USPS midterm 3 Flashcards
What does the bureaucracy do?
Puts policies effectively into practice - translates them into concrete changes
American Rescue Plan Act of 2021
1.9 trillion American Covid Relief Plan
Child tax credit - offering 500 for children under age 6 and up to 250 for 6-17
IRS and treasury involved
Process/questions of implementation:
1.how to identify recipients
2. Where would money be delivered
3. What do outreach efforts look like
What is the dilemma of delegation in American national politics?
We delegate authority to make decisions to elected officials - the officials make policy - then hand over authority to enforce decisions to (unelected) federal bureaucrats
Elected officials have to do their best to limit bureaucratic discretion and oversee efforts of bureacrats
Because Congress’ capacity problem has led ti to pass increasingly vague laws, modern policymaking centers on…
implementation
What % of US laws are of agency origin?
90%
Is a political system in which the vast majority of policy authority rests with an unelected branch government democratically legitimate?
Overarching question
What did framers say about the design of the bureacracy?
Didn’t say much, just made president responsible for appointing (w/advice of Senate) public officials (like ambassadors and judges)
No provision of the Constituion mentioned departments or bureaus, but the first agency (DOS) was created by Congress in 1789
What was the first agency created by Congress and when?
Department of State, 1789
What other agencies did Congress create?
Post Office and Department of Treasury
Problem with bureaucrat duties in the first few decades of American governance
Bureaucrats worked often quite far from principals, there was room for corruption so Washington wanted to strategically appoint civil servants of high moral character
How did Andrew Jackson change bureacratic appointments?
Argued duties of public offices were “so plain and simple that men of intelligence may readily quality themselves”, so “no experience is necessary”
Two concepts that Jackson advocated for
rotation in office: practice of bureacrats serving in office for limited term and then returning to private life
spoils system: system where newly elected officeholders award gov jobs to supporters and members of same party, especially to those who they relief on to mobilize an expanding electorate
ideal of rotation in office was supposed to democratize civil service, morphed into spoils system
How did Congress respond to spoils system?
Passed Pendleton Act
What year was Pendleton Act
1883
What did the pendleton act seek to do?
Mandate that federal positions were to be awarded based on merit, not party loyalty - but on limited scale first
Created civil service commission to supervise federal service - and administer a testing program to evaluate candidates
Pendleton Act only applied merit requirement to 10% of employees at first, but by 1980..
covered 90%
In 1978, Civil Service Commission split into…
Office of Personnel management - ad inisters civil service laws, rules, exams
Merit System Protection Board - protects integrity of federal merit system and rights of federal employees
Despite changes in how bureacracy operated after Jackson, what it did changed little. When did this change?
After Civil War
When does schope of federal gov most react?
Periods of crisis or massive policy punctuations
3 categorie sof bureacratic agencies
cabinet-level agencies - recieve seats in president cabinet and direclty advise president (can change across adminstrations, EPA in Clinton)
independent agencies - self-governed, indepedent of pres. control, but they still report to president
independent government corporations - established by Congress and exist in private secotr, but owned by federal gov
3 arguments for why bureacrats might not be super democratic
Bureaucratic culture
Bureaucratic Drift
Bureaucratic Capture
Bureaucratic culture
Bureaucratic culture: when people serve in org for a long time, they develop a strong sense of what they office is supposed to do (norms and patterns of behavior in a bureaucratic org)
Will dislike outside interference, value their agency more than others
While it gives an agency high morale and strong sense of mission, discourages cooperation, sharing of info, and causes them to see political independence
Bureaucratic drift
Tendency fo agencies o create policy to drift form defines missions or mandates
Bureaucratic capture
Agencies are influenced (captured) by outside groups more than the principals (elected officials) they work for
Example of Congress being vague when directly bureacracy
In 1914, authorized FTC to enforce laws against “unfair methods of competition… and unfair or deceptive acts or practices” without defining what these methods/acts/practices were
McCubbins and Schwartz developed two strategies of Congressional oversight over the bureacracy
police patrols and fire alarms
Police Patrol oversight
Congress directly monitors agencies to ensure they are faithfully impleneting the law - and does so visibly, so bureaucrats are aware they are being watched
Patriot Act of 2001 extended DOJ’s power to investigate and detain terrorists, but only until 2005, could only be extended at Congress’s will so DOJ had to stay in line
Fire alarm oversight
Congress doesn’t act direclty. Sets up processes allowing interest groups and private individuals to detect failures in implementation and alert Congress
In 1983, FTC wanted to pass legislation that would create more transparency on funeral and used car costs. Congressmen knew that undertakers and car dealers could wield influence in their districts, so when they started to protest, Congress heard them and shut down the FTC.
How does the president check the bureaucracy?
- Appoint loyal officials to senior administrative posts
- As first mover in the process of drafting the national budget, agencies have strong interest in keeping White House happy to receive favorable treatment
- In general, able to quickly communicate with agencies as well as pass EOs to restirct bureacratic power
2 examples of president checking bureacracy
During Obama’s healthcare reform, (FDA?) wanted to possibly require movie theaters to post calories for popcorn. Obama’s deputy chief of staff worried this would seem overly controlling, called the FDA and made them backdown
Trump issued the EO of Schedule F, allowing him to appoint/fire up to 50,000 government officials instead of 4,000. Gives him massive powers over bureacracy and also gives people major incentive to keep the president happy
How do the courts check federal bureacracy?
power of judicial review: motivates bureacrats to engage in good faith with the implementaiton process (and public participation in policymaking)
EPA
The Supreme Court can overturn agency decisions that might violate Administrative Procedure Act of 1946: law that governs how federal agencies create and eforce regulations
2 examples of Courts checking bucreacracy
- ICE agency issued guidance that international students should be deported if only taking online courses dyrung COVID-19, universities filed suit and the threat of judicial review caused ICE to rescind the rule
- In 2022, Supreme Court curtailed EPA’s authority to limit carbon emissionsby forcing closure of coal-fired power plants. West Virginia sued EPA, sayign only Congress could do this, court interceded and protected congressional authority.
3 major forms of mews
Traditional news outlets
Digital-only platforms
Social media
Difference between news outlets and traditional/legacy news outlets
News outlets: org that gather, package, and trasmit news through comms tech
traditional/legacy: orgs basing most of content on work of trained reporters
History of news
Newspaper (which became extensions of parties subsidizing them), radio/TV (30s-60s), by early 90s and 2000s, cable and satelllite took over, and finally digital media and streaming services dominated
3 arguments for how watching the news/taking in media can impact the importane of an issue in people’s minds versus their actual opinions
- News that Matters
- Algorithms/social media
- Fake news
1987 News that matters Experiement
Team of political scientists wanted to understand effect of media coverage on American’s policy priorities
Created experiment
1. Control group: watches actual newscast
2. Treatment: watches doctored version of newscast that emphasizes different set of policy issues
After: asked to rank policy issues on order of importance
Findings of 1987 News that Matters
Found that policy issues recieving greater coverage in the news become more important to viewers, while those ignored lose their credibility
What is the concept found in 1987 News That Matters called?
Agenda setting
Agenda Setting
Dynamic where readers and watchers of news are influenced by what the press covers, become more attentive to the issues covered by news sources.
Occurs when consumers of news are drive to think about about specific issues and topics getting more attention in media environment
Priming
Dynamic occuring where watchers of media and influenced to think about candidates and elected officials
Findings for both agenda setting and priming
Media does have power to shape people’s priorities, but not to persuade them or change their attitudes
How is agenda setting and priming consequential? Give an example of how it could be consequential
Might not seem as powerful as persuasion, but you don’t have to change people’s minds to change the decisions that they make.
If an issue or topic benefits one party or candidate, increasing importance of issue in person’s mind may influence who they support/vote for.
Study for effect of social media and algorithms on partisan and ideological polarization?
Concern that social media might be increasing partisan division in the American electorate.
Meta offered up their data to researchers to study how FB and IG might impact 2024 election in 2020. First results came out in 2023
Findings of Meta study on polarization from social media
- Company algoritihms do filters users to see partisan info - but info they likely already agree with
- Limited impact in changes to people’s attitudes about politics and self-reported political participation
Connect with earrlier research that polarization has increased among groups least likely to use digital media
2 forms of fake news
- stories intentionally and verifiably false
2.accusations that mainstream media sources themselves propogate “fake news” and are “enemies of the people”
Results of studies into relationships between fake news and people’s attitudes and behaviors?
Fake news unlikely to persuade people any more than other news stories, continued trend in difficulties of persuasion
What is public opinion?
Opinions held by private persons which government should heed and take seriously (if they want to keep their jobs)
Politicians and advocates treat public opinion
as a political force to be shaped and exploited to push policy agendas
Example of attempt to sway public opinion
Federalist papers, then the bill of rights
In early Republic, party leaderrs took control of newspapers to promote candidates and policy proposals
Methods of mobilizing public opinion
ad campaigns, pamphlets, newspapers, editorials, demonstrations
how is capturing public opinion today different than from the past?
Through scientific polling
Key elements of scientific polling
- Systematic random samples taken from populations
- Equal chance of being studied to avoid systematic sampling error
Systematic sampling error
Consistent differences between observed and actual values that bias the outcomes of analysis in a specific direction
The difficulties of random sampling
- What if not everyone selected is willing to answer questions?
- What if the people who refuse to answer differ systematically from people who agree?
Use stats now to construct samples
Where does public opinion come from?
Reflect underlying attitudes
What is an attitude
combines feelings, beliefs, thoughts and predispositions when thinking about and reacting to things in one’s environment
When people are invited to state their opinions, they respond in way that
express the attitudes evokd by the choices they face
Political ideologies
a comprehensive, integrated set of views about gov and politics
related to political attittudes
In American politics, we tend to use two ideological labels: liberal and conservative
Liberals favor using gov. to reduce economic inequalities, prefer smaller defense, more taxes on rich
Conservatives: distrust gov, faith in private enterprise, lower taxes, more assertive pursuit of national self-interest
Many people are a mix of political ideologies. yes or no
yes
What attitude most consistently shapes people’s opinions?
Party IDs/partisanship
How does the party ID affect people’s udnerlying beliefs and expressed opinions?
Can introduce bias into perceptions of real politicla info, because voters use party ID as a “shortcut”
Voters pay more attention to sources/info aligning with their partisan ID
More ambiguous the situation, the more an attitude like party ID can shape underlying beliefs and the opinions they express
What characteristics impact people’s viewpoints?
race, ethnicity, gender, education, region, religion, age
Example of significant racial gap in public opinion
On averge, 78% of Americans have a great deal/fair amount of confidence in police to act in best interests of public
only 56% of black, 84% of whites, 74% of hispanic
Gender gap in opinions
56% of women identify with Dems, 42% of men
Big income gap
lower income people more inclined to support spending on gov service helping those like them
Higher income less enthusiastic about gov spending on these programs
How has link between education and political attitudes shifted?
1/4 century ago, voters w/higher levels of educations leaned Republican, but today lean towards Democrats
Explain M4BL 2020
After death of George FLoyd on may 25,2020, 15-26 million people took to streets to protest his death. At the cetner was M4BL, a coalition of interest groups seeking to uplift black civil rights
Released proposal BREATHE Act in July 2020
BREATHE Act
Basically divested taxpayer dollars from policing into alternative approaches to public safety
Ultimatley did not pass, but M4BL has made massive progress at the state level
Examples of impacts of M4BL’s policy reform lobbying
- 16 state legislatures took up police reform
- NYC created an office within state legislature that would investigate police misconduct
- COlorado banned chokeholds and expanded use of body cams
Financial beakdown of total lobbying pop.
Groups fighitng for national social economic justice spent 15 million on lobbying. The rest of the lobbying population spent 3.5 billion.
How are groups like M4BL disadvantaged?
Outnumbered, out-resourced, less likely to retain a legal staff, hire lobbyists, or have affiliated Political Action Committees
What is the general view on interest groups?
Most discourse is negative, and 52% fo Amreicans view the work of lobbyists and interest groups to be “very serious problem” in government
Define interest groups
organized groups of people seeking to influence public policy
Lobbying
activities through which individuals, interest groups, and other institutions seek to influence public policy by persuading gov officials to support groups’ positions
Lobbyists
Professionals who work to influence public policy in favor of clients’ interests
When did # of lobbying orgs greatly increase, what is the amount today?
Tripled during or. after great broadening (60s-90s), the pop. today is 43000 groups
Any legal attempts to influence gov decisions can be called ______. Give examples
Lobbying. filing lawsuits, circulating petitions, submitting public comments, meeting w/member of Congress
What do interest groups do besides lobbying?
- Represent constituents interests before gov - act as primary connection between
- Offer constituents opportunity to politically participate (writing a letter, attending protest, contributing time and money, effort beyodn jjust a vote)
- Educating constituents about political issues and possible solutions
- Still are self-intersted, sway opinion toward issues by agenda setting and framing
- Dedicate effort to monitoring policy implementation - will sound alarm if not done well and also lobby federal agencies, occassionally taking them to court
Framing
Framing a policy issue in a different manner to appeal or disappeal to a certain democraphic and gain their support
example: capital punishment or gay marriage
Do interest groups influence congressional activity?
They’re assumed to, and there is much public cynicism surrounding it
Why does Congress struggle to make policy decisions now?
- Thousands of bills being introduced, not all can be read and understood (esepcially the implications of policy)
- Members would rely on saff, but staff levels in Congress are declining (66% from 1985 to 2015, gingrich), while member constituencies have increased. At the same time, support offices in Congress (created to provide non-partisan professional advice - lost 37% of their staff)
- Gutting of capacity means there has been steady decline in # of issues Congress can address and its capacity to gather info needed to create policy in house
Thus, they increasingly rley on information provided by interest groups
3 ways that interest groups provide information and attempt to wield influence
- interest groups tie preferences to the interests of Members’ home states or districts. for example, oil industry lobbyists might try to show how proposed legislation might help, or harm, the local economy
- Interest groups provide Members with expertise. Lobbyists are experts in entire industries, specialize in specific subjects and can provide Members with much more info (info including scientific studies, economic analyses, etc). Not all selfless - helping members gives groups an edge
- Interest groups gain influence by becoming part of a Member’s re-election team (buying influence, but this isn’t fully accurate)
Why is the view of buying votes not fully accurate?
Members often have strong opinions on the most major issues, few legislators have been found to sell out
How do interest groups “get in” with members?
When members hire fundraising consultants and create committees, interest groups and their reps may take these roles. They meet the members at the committees, and thena gain at the events they plan. Members will start to view them and their interest groups as allies.
Interest groups play on human nature -people more inclined to listen to friends than to strangers
What actually influences member decisions, if not money?
human, personal relationships. Money follows votes: groups give to Members who have a demonstrated record of supporting their causes
How are interst groups distinct from social movements?
Social movements composed of groups, are broad and decentralized and not led by any one person or org. Comprise many groups with different ideologies
Define social movement
Conscious, sustained effort by everday people to change some aspect of society using extra-institutional means
More than a protest, more to them than formal organizations
Social movements made up of what? and use what methods?
groups without institionalized power. Use unconventional strats (marches, media events) and mroe conventional strats (petitions, letter writing)
Distinguishing factor between movements and interests gorups
outsider status and use of unconventional tactics - they are excluded from institional, economic, and political power and this is their primary motive for engaging in social movement actions
Core elements of social movement
sustained, collective challenges made by excluded social groups attempting to protect themselves from social, political, and economic harms
3 aspects of social movements
- collective and sustained. will last for arounda. year for naitonal-level movements. A single protest is not a movement
- Social movements are made up of groups with less political and economic power (groups that aren’t excluded benefit from existing socio-poltiical arrangements) excluded groups must resort to unconventional means
- Presence of real and perceived harms to a criticla mass of people who want to mobilize to end their suffering
Are social movements impactful?
In fed 10, madison argued that the americna political system was built to make it hard for factions to enact passions into public policy
Political scientists have generally found that social movements have little effect on congressional action
example: CRM struggled for decades to put equal employment opportunity legislation on national policy agenda
women’s movement lobbied for 7 decades to influence congressional votes on suffrage
Administrative Procedure Act of 1946
law that governs how federal agencies create and eforce regulations
