bureaucracy terms

Bureaucracy

Umbrella term for the departments, agencies, commissions, government corporations, and other organizations that make up the administrative arm of the federal government; an extension of the executive branch.

Civil servants

Bureaucratic employees who are hired and promoted pursuant to a merit-based system.

Patronage

Practice of rewarding the president’s political supporters with bureaucratic appointments; also known as spoils system.

Merit-based system

Practice of hiring and promoting federal employees based on their objective qualifications rather than their support of the president or their other political affiliations.

Federal regulations

Legally binding rules generated by bureaucratic entities that govern the implementation and enforcement of federal law.

Rule-making process

Formal procedure used by bureaucratic entities to produce federal regulations.

Rule-making authority

Constitutional authority of the bureaucracy to create binding federal regulations.

Discretionary authority

Constitutional authority of the bureaucracy to resolve disputes that arise under federal regulations via administrative adjudication.

Delegation

The act of assigning one’s duty or responsibility to another person or entity (e.g., when Congress assigns its rule-making authority to the bureaucracy).

Enabling legislation

A law or a provision within a law that authorizes the bureaucracy to take a specific action (e.g., to make regulations to guide the implementation of a federal statute).

Power of the purse

Informal term referring to the ability of Congress to influence the bureaucracy through the budget process.