Chapter 9 Flashcards
Bereaucracy
A form of organization that operates through impersonal, uniform regulations and procedures.
Bureaucrat
A negative term for describing a career government employee.
Types of federal organizations (4)
- Departments
- Independent stand-alone agencies
- Independent regulatory commissions
- Government Corporations
Departments
Usually the largest organization in government with the largest mission; also the highest rank in the federal hierarchy.
Independent stand alone agency
A government agency that operates outside a traditional government department, but under the president’s direct control. (independent from a department)
Independent regulatory commission
A government agency or commission with regulatory power whose independence is protected by congress. Run by a board instead of by Pres or congress
Government Corporation
Government agency that is designed like a business corporation, and is created to secure greater freedom of action and flexibility for the particular program.
Largest department?
Department of defense, followed by department of veterans affairs and homeland security.
How many departments?
15
Three types of federal employees
- Presidential appointees (run the bureaucracy and make major policy recommendations to pres and congress)
- Members of Senior Executive Service (help translate policy into action)
- Members of civil service (implement policy under direction of other 2) …plus military personal.
Civil service
Federal employees who work for government through a competitive, not political selection process
Spoils system
Expanded by Andrew Jackson; a system of public employment based on rewarding party loyalists and friends.
Patronage
The process of awarding favors to the party in power.
Merit System
Replaced spoils system; a system of public employment in which selection and promotion depend on demonstrated performance rather than political patronage.
OPM
Office of Personnel Management- agency that administers civil service laws and regulation
Merit Systems Protection Board
An independent agency that oversees and protects merit in the federal government personnel system.
Hatch Act
A federal statue barring federal employees from active participation in certain kinds of politics and protecting them from being fired on partisan grounds. Loosened in 1993.
Implementation
The process of putting a law into practice through bureucratic regulations or spending
Administrative discretion
Authority given by congress to the federal bureaucracy to use reasonable judgement in implementing the laws.
Regulation
Precise statement of how a law is implemented. Detailed.
Rule-making process
The detailed process for drafting a regulation
How do agencies implement ambiguous laws? (3)
- Writing regulations for enforcing the laws
- Collecting revenues from individuals and corporations and rewarding activities like giving to charity or buying a home.
- Spending money for specific programs like Social Security and hiring employees like military.
Federal Register
The official record of what the beaucracy does.
How can the government raise revenue?
- Individual Income Taxes
- Payroll Taxes
- Corporate Income Taxes
- Excise Taxes
Individual income taxes
Largest share of federal governments tax revenue. Allowed in 1913.
Payroll taxes
Pay for social insurances (Social Security and Medicare) are 2nd largest source. Most people pay more in SS than in income taxes.
Corporate Income Taxess
Fallen significantly, only count for 1/10 of revenue.
Excise Taxes
Sale of liquor, cigs, gas, telephones, air travel, and other luxury items.
Federal Reserve Board
Variation of an independent regulatory agency with a chairman and board that controls the supply of money that flows through the U.S. economy.
Uncontrollable Spending
The portion of the federal budget that is spent on previously enacted programs (SS) that no one is willing to cut.
Entitlement Program
Such as unemployment insurance, disaster relief, or disability payments that provides benefits to all eligible citizens.
Oversight
Review of a particular government program or organization that can be in response to a crisis of some kind or part of routine review. Ongoing effort to make sure laws are executed correctly.
Central Clearence
Review of all executive branch testimony, reports, and draft legislation by the OMB to ensure that each communication to Congress is in accordance with the president’s program.
Public Policy
A specific course of action that government takes to address a problem.
Policy Makers
Individuals and groups that make the actual choices to create a public policy.
Distributive policy
public policy like SS that provides benefits to all groups in society.
Redistributive policy
policy that provides to one group of society while taking away from another such as tax increases to pay for job training.
Zero-sum games
Same thing as redistributive policy
Reverse distributive policy
Reduces benefits for all people, like taxes that affect everyone.
Nondecision
A decision not to move ahead with the policy process. In short it is a decision not to decide.
Think tank
A nongovernmental organization that seeks to influence public policy through research and education.
issue-attention cycle
The movement of public opinion toward public policy from initial enthusiasm for action to realization of costs and a decline in interest.
incremental policy
small adjustments to existing public policies
punctuating policy
radical changes to public policy that occur only after the mobilization of large segments of society to demand action.
Iron triangle
policy-making instrument composed of a tightly relates alliance of a congressional committee, interest groups, and a federal department or agency.
Issue Network
A policy-making instrument composed of loosely related interest groups, congressional committee, presidential aides, and other parties.
What solutions does the gov usually propose? (3)
- Make regulations to encourage/ prohibit behaviors
- Using taxes to raise money and encourage behavior
- Spend money to purchase goods and services to provide benifits
