Chapter 15 Study Guide – The Federal Bureaucracy
Pgs. 471 Define bureaucracy:
o
Describe each of the parts of the above definition:
 Hierarchical authority structure:
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Task specialization:
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Merit principle:
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Impersonality:
The Bureaucrats
 Briefly describe the realities of each of the following myths:
o Americans dislike bureaucrats:
o
Bureaucracies are growing bigger each year:
o
Most federal bureaucrats work in Washington, D.C.:
o
Bureaucracies are ineffective, inefficient, and always mired in red tape:

Why are bureaucracies so important? What would life be like without them?

What part of the federal bureaucracy employs the most people?

100 years ago how did people get jobs with the federal government? What does this mean?
o
How did the Pendleton Civil Service Act change this system?
o
Define civil service:
 How is the civil service different from the patronage system?

Define merit principle:
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Define Hatch Act:
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Define Office of Personnel Management (OPM):

What is usually the first step in getting a civil service job? What is the
next step?

Define GS (General Schedule) rating:
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Define Senior Executive Service:

Why is the civil service system set up in such a way that civil servants are
protected from dismissals that are politically motivated?
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What is the purpose of the Hatch Act? Why did Congress pass it?
What is the problem with this?
Explain the plum book. How many positions are included in the plum book? What is the
purpose of the plum book?
o
Why is it often difficult for many of these appointees to exercise real control over what
their subordinates do?
o
What sorts of things does the president look for in the people he appoints to these
important jobs in the federal government? Why is this?
What is the message of the political cartoon on page 478?
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How Bureaucracies are Organized
 Cabinet Departments
o How many cabinet departments are there?

o
How do the cabinet secretaries get their job? Who appoints them? Who must approve
their appointment?
o
What do the cabinet departments do?
Independent Regulatory Commissions
o Define independent regulatory commission:
o
Identify and describe 3 examples of independent regulatory commissions:
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o
How is the president’s power over independent regulatory commissions different from
his power over his cabinet officers and members of the White House staff?
o
Explain why interest groups are interested in the decisions made by independent
regulatory commissions:
o
Read the “Why it Matters” section on page 482. Summarize this section:
Government Corporations
o Define government corporations:
o
What is the largest government corporation?
o
What is a “sick industry” that the government took over?
The Independent Executive Agencies
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o
Define independent executive agency:
o
How do the administrators in the independent executive agencies get their jobs?

o
What does it mean to “serve at the will of the president”?
Identify 3 examples of independent executive agencies:
 Examine the organization charts on pages 480 and 481 to see
how the bureaucracy is organized.
Bureaucracies as Implementors
 Explain this statement, “Bureaucracies are essentially implementors of policy.”

Define policy implementation:
o
Why is it necessary for the bureaucracy to serve this function?
o
Describe the 3 elements involved in policy implementation:
1.
2.
3.
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Read through the list of examples of parts of the bureaucracy that lack sufficient resources.
Describe the one that you think is the most dangerous example of insufficient resources.
o
Explain how the lack of resources can be a major problem for parts of the bureaucracy:
o
Explain why these agencies are not just given more money:
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o
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Describe an example of an agency lacking the authority necessary to meet its
responsibilities:
Define standard operating procedures (SOPs):
o
What are the advantages of SOPs?
o
What are the criticisms of SOPs? Include a description of “red tape” in your response.
Define administrative discretion:
o
Define street-level bureaucrats:
o
Describe an example of a street-level bureaucrat exercising administrative discretion:
o
Explain why “slippage is likely to occur between policy decisions and performance”
when administrative discretion is exercised?
o
How can government efforts to limit the discretion of implementors lead to more “red
tape”?
Explain the problem of “Fragmentation” (this is often referred to as duplication or waste
within the bureaucracy):
o
In light of all these problems, why is it that the bureaucracy is not reorganized?
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o

Examine Table 15.2. What is the significance of this information?
Explain how the Voting Rights Act of 1965 shows that implementation can be effective:
Privatization
 What does the term “privatization” refer to?

What are the advantages of privatization?

What are the problems with privatization?
Bureaucracies as Regulators
 Define regulation:
o

Why does the author say that “The notion that the American economy is largely a “free
enterprise” system, unfettered by government intervention, is about as up to date as a Model T
Ford”?
o

What is the significance of the data presented in the graph on page 493?
What is the point of the story about John Smith?
Regulation: How it Grew, How it Works
o What was the first regulatory agency? What was the purpose of this agency?
o
Explain the process through which bureaucratic agencies “sketch out the regulatory
means” of regulating various aspects of life in America:
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Toward Deregulation
o Define deregulation:
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Identify and describe the criticisms of the regulatory system:

What is an example of an industry that was deregulated?

What are the criticisms of deregulation? What problems has deregulation led
to?
Understanding Bureaucracies
 How are bureaucracies actually “making public policy”?
o

Why could this be seen as undemocratic?
Bureaucracy and Democracy
o What are the two unelected policymaking institutions?
o
What two branches of government can control the bureaucracy?
o
Describe each of the following methods of presidential control over bureaucracies:
 Appoint the right people to head the agency:

Issue orders (include definition of executive orders):

Alter an agency’s budget:
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o

Reorganize an agency:
Describe each of the following methods of congressional control over bureaucracies:
 Influence the appointment of agency heads:
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Alter an agency’s budget:
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Hold hearings:
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Rewrite the legislation or make it more detailed:
Iron Triangles and Issue Networks
o Define iron triangles (aka subgovernments):
o

Describe an example of an iron triangle:

Explain how there can often be a “cozy relationship between the components of
the three sides of a subgovernment”:
Describe the term issue networks:

What effect has the growth of issue networks had on subgovenments (iron
triangles)?
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Explain how the example of nuclear power serves as a vivid example of the
death of an iron triangle:
 Examine Figure 15.5 to see a visual representation of an iron triangle.
Summarize the summary of this chapter:
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Answer questions 1-12 on pages 504-505 without using the book or your notes.
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