade Commission
What is the responsibility of the government corporations? What is an example of a corporation?
- provide a service that could be delivered by the private sector, typically charges for its services
- U.S. Postal Service
What are the independent executive agencies? What are examples of these agencies?
- the “other” category - agencies that are not cabinet departments, regulatory commissions, or government corporations
- The National Science Foundation, NASA
Policy Implementation
the state of policymaking between the establishment of a policy and the consequences of the policy for the people affected
What are the three elements of policy Implementation?
- create a new agency or assign a new responsibility to an old agency
- translate policy goals into operational rules and develop guidelines for the program
- coordinate resources and personnel to achieve the intended goals
What is the cycle that leads to policy implementation?
- people grow concern
- voice problems to Congress through voting (direct) and news/social media (indirect)
- Congress makes bills based on concerns
- President signs bills into laws
- bureaucracy implements laws, which affects the people and causes them to become concerned again
Government Regulation
use of governmental authority to control or change some practice in the private sector
What does Congress give to bureacracies to ensure they upkeep regulation?
give broad mandates to regulate various activities under their control
Deregulation
lifting of government restrictions on business, industry, and professional activities
What effects of regulation causes people to support deregulation?
- raises prices in the market
- hurts America’s competitive position abroad
- overall, American consumers suffer due to regulations
How does the President impose their policy preferences on agencies?
- appoint people to head an agency (at beginning of term or at the end of the previous appointee’s term)
- issue orders by using executive orders (not a law, only tells agency to focus on a specific thing they can already do)
- alter budget (Congress has the real power to change it)
- reorganize an agency
How does Congress oversee the agencies?
- alter budget (more or less funding)
- restructure powers of agencies (stronger or weaker in power)
- hold hearings
- rewrite legislation dealing with certain agencies
