question

Each bureaucratic agency is created initially by

answer

Congress

question

Which of the following statements about bureaucracies is FALSE?

answer

Each bureaucratic agency is created by the president.

question

Which of the following is TRUE about the federal bureaucracy?

answer

The state and local governments have far more employees than the federal bureaucracy.

question

Studies have found that most Americans

answer

are satisfied with the help received from bureaucrats.

question

Which of the following statements about the size of bureaucracies is FALSE?

answer

As a percentage of Americaʹs total work force, federal government employment has been growing

question

As a percentage of the total work force, federal government employment is

answer

declining.

question

The classic conception of a bureaucracy was advanced by ________, who argued that the bureaucracy was a ʺrationalʺ way for a modern society to conduct its business.

answer

Max Weber

question

In addition to a hierarchical authority structure, Max Weber argued that a bureaucracy involves all of the following EXCEPT

answer

an incentive system

question

The Weberian theory of bureaucracies views them in the most positive light as

answer

hierarchical.

question

The Weberian model depicts a bureaucracy as

answer

a well-organized machine with plenty of working but hierarchical parts.

question

The Weberian model views bureaucracies as

answer

efficient and necessary.

question

Which of the following would NOT be considered part of the Weberian model of bureaucracy?

answer

decentralized authority structure

question

Which of the following statements about bureaucracies is FALSE?

answer

Government bureaucracies have been shown to be less efficient and effective than private bureaucracies.

question

The ________ employs about one-fourth of all federal civilian workers, more than any other department or agency.

answer

Department of Defense

question

There are roughly ________ civilian and military federal government employees

answer

4,000,000

question

As a whole, the permanent bureaucracy is

answer

more broadly representative of the American people than legislators, judges, or presidential appointees

question

) As a whole, the permanent federal bureaucracy is

answer

more broadly representative of the American people than the rest of the federal government.

question

________ is a hiring and promotion system based on knowing the right people, working in an election campaign, making large political donations, and/or having the right connections to win jobs with the government.

answer

The patronage system

question

Patronage is a hiring and promotion system based on

answer

knowing the right people.

question

Until the late-nineteenth century, most government employees got their jobs through

answer

the patronage system.

question

The ________ Act was passed partly as a memorial to the memory of President James Garfield, who was assassinated in 1881.

answer

Pendleton Civil Service

question

The Pendleton Act established the

answer

federal civil service.

question

The rationale for all civil service systems is based on

answer

the merit principle.

question

The Hatch Act, passed in 1940,

answer

prohibits federal civil service employees from active participation in partisan politics.

question

Once hired into the federal bureaucracy, a person is assigned a ________ rating, which determines oneʹs salary range.

answer

General Schedule

question

The federal civil service was created by

answer

the Pendleton Act.

question

The rationale for the civil service rests on the

answer

desire to create a nonpartisan government service and promotion on the basis of merit.

question

Federal employees are prohibited from active participation in partisan politics through the

answer

Hatch Act.

question

Which of the following is a legitimate criticism of the federal civil service?

answer

Firing incompetents is extremely difficult.

question

Which of the following would be included in a plum book?

answer

Cabinet secretaries

question

Which of the following statements about the hiring and firing of civil servants is FALSE?

answer

Due to the merit system, it is easy to fire incompetent civil servants.

question

The plum book lists

answer

top federal jobs available by Presidential appointment.

question

Which of the following statements about plum book appointees is FALSE?

answer

Plum book appointees are often instrumental in changing and reforming their agencies.

question

Which of the following is NOT true about presidential appointees to bureaucracies?

answer

They must be recommended by the Office of Personnel Managementʹs ʺrule of three.ʺ

question

According to Hugh Heclo, the plum book system of recruiting federal employees tends to result in the appointment of

answer

administrators who do not stay long enough in their appointed position to be effective.

question

Which Cabinet department is charged with overseeing the nationʹs national resources?

answer

Interior

question

The real work of a Cabinet department is done

answer

in the bureaus.

question

The largest federal agency based on dollars spent is the

answer

Social Security Administration.

question

Which of these is the newest government agency?

answer

Social Security Administration

question

The Cabinet department that has the largest budget is the Department of

answer

Health and Human Services.

question

Bureaus in the federal bureaucracy are also known as all of the following EXCEPT

answer

a department.

question

The Interstate Commerce Commission and the Federal Reserve Board are examples of

answer

independent regulatory agencies.

question

Which of the following statements about independent regulatory commissions is FALSE?

answer

Regulatory commission members may not be drawn from the ranks of present or former employees of the regulated industry.

question

An independent regulatory agency is governed by

answer

a small commission, usually with five to ten members, appointed by the president for fixed terms.

question

The parts of the federal bureaucracy with responsibility for different sectors of the economy, and making and enforcing rules designed to protect the public interest, are the

answer

independent regulatory agencies.

question

The General Services Administration and the National Aeronautical and Space Administration are examples of

answer

independent executive agencies.

question

Independent regulatory agencies have

answer

powerful rule-making, dispute-settling, and enforcement authority.

question

Amtrak and the United States Postal Service are examples of

answer

government corporations.

question

Government corporations

answer

provide services and charge for them.

question

An obstacle to the successful implementation of public policy is

answer

unclear policy goals and poorly designed policies.

question

Once a policy decision has been made, such as by passing a legislative act or issuing an executive order, the bureaucracy is responsible for

answer

its implementation.

question

The main job of federal bureaucrats is to

answer

implement and regulate government policies.

question

Creating new agencies, developing guidelines, and coordinating resources to achieve a policy goal is called

answer

implementation.

question

Which of the following is NOT a reason that policy implementation sometimes breaks down in the federal bureaucracy?

answer

lack of standard operating procedures

question

Vigorous disputes over the implementation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 in regard to funding for womenʹs athletic programs arose primarily due to

answer

lack of clarity in the original policy decision.

question

Section 844 of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972

answer

was vaguely written, eventually resulting in scores of court cases

question

A major complaint of the Food and Drug Administration is

answer

the shortage of personnel.

question

Which of the following is NOT true about standard operating procedures?

answer

Each federal department and agency has a plum book which lists its standard operating procedures.

question

Standard operating procedures

answer

save time and bring uniformity to complex organizations.

question

Standard operating procedures accomplish all of the following EXCEPT

answer

reduce red tape.

question

________ is the authority of administrative actors to select among various responses to a given problem.

answer

Administrative discretion

question

andard operating procedures become frustrating to citizens and obstacles to action when they

answer

do not directly apply to a particular situation.

question

The authority of administrative actors to select among various responses to a given problem is called

answer

administrative discretion.

question

Administrative discretion is greatest when

answer

rules do not fit a case.

question

The Federal Aviation Administrationʹs protocol for for hijackings assumed that

answer

the pilot would be able to radio air traffic controllers and alert them to the problem. the FAA would be able to pinpoint the aircraft involved. there would be enough time for the government to formulate a response. the hijackers would be motivated in part by a desire to stay alive.

question

Those civil service employees who are in constant contact with the public (often a hostile one) and have considerable discretion are known as

answer

street-level bureaucrats.

question

Administrative personnel who exercise discretion, pay attention to routine, and deal directly with clients,

answer

are called street-level bureaucrats.

question

Which of the following would not be considered a street-level bureaucrat?

answer

an assistant secretary in the Department of Transportation

question

When bureaucrats are asked to execute orders with which they do not agree

answer

slippage is likely to occur between policy decisions and performance.

question

Which of the following statements is FALSE?

answer

Bureaucrats are often fired for using too much administrative discretion.

question

The diffusion of responsibility within the bureaucracy

answer

makes the coordination of policies both time-consuming and difficult.

question

Proposals to reorganize the government in order to solve the problem of bureaucratic fragmentation

answer

are often opposed by agencies not wanting to be submerged within a broader bureaucratic unit.

question

The Voting Rights Act of 1965

answer

was successfully implemented thanks to its clear goal, its clear methods to achieve the goal, and its lack of bureaucratic fragmentation.

question

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was successful for all of the following reasons EXCEPT

answer

it was universally supported.

question

The use of government authority to control or change some practice in the private sector is known as

answer

regulation.

question

Which of the following statements about government regulation in America is accurate?

answer

Until 1887, the federal government made almost no regulatory policies and had no regulatory agencies.

question

In the case of Munn v. Illinois, decided in 1877, the United States Supreme Court

answer

upheld the right of government to regulate the business operations of a firm.

question

Until 1887, the federal government

answer

had almost no regulatory policies.

question

The Supreme Court case of Munn v. Illinois (1877)

answer

upheld the right of government to regulate the business operations of a firm.

question

Most regulatory agencies adopt specific ________ to carry out a policy, based on what they believe was the intended purpose of the specific policy at hand.

answer

guidelines

question

Whatever strategy Congress permits a regulatory agency to use, all regulation contains the following elements EXCEPT

answer

an incentive system to maximize performance by those regulated.

question

All regulations contain each of the following elements EXCEPT

answer

presidential oversight and control of enforcement

question

When Congress passes regulatory legislation for which it has established goals, it then

answer

grants power to regulatory agencies to develop guidelines and enforce compliance.

question

One proposed solution to the ʺproblemʺ of the proliferation of regulatory agencies and policies has been

answer

deregulation.

question

Deregulation has resulted, at least in part, in each of the following EXCEPT

answer

the proliferation of government agencies.

question

Which of the following is NOT an accusation made against the regulatory system?

answer

Excessive regulation contributed to the savings and loan industry disaster of the 1980s.

question

Each of the following is a criticism of regulation EXCEPT that it

answer

lowers prices.

question

Most of the government is composed of

answer

bureaucrats.

question

Executive orders are issued by

answer

the president.

question

Which of the following is NOT a method a president can use to control the bureaucracy?

answer

rewrite statutes to make instructions clearer as to how policies are intended

question

Which of the following statements about Congress and the bureaucracy is FALSE?

answer

Congress has found it easy to control the bureaucracy.

question

Congress tries to control the bureaucracy through each of the following EXCEPT

answer

issuing congressional orders.

question

Congress tries to control the bureaucracy through

answer

rewriting laws and budgets and holding hearings.

question

To limit bureaucratic discretion and make its instructions clearer, Congress can

answer

write new and more detailed legislation.

question

As the oversight powers of Congress in regard to the bureaucracy have become more vigorous,

answer

they have also become more fragmented.

question

A major problem for presidents and Congress in controlling bureaucracies is the existence of

answer

ʺiron triangles.ʺ

question

An ʺiron triangleʺ is also referred to as

answer

a subgovernment.

question

An ʺiron triangleʺ consists of

answer

a bureaucratic agency, an interest group, and a congressional committee or subcommittee.

question

A(n) ________ consists of an administrative agency, an interest group, and a congressional committee or subcommittee.

answer

ʺiron triangleʺ

question

ʺIron trianglesʺ face challenges from a growing number of

answer

issue networks.

question

Issue networks are

answer

a growing participatory force in bureaucratic decision making whose membersʹ interest in issues is intellectual or emotional rather than material.

question

Subgovernments promote

answer

decentralized and fragmented policymaking.

question

A group of participants in bureaucratic policymaking with technical policy expertise and intellectual and emotional commitment to the issue is called

answer

an issue network.

question

Which of the following is NOT an area in which an ʺiron triangleʺ has controlled federal policy over the past several decades?

answer

environmental policy

question

Which of the following is NOT true about ʺiron trianglesʺ?

answer

They are indestructible.

question

ʺIron trianglesʺ are composed of

answer

bureaucratic agencies, interest groups, and congressional committees.

question

n 1887, Congress established the first regulatory agency, the ________, and charged it with regulating the railroads, their prices, and their services to farmers.

answer

Interstate Commerce Commission

question

Which of the following statements about bureaucracies and the scope of government is FALSE?

answer

When the president and Congress chose to deregulate certain areas of the economy or cut taxes, the bureaucracy prevented them from doing so

Chapter 15 The Federal Bureaucracy – Flashcards

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