February 5, 2015 Chapter 8 & 9: Governments and Bureaucracy Flashcards
What is the term “government” most often used to describe?
The country’s central political executive.
Today’s governments emerged through the splitting off of ___ and ___ functions, which happened in 12th Century England.
Judicial, legislative.
In order for a government to be democratic, it must have 2 features: what are they?
- Connection to electoral process.
2. Constitutional constraints.
What is a constitution?
A body of meta-norms that specify how all other norms are to be produced, applied, enforced, and interpreted.
What are the 3 types of constitution?
- Absolutist.
- Legislative supremacy.
- “Higher law.”
What is an absolutist constitution?
Ruler is above the law.
What is a legislative supremacy constitution?
Stresses the sovereignty of the legislative, constitution can be changed by the parliament.
What is a “higher law” constitution?
Constitution defines legislature.
What is the convergence of the 3 constitution types called?
New constitutionalism.
Constitutions are typically silent about the internal working of government, leaving a remarkable degree of ___ to political actors.
Flexibility.
What are the 5 ways in which governments can be organized?
- Presidentialism.
- Parliamentalism.
- Directoral government.
- Directly elected prime minister.
- Semi-presidentialism.
Give an example of a state that exhibits presidentialism.
U.S.
What is presidentialism?
Head of the government is the president, who is popularly elected. Based on the idea of the separation of power.
What is parliamentalism?
Head of the government is different from the head of the state (P.M. vs. the monarch). Government is accountable to parliament.
Give examples of parliamentalism states.
Canada, Australia, New Zealand.
What is a directorial government?
7 individuals are elected by the parliament.
What country uses a directorial government?
Switzerland.
What country used to use a directly elected prime minister?
Israel.
What is semi-presidentialism?
Difference with presidentialism is that the cabinet is accountable to the parliament.
Give an example of a country that uses semi-presidentialism.
France.
How does a presidential government operate?
By concentrating all executive power in a single, directly elected person.
What are the 3 different decision models in the operation of a parliamentary government?
- Cabinet government.
- P.M. government.
- Ministerial government.
What is a cabinet government?
Cabinet discusses and decides collectively, P.M. is “primus inter pares.” Problem is that there are too many and too technical issues.
What is a P.M. government?
Since the 1960’s, started replacing cabinet governments. More monocratic decision-making by the P.M., and closer to presidentialism.
What is the difference between a P.M. government and a presidential government/
A presidential government has filed terms, while a P.M. government does not.
What is a ministerial government?
Distributes power among individual members, ministers are policy dictators. Mutual non-intervention.
Modern governments are ___ governments.
Party.
How do political parties influence government?
Party programs, selection of party ministers, duration of party’s control over the cabinet.
Party programs are more influential if…
They are clearly defined.
Selection of cabinet members is more influential when…
The party has greater control over this.
How does the duration of the party’s control over the cabinet affect that party’s influence?
Generally, the longer the control, the more the influence.
How are governments influenced by bureaucracy?
Problem identification (agenda setting) and problem of political choices.
What is the political capacity of a presidential or semi-presidential government?
Government capacities are constrained in cases of divided governments, where the president is from one party and at least one chamber is controlled by another.
What is a risk in the political capacity of presidential or semi-presidential governments?
Risk of gridlock due to institutional rigidity.
What are 4 presidential strategies to deal with gridlock?
- Dictating.
- Undertaking unilateral actions.
- Bargaining.
- Paying-off.
What is the political capacity of single-party majority parliamentary regimes?
Homogenous, quick decisions, avoidance of compromise.
What is the political capacity of coalition minority governments?
In theory, appears to be an unstable situation, as they must make compromises. However, in practice, it is relatively stable, as they occupy an ideological centre, and is policy-oriented rather than office-seeking politicians.
What are the key characteristics of bureaucratic organizations according to Max Weber?
- Personnel.
- Organization.
- Procedure.
What is the personnel in bureaucratic organizations?
Payroll.
What is the organization in bureaucratic organizations?
Division of labour.
What is the procedure in bureaucratic organizations?
Impersonal interpretation of law.
Since bureaucratic organizations are based on ___ recruitment, they are considered to be politically neutral.
Merit.
What are the 2 public choice theories of bureaucracies?
- Parkinson’s Law.
2. Niksanen.
What is Parkinson’s Law?
Bureaucrats tend to grow constantly.
What did Niksanen say about in his public choice theory of bureaucracy?
Bureaucrats have a private interest to increase their budget.
Why is it difficult to stop bureaucracies?
- The measuring of “output.”
2. Lack/absence of competitive pressure.
What are the 3 micro-economic theories that deal with bureaucratic capacity?
- Leisure-shirking.
- Dissent-shirking.
- Political sabotage.
What are spoil systems?
The victorious party points large layers of the administration.
What is new public management?
Transferring the ideology of the private sector to the public sector.
The general government capacities of political parties are influenced by:
Length, political leaders, and political programs.
In a presidential system, unitary vs. divided government, which is better?
In theory, unitary is better, as decisions get processed faster and more efficiently. However, in practice, divided is better, as strategies are used to negate the bad aspects.
