Ap Gov Chapter 13 Flashcard
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Polls about bureaucracy consistently show that the majority of Americans
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support "less government"
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Bureaucracy is the name given to
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a large organization, structured hierarchically, that carries out specific functions
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A large organization that is hierarchically structured and carries out specific functions is known as a(n)
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bureaucracy
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Within a bureaucracy the units of organization are divided according to the
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specialization and expertise of the employees
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Public bureaucracies differ from private corporations because
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congress allows the public bureaucracy to exist
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One of the important differences between public bureaucracies and private corporations is that government bureaucracies
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are not organized to make a profit, whereas private corporations are
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Compared to governmental bureaucracies in other countries, the federal bureaucracy in the United States
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enjoys a greater degree of autonomy
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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the EPA, and the NRC, are all examples of
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administrative agencies
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Excluding military personnel, there are about ____ employees in the federal bureaucracy.
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2.7 million
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The number of federal government employees has
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remained relatively stable for the last several decades
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Today, government spending accounts for more than ____ percent of the U.S. gross domestic product.
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40
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Most of the government's staff is employed through
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the executive branch
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_____ are directly accountable to the president and are responsible for performing government functions, such as printing money and training troops.
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line organizations
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The cabinet departments can be described in management terms as
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line organizations
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The only cabinet department not headed by a secretary is
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justice
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Presidents are often not satisfied with the departments within the Cabinet because
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below the top level of the departments, the staff is made up of permanent employees who are committed to established programs and procedures and resist change
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Independent executive agencies are
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not part of cabinet departments but report directly to the president
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______ were set up because Congress felt it was unable to handle the complexities and technicalities required to carry out specific laws in the public interest.
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independent regulatory commissions
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When GW Bush appointed people who shared his political views to IRCs it worked to the detriment of
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howard stern
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A government agency is subject to capture when
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the industry gains control of the agency that is supposed to regulate it
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One of the accusations made after the BP oil spill in 2010 was that the appropriate regulatory agency, _______, had become too lax on enforcing the safety regulations on the drilling rigs because it favored the oil companies.
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minerals and mining administration
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An agency of the government that can, in theory, make a profit, is a(n)
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government corporation
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AMTRAK and the USPS are examples of
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government corporations
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With subsidies for Amtrak exceeding $1 billion a year, a member of Congress noted that "every time a passenger boards a train, Uncle Sam writes a check for $_____ on average."
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138.71
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________, which is the 2nd largest employer in the US after Walmart, has more than 700,000 employees.
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the USPS
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The creation of the Department of Homeland Security merged 22 agencies responsible for fighting terrorism into a single department, a process that illustrated
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how complex and specialized the federal bureaucracy is
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Which of the following statements about bureaucracy is true?
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some problems and crises are so severe they require help from multiple agencies
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Which government agency saw its funding reduced after it became a part of the Department of Homeland Security that focused on combating terrorism?
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FEMA
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A major problem in addressing the threat of terrorism is the
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failure of the FBI and CIA to exchange information with each other
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One of the problems with the federal government's response to hurricane katrina was that
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FEMA did not directly control the agencies needed to respond.
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which of the following statements about bureaucracy is true?
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the two categories of bureaucrats are political appointees and civil servants
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the spoils system can be viewed as
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a system of patronage
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the pendleton act
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established the principle of employment on the basis of open competitive examinations
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a whistlerblower is a person who
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brings to public attention gross governmental inefficiency or illegal action
