Chapter 15 Study Guide – The Federal Bureaucracy
1. Define bureaucracy:
The Bureaucrats
2. Why are bureaucracies so important? What would life be like without them?
3. What part of the federal bureaucracy employs the most people?
4. 100 years ago how did people get jobs with the federal government? What does this
mean?
a. How did the Pendleton Civil Service Act change this system?
b. Define civil service:
i. How is the civil service different from the patronage system?
ii. Define merit principle:
iii. Define Hatch Act:
1. What is the purpose of the Hatch Act? Why did Congress pass it?
iv. Define Office of Personnel Management (OPM):
1. What is usually the first step in getting a civil service job? What is
the next step?
v. Why is the civil service system set up in such a way that civil servants are
protected from dismissals that are politically motivated?
1. What is the problem with this?
1
5. What is the message of the political cartoon on page 478?
How Bureaucracies are Organized
Cabinet Departments
6. How many cabinet departments are there?
7. How do the cabinet secretaries get their jobs? Who appoints them? Who must approve
their appointment?
8. What do the cabinet departments do?
Independent Regulatory Commissions
9. Define independent regulatory commission:
10. Identify and describe 3 examples of independent regulatory commissions:
a.
b.
c.
11. 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?
12. Explain why interest groups are interested in the decisions made by independent
regulatory commissions:
13. Read the “Why it Matters” section on page 482. Summarize this section:
Government Corporations
14. Define government corporations:
2
15. What is the largest government corporation?
16. What is a “sick industry” that the government took over?
The Independent Executive Agencies
17. Define independent executive agency:
18. How do the administrators in the independent executive agencies get their jobs?
a. What does it mean to “serve at the will of the president”?
19. 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
20. Explain this statement, “Bureaucracies are essentially implementors of policy.”
21. Define policy implementation:
a. Why is it necessary for the bureaucracy to serve this function?
b. Describe the 3 elements involved in policy implementation:
i.
ii.
iii.
22. 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.
3
23. Define standard operating procedures (SOPs):
a. What are the advantages of SOPs?
b. What are the criticisms of SOPs? Include a description of “red tape” in your
response.
24. Define administrative discretion:
a. Describe an example of a street-level bureaucrat exercising administrative
discretion:
b. Explain why “slippage is likely to occur between policy decisions and performance”
when administrative discretion is exercised?
c. How can government efforts to limit the discretion of implementers lead to more
“red tape”?
25. Explain the problem of “Fragmentation” (this is often referred to as duplication or waste
within the bureaucracy):
a. In light of all these problems, why is it that the bureaucracy is not reorganized?
b. Examine Table 15.2. What is the significance of this information?
4
Privatization
26. What does the term “privatization” refer to?
27. What are the advantages of privatization?
28. What are the problems with privatization?
Bureaucracies as Regulators
29. Define regulation:
a. What is the significance of the data presented in the graph on page 493?
Toward Deregulation
30. Define deregulation:
a. Identify and describe the criticisms of the regulatory system:
b. What is an example of an industry that was deregulated?
c. What are the criticisms of deregulation? What problems has deregulation led to?
Understanding Bureaucracies
31. How are bureaucracies actually “making public policy”?
a. Why could this be seen as undemocratic?
Bureaucracy and Democracy
32. What are the two unelected policymaking institutions?
33. What two branches of government can control the bureaucracy?
5
34. Identify and describe each of the following methods of presidential control over
bureaucracies:
a. ___________________________________________________________:
b. ___________________________________________(include definition of executive orders):
c. ___________________________________________________________:
d. ___________________________________________________________:
35. Identify and describe each of the following methods of congressional control over
bureaucracies:
a. ___________________________________________________________:
b. ___________________________________________________________:
c. ___________________________________________________________:
d. ___________________________________________________________:
6
Iron Triangles and Issue Networks
36. Define iron triangles (aka subgovernments):
a. Describe an example of an iron triangle:
b. Explain how there can often be a “cozy relationship between the components of the
three sides of a subgovernment”:
37. Describe the term issue networks:
a. What effect has the growth of issue networks had on subgovenments (iron
triangles)?
b. 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.
38.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
Answer questions 1-12 on pages 504-505 without using the book or your notes.
__________
__________
__________
__________
__________
__________
__________
__________
__________
__________
__________
__________
7