Chapter 15 Bureaucracy Flashcards
Spoils System
A system in which government jobs are given out as political favors
Universalistic Politics
A government run according to transparent rules, impartially applied
Pendleton Civil Service Act
The law that shifted American government toward a merit-based public service
Bureaucratic Pathologies
The problems that tend to develop in bureaucratic systems
Proposed rule
A draft of administrative regulations published in the Federal Register for the purpose of gathering comments from interested parties
Final Rule
The rule that specifies how a program will actually operate
Regulatory Capture
The theory that industries dominate the agencies that regulate them
Central Service Agencies
The organizations that supply and staff the federal government
Private Contractors
Private companies that contract to provide goods and services for the government
Overhead Democracy
A system by which the people elect the president, who, through their appointees, controls the bureaucracy from the top
Principal-Agent Theory
A theory that analyzes how policymakers (principals) can control the actors who work for them (agents) but have far more information than they do
Whistle-blower
A federal worker who reports corruption or fraud
Street-level bureaucracies
Public officials who deal directly with the public
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
A 1996 law that facilitates full or partial disclosure of government information and documents
